Residential Schools in Canada
Apitamatisiwin: full testimony
“I was about six years old when I was kidnapped at elementary school. It happened right in the school playground. Two officers from the RCMP showed up. They pushed me into the back seat of a car before driving away. I did not know where they were taking me. My mother did not know either. For three days, she was in a state of panic, not knowing where I was. For three days, she was worried sick. She did not know where her daughter was. Finally, she was told that I had been taken to a residential school. Many Indigenous children were taken like this. Later, I asked my mother: Why did you let them take us away? Why didn’t you stop them from doing that? I always wanted to know why they didn’t come to get us. One day, she explained her reasons and how much she had suffered. She said the police made sure they could do nothing to help us. She said, “We couldn’t help you, because we were told that if we tried to do anything—like going to get you—we would be sent to prison.” That’s how they stopped the parents from helping their children. My parents did not want to end up in prison because there were still babies at home, and they wanted to protect the children who remained. So many children were taken away from their families. Many never made it back. Many children died in those schools. We must never let anything like that happen again. Never, ever again."
