The survivors speak : Survivants s'expriment : un rapport de la Commission de vérité et réconciliation du Canada

For the first half of the twentieth century, the schools were on what was termed the “half- day system,” under which half a day was spent in the classroom and the other half in voca- tional training. [...] Marie Wilson Commissioner xiv • Truth & Reconciliation Commission Introduction Before the Survivor-initiated court case that led to the creation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, the Canadian residential school story has largely been told, to the extent that it has been told at all, through the documents and reports of the people who organized and ran the system. [...] And I remember at one point I was looking at him, I think I was on the small hill, and he was below, he had made a hole in the ice, and he was hunting beaver with a, with a harpoon, and I was there, I was looking at him and I was singing. [...] And what I remember in my childhood also was the, my mother’s songs, because we lived in tents, and there was young children, and my mother sang for the youngest, and at the same time this helped us to fall asleep. [...] Yeah, when I first opened, like, when I first saw the world, I guess, we were outdoors and when I opened my eyes and started to, you know, and I was just a baby, I guess, and I, we were out in the land.