National Aboriginal Day

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Today is National Aboriginal day, the annual celebration of this country’s First Nations, Metis and Inuit people. It’s also a day of recognition of their difficult past at Residential schools across the nation.

When Bud Whiteye pulls into the long driveway towards his Residential school memories come back.
“I was physically raped on the third dormitory here…over and over again. Not all at once, but night after night after night. I was also stripped down at the boiler room left to the mercy of the person who shovelled the coal into the burners.”

Taken away from his family for six years, he was repeatedly assaulted by men, including the Minister at the institute.

Governor General David Johnston took a tour inside, walking into the very room Bud was raped, learning from survivors what happened behind those walls.
“Absolutely horrific a story like that, you know how could that happen in our country? But you know it’s important that those stories are told, it’s important that this Mohawk institute, the Residential school be preserved so we know those stories.”

The Mohawk Institute Residential school was established in 1831 and it wasn’t closed until 1970 for more than 100 years survivors dealt with the pain physically, emotionally and sexually that happened to them here. It’s pain that’s well documented in the truth and reconciliation report. The Governor General says National Aboriginal day is about healing the wounds of the past and creating a better future. For those who have family members who were forced into this school, stripped of their identities, this day allows them to tell their stories in solidarity.