Residential School Buildings Demolished On B.c. Island, Survivor Says It’s A New Chapter - Beritaja

The remaining buildings of a erstwhile residential schoolhouse connected an land disconnected the westbound seashore of Vancouver Island person been demolished.

Survivors of the Christie Indian Residential School were invited to witnesser the demolition connected Meares Island, disconnected the seashore of Tofino.

“The readying has been going connected for rather immoderate clip now,” Greg Louie, erstwhile elected main councillor of the Ahousaht Nation told BERITAJA.

“I could opportunity that it’s been successful the successful the beingness for galore years. That’s that’s really I consciousness about it. It’s been about apt since we were each young people. That 1 time this was gonna come, 1 time this was gonna happen, and it’s it was conscionable a matter of erstwhile and having the due time.”

According to the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, the Christie Indian Residential School opened successful 1900 and operated nether the Order of St. Benedict and the Mission Oblates of Mary Immaculate until 1969. The national authorities past took complete cognition of the school, and successful June 1971, the Meares Island location closed. In October 1971, the Christie Student Residence opened successful Tofino.

In September 1974, the West Coast District Council of Indian Chiefs led and operated the schoolhouse arsenic a student residence exclusively until it closed successful 1983.

“When I was stepping up this greeting from the dock there, reasoning about erstwhile I was a young boy, erstwhile I came present erstwhile I was six years aged and having memories of stepping up that roadworthy and the hills and and conscionable a batch of emotion also,” Louie said astatine the demolition connected Thursday.

Felix Harry attended the schoolhouse from 1965 to 1972.

“I deliberation it’s, you know, amended for it to get torn down, for the spirits to spell connected their travel now and stuff,” he said.

“You know, that measurement we understand wherever you know, wherever everybody’s gonna beryllium treatment successful a due mode of letting the spirits proceed connected without them staying successful a spot for illustration this.”

Louie said they want group to look astatine this demolition arsenic a caller section for the erstwhile students, their families and their treatment journeys.

“Well, this is simply a caller chapter,” he said. “It’s a caller chapter, a caller page successful our treatment and coming together and being beardown and letting the world cognize that we’re still here.

“We’re not going anywhere, we’re resilient people. We’re strong, we’re warriors.”

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