Ethel Stone is a residential school survivor and a respected Elder in the First Nation circle. She believes prayers help her to heal from the past. (Kenneth Cheung/ battlefordsNOW staff)

By Kenneth Cheung

THE RED ROAD

From pain to strength: survivors walk the path of healing

Sep 30, 2024 | 9:09 PM

Trigger warning: readers may be triggered by the subject matter of Indian Residential Schools. To access a 24-hour National Crisis Line, call: 1-866-925-4419.

Sunchild Law held its 12th annual Battleford Industrial School Walk at The Ridge on Monday to honour the children who never made it home from residential schools and those who did, including Ethel Stone.

“When my siblings were picked up, my grandmother told me to hide under the bed. I could hear them crying, and my parents were crying too,” Stone recalled of the time.

Stone said that despite her family’s efforts to keep her hidden, once she turned 13 year-old and needed to be registered, the school picked her up immediately. She was sent to a residential school in Onion Lake, about 142 kilometres northwest of North Battleford.

“They didn’t want to go to jail, so they had no choice but to let us go.”

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As both of her grandparents and parents were also victims of residential school, Stone said, they understood the suffering their kids would face. Still, they could do nothing, so her father turned to alcohol to numb his sorrow and carried that burden to his grave.

“My dad was sexually abused by the school,” she said. “I just heard the hurt when he was crying when he was drunk, but he never spoke about it. When they were sober, they didn’t speak about that. So, they passed away like that, and both my mother and dad never mentioned anything about the residential school.”

Her father, due to the fear of losing his kids again and the guilt of letting them endure what he did, tended to detach himself to avoid emotions.

“I never heard the word ’I love you’ because they never heard it in the residential schools. They never said those words. I never heard it as a child, right throughout my life, and they passed away like that, but I knew in my heart they loved me. But I wanted to hear that,” Stone said.

Lorraine Stone with her grandchild, Tissan Haye. She hopes the newer generation will embrace education and create a better future where true reconciliation takes place. (Kenneth Cheung/ battlefordsNOW staff)

Lorraine Stone, a residential school survivor, was also sent to Onion Lake.

“We were never allowed with our names. It was all numbers. My number was three and then forty-four,” Lorraine said. “Nobody called you by your name; you were a number. Your clothes were numbered, and your bed was numbered.”

Since she said it’s futile to hold on to anger and resentment from the past, Lorraine hopes the younger generation can learn from their Elders to understand what has happened and move on to create a better future.

“Because Elders don’t say very much. But when you have that communication with the Elders, you start to be inspired. You start to see the strength of how they survive,” Lorraine said.

Stone pointed out that she moved on by finding solace in prayers and sharing her experiences with others, as she no longer feels ashamed of her past.

“People are hearing me, they’re validating for me, they’re acknowledging that I went through those abuses. And so that’s healing. The more you talk about it, even if it’s the same thing over and over, you heal more and more,” said Stone.

Both of them believe that society is on the right path to achieving reconciliation, especially with the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation to acknowledge and embrace their past. Lorraine also thinks it’s time for her to embrace the future, as she believes she has clung to negativity for too long.

“I don’t want to survive anymore. I want to live. I want to practice living before I die,” said Lorraine.

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Kenneth.Cheung@pattisonmedia.com