Paul Pike was amazed at the resilience of Clark Paul from Membertou First Nation in Nova Scotia after Paul shared his story of being a residential school survivor.
“Let’s celebrate that resiliency and move forward with some of the thoughts that Mr. Paul shared with us today,” he said at Blanche Brook Park where about 100 people gathered to take part in Orange Shirt (Every Child Matters) Day.
Pike, director of cultural and community programming with the People of the Dawn Friendship Centre, said he asked Paul to send over a summation of what it was like to live in a residential home.
However, the Membertou First Nation made it possible for Paul to come in person and address the first ever Orange Day organized by the People of the Dawn Friendship Centre. A number of Orange Shirt Days have been held in the Bay St. George area in recent years.
Paul said residential schools came about in Canada around 1840, with the last one closing in 1996.
The Shubenacadie Indian residential school that he ended up in opened approximately 1929 and closed in 1967.
“In that short span of time it almost destroyed our nation,” he said.
At seven years of age Paul was taken from his grandparents’ home in Eskasoni, first on a truck, then a train to the residential school.
He said speaking his language was forbidden at the school and every time he spoke it he would receive a beating, despite not understanding English.
“They told me the language I spoke was the language of the devil and my prayers were to the devil,” Paul said. “They said the only way I could see God was through them.”
In residential school he wasn’t permitted to speak to his sister in the same building and over five years only got to speak to his brother three times.
He talked of mental, physical, spiritual and sexual abuse that he suffered while there.
“I’ve been down that road and by the time I came out of the residential school there was nothing left in me but plain hate,” Paul said.
He remembers being given needles and having blood taken from him, only to realize later that it was all part of their medical experiments and that he was used as a guinea pig.
Paul said at eight years of age he was awakened by a movement in his bed with someone there fondling him and even at that young age he knew in his heart it wasn’t supposed to happen.
“I went to the priest about it and he giggled and asked me if I liked it,” he said. “That was the end of the line for clergy with me.”
Paul said he doesn’t hate Christianity, just the people who run it.
He said the healing process has to first involve forgiving yourself and then others.
Paul said it was only recently that he learned how to love and that each of the seven teachings pertains to the individual.
“Live your life the way it was meant to be — free of hate and prejudice and help each other,” he advised. “What matters is you and the creator.”
