"They broke down our people," said Jack George Thompson, 56, Ditidaht's elected chief. He is preparing to sue the government for damages, saying that he was repeatedly beaten and raped at the Port Alberni school.
Thompson said he drank excessively for 40 years. Now that he is sober he is trying to negotiate new treaty land rights and lobby for more aid. "The government and most people in Canada haven't come to terms with the residential schools," he said. "They don't believe our stories, and while they take credit for pushing human rights and aiding people who suffer in Africa they refuse to look in their own backyard."
In the meantime, healing will come slowly. The complexities of the task, Thompson said, are apparent when he and other village elders gather their people to talk about what kind of touching is appropriate between father and daughter.
A number of the men just shake their heads and walk away, he said. "They don't want to hear about it, because that's just their way."
RSS