Page:TRC Canada Survivors Speak.pdf/19



"When I think back to my childhood, it brings back memories, really nice memories of how life was as Anishinaabe, as you know, how we, how we lived before, before we were sent to school. And the things that I remember, the legends at night that my dad used to tell us, stories, and how he used to show us how to trap and funny things that happened. You know there's a lot of things that are really, that are still in my thoughts of how we were loved by our parents. They really cared for us. And it was such a good life, you know. It, it's doing the things, like, it was free, we were free I guess is the word I'm looking for, is a real free environment of us. I'm not saying that we didn't get disciplined if we got, if we did something wrong, we, you know. There was that, but not, but it was a friendly, friendly, like a loving discipline, if you will."

- Bob Baxter

"I'm come from a long way, I came a long way. I'm from Great Lake Mistissini. That's where I was born in the bush. It was a pride for me to say that because I was born in the bush in a tent. It's something that remains in my heart going to the woods, living in the woods. It's in my heart. Before going to the boarding school, my parents often told me what they were doing in the woods when I was born. What they were doing, we were in camp with other families. The stories my father told us, my mother, too."

- Louise Bossum

Many former students spoke of what their lives were like prior to going to residential school. These recollections describe the ways in which cultural and spiritual practices and values had been transmitted from one generation to the next before life in the schools interfered with that process. They are also a reminder that these practices—and the languages in which they were embedded—are not things of the ancient past, but, rather, are vibrant elements of the childhoods of people who are still alive. Whether the governmental