My mother's stories

This research paper was completed and submitted at Nipissing University, and is made freely accessible through the University of Toronto’s TSpace repositoryThis thesis examines Cree residential school survivor accounts from the James Bay territory spanning a 40-year period from the 1930s through the 1970s. They attended St. Philips Indian and Eskimo Residential School, an Anglican operation, in Fort George, Quebec;St. Anne’s, a Roman Catholic institution, in Fort Albany, Ontario; and Horden Hall, an Anglican residential school in Moose Factory, Ontario. This thesis also includes original research with one particular survivor of St. Anne’s, nikaawii (my mother), who attended from the age of 2through 17.The tipaachimowina (stories) of these Cree survivors reveal that residential schooling altered their lives in many ways. Because of Canada’s education policy, children were often placed in these schools for long periods of time. Many were not able to develop or master the traditional skills of their parents. Others were not able to reconnect with other members of their families. Most experienced sadness and loss; some endured physical and sexual abuse (thelatter seeming more prevalent in Roman Catholic schools) at the hands of school personnel or peers. Tipaachimowina are oral history, and this unique method of Cree sharing enabled survivors to tell about their experiences. It is through this method that some survivors were able to come to terms with what they lived through and are still living through. Their tipaachimowina reveal pride, resilience and a will to live