Mary Louie remembers wanting only one thing when she was a young girl at residential school: to get home.
asserted
she → remember → school
Louie says she did not understand everything happening around her, but she noticed changes in the friends and became increasingly uneasy.
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she → say → friends
“Well, I did go to residential school, but what I seen, I didn’t quite understand what was happening,” Louie said.
asserted
Louie → go → what
She eventually escaped the school late one night.
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She → escape → school
“I stayed off the road.
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I → stay → road
I stayed in the mountains and crossed the highway at night.
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I → stay → night
Walked back and walked home” Louie said.
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Louie → walk → ?
She says fear did not stop her from making the journey.
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fear → say → journey
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“I just walked and I wasn’t afraid or anything, so I just wanted to get home,” she said.
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she → get → news
Louie’s story was among those remembered Tuesday as the Lower Similkameen Indian Band (LSIB) held its Community Walk close to Keremeos for Truth and Reconciliation, one day before the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
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Band → remember → Truth
Organizers wanted the community to come together for a collective remembrance on Sept. 29, leaving the actual National Day for Truth and Reconciliation for people to commemorate in their own way.
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people → want → way
Darian Ueusta-Che-Peone, who works with the band, says the group activity is meant to happen beforehand so people can spend Sept. 30 reflecting individually.
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people → work → Sept.
“That actual day we can kind of rest and like you know think about what happened and today we celebrate it so we have that kind of rest in between of the day,” he said.
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he → rest → day
For LSIB elder Herman Edward, residential schools took far more than childhoods from Indigenous families.
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schools → take → families
“We all lost something.
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We → lose → something
It’s not always the orange shirts, but it was our culture, language, way of life,” Edward said.
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Edward → ’ → life
But the national day of remembrance has also become a point of controversy.
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day → become → controversy
In Kamloops, masked men were seen protesting Truth and Reconciliation events, drawing condemnation and an RCMP investigation.
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men → see → condemnation
Janet Cherbaskin, an LSIB council member, says demonstrations like that cannot erase the experiences of residential school survivors.
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demonstrations → say → survivors
“You can’t erase history.
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You → erase → history
It doesn’t matter what you say and how you dress.
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you → matter → what
You can be in masks and and try and prove a point.
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You → try → point
But to our people, we know what the truth is,” Cherbaskin said.
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Cherbaskin → know → people
When Louie finally made it home, she never wanted to return to school.
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she → make → school
Instead, she stayed home to look after her younger siblings and learned from her grandmother.
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she → stay → grandmother
“Ever since I got home, my place was to take care of my siblings, so I didn’t go back to school.
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I → get → school
A lot of the things I’ve learned was from my grandmother and the teaching she gave me,” Louie said.
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Louie → learn → me
For Louie, seeing children take part carries particular meaning after her own experience at residential school.
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children → see → school
“Well, it’s good to see the children and to know
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it → see → children
and I pray that the parents love their children and start teaching them,” she said.
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she → pray → them
After walking home from residential school as a young girl, Louie now sees children walking together as a community
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children → walk → community
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