Truth and Reconciliation

September 30 is the
National Day for Truth and Reconciliation

The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation is a time to reflect and gain understanding of the deep effects of residential schools, and one way is through residential school survivor stories.

Many of these stories can be read through The Survivors Speak: A Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada.

A Survivor’s Story

By Terry Crosby, Sashbear Director of Indigenous Relations

I have a personal story to share with you. My mom, Jeannie Mianscum (Crosby), along with her younger brother and older sister, are residential school survivors. She was one of over 150,000 Indigenous children who were taken from their families and communities.

The first school she attended was St. John’s Indian Residential School in Chapleau, Ontario (Picture 1). My mom attended there from 1946-1948. This school was 776 km away from her parents.

The second school she attended was Bishop Horden Memorial Residential School in Moose Factory, Ontario (Picture 2). My mom attended there from 1949-1951. This school was 550km away from her parents.

St. John’s Indian Residential School in Chapleau, Ontario

Bishop Horden Memorial Residential School in Moose Factory, Ontario

For Mom’s second year of residential school (Picture 3), her five-year-old brother was forced to join them. The scene of her brother screaming and crying as the train pulled away, and her mom’s anguish at losing her last child, haunts my mom to this day. At school, her little brother was just across the fence, but she wasn’t allowed to visit or talk with him except briefly at Christmas and Easter.

My mom only started talking about her experience to me about seven years ago. At eighty-five years old, the negative effects of residential school are still profound. My mom experienced various forms of abuse at her first school and things progressively got worse, and the trauma increased after she moved to the second school. My mom recalled the feeling of being “treated like animals.” There was a fence that surrounded the residential school and in her time at the school she remained on the school’s property within this fenced area.

My mom stated this to me five years ago: “Who wants to think about this…too hard…too much abuse…I never wanted to bring it up again.” Like many survivors, she could have benefited from talking about her experience much earlier and having people listen and understand what happened to her in the residential schools, but it has only recently been addressed in a deeper way through the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that started in 2008, with the final report completed in 2015. Residential school survivors finally found their voice to express the horrors of what they encountered.

When I asked my mom (Picture 4) to tell me her story, I was expecting the abuse and isolation, but I hadn’t anticipated the sorrow and worry that consumed her daily for her widowed mother. My Mom thought about her all the time and was gripped with sadness and worry at the thought of her mom being all alone. In several survivor stories, the “thought of returning back to the community” is what kept them going day-to-day. For the Indigenous People, everything happens by relationships.

My Dad, Ken Crosby (Picture 5) of English/Scottish descent fell for my mom, a Cree woman, and they have been married for 58 years. My dad said this about my mom:

“I noticed her eyes were full of light and appeared to be brighter when she smiled and laughed. Her teeth were so perfect I thought they might be false. She had a shy peaceful way about her but a profound strength.”

My Mom raised three biological, and four adopted children. I have a deep love and care for my mom (Picture 6). She is a joyful person who radiates positivity and laughter wherever she goes. I admire her determination to move forward despite the past trauma she experienced.

Today I honor the strength and resilience of my mom, and the other survivors who attended residential schools.

I share this story with you today in the hopes that it helps you connect with and learn from one survivor’s story.