“We, the girls, were never allowed to mingle with the boys, not even in the cafeteria, as there were designated sections for boys and girls. As each had their own side of the room, there was no such luck to sit with boys during mealtimes. If we got caught with a love note, it was read aloud in the cafeteria during lunch hour, then it was “Wow!””

“I was then fortunate to become a Cree language instructor at the school for nursery to grade twelve for twenty years and am still working part-time. I love it and cannot stress enough the importance of passing down our beautiful Swampy-Cree language, given to us by the Creator. We must pass it down to the young people, their children and babies so they can be blessed in life. Ekosani, Kinanaskomitinawaw.

“I don’t really know how many of them had received their residential school compensation, which was a complicated process, hard to understand with all the forms involved. This is especially true for the northern men and women. It was difficult and many gave up on their claims. It was a very emotional and discouraging process. To this day, there is all that unused compensation money. Do we even know what happened to it?”

“Most of us northern students never went home for the holidays, nor Christmas, because of the distance. We didn’t have a Christmas tree, nor presents, nor a beautiful turkey dinner. Our holidays came and went like any regular day. We did not even sleep in, as we woke at our usual time, attended mass as usual, although we did not have classes. Of course, it was always a good feeling for us to see a few of our fellow students going home for the holidays.”