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    Wawahte: Subject: Canadian Indian Residential Schools
    Wawahte: Subject: Canadian Indian Residential Schools
    Wawahte: Subject: Canadian Indian Residential Schools
    Ebook180 pages2 hours

    Wawahte: Subject: Canadian Indian Residential Schools

    By Robert P. Wells

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    About this ebook

    Indian Residential School Survivors Society British Columbia, Canada

    For all the people who read this book may they be forever enlightened. By shining the light on a dark part of our past we have a chance to create a bright new day for aboriginals and all Canadians. We will all know what happened and then come to realize that what happens now and our vision for a future together is what really counts. Together we will stand for what is right and the intention of Indian residential schools and colonization will not happen again!
    With Deep Respect,

    Chief Robert Joseph,
    Executive Director
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTrafford Publishing
    Release dateMar 22, 2012
    ISBN9781466917187
    Wawahte: Subject: Canadian Indian Residential Schools
    Author

    Robert P. Wells

    Dr. Robert Preston Wells, Ph.D. was born in Los Angeles in the middle of the 20th Century and graduated from UCLA (B.A., summa cum laude), the University of Chicago (M.A.) and the University of Edinburgh (Ph.D.), where he also won a postgraduate scholarship, Writer's Bursary from the Scottish Arts Council, and membership in the Scottish Arts Society. He has taught undergraduate courses at UCLA, the University of Edinburgh, the University of Melbourne, and Millikin University in Illinois. He spent almost 30 years as a senior executive in IT publishing (Australian Macworld, Mobile Business, Upside Magazine, Linux Magazine,Technology & Investing, Asia) before semi-retiring to write fiction, and become an indentured servant to dogs and cats. His books include "White Bear," "The Virgin's Bastard," "Overlord / Underhand," "Judith in Hell," "Three True Tales" (short stories), "Veteran's Day" (one-act comedy), and "Journeyman: Selected Poems."Contact the author online:Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/auldmakarTwitter: http://twitter.com/auldmakar

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      Book preview

      Wawahte - Robert P. Wells

      50688.png

      The Northern Lights are Spirit Angels

      that lift us to our feet when our wings have

      trouble remembering how to fly

      As told to Robert P. Wells

      By Indian Residential School Survivors

      BOOK REVIEW By Kirkus Reviews

      Hundreds of thousands of Native American (First Nations) children in Canada were taken from their parents and sent to residential schools. Three survivors tell their stories.

      We are not three people who will be written about in the history books, declares Elder Stanley Stephens. For this reason, among others, the book in which his narrative appears is a crucial one to understanding a deeply troubling era in North American history. When it comes to tragedy, little is as enlightening—let alone affecting—as a first-person account; and the implementation of the residential school system for Native Americans certainly qualifies as tragedy. Its duration alone is harrowing—the first government-built, church-run residential schools opened in 1883, and the last didn’t close until 1996. In 2007, the Canadian government established a $1.9 billion compensation fund for those forced to attend the schools. Children were taken from their homes and compelled to live, instead, where they could not speak Indian, where their cultural traditions and values were consistently undermined. The stories Esther Faries, Bunnie Galvin and Stanley Stephens tell range in horror, from tales of being generally well-cared-for to others of beatings, sexual abuse and nonexistent health care that left many children dead. A common thread is attention to the future as a reason to ruminate on the past: [W]e need to know of this dark chapter of history if we are to see the sun rise upon all Canadians thriving in greater human harmony, Bunnie says. The future does not just happen—it is created. Stanley echoes that sentiment: [W]e go forth to seek peace after a conflict. Esther tells her poignant story in the hope that young Aboriginals and other previously persecuted minorities will make the effort to become successful at whatever they choose to do. Following the first-person accounts, a series of valuable chapters offer elucidating historical background information, including a timeline of forced integration, a list of schools, discussion points and a collection of official apologies over the years.

      An important work that collects and preserves stories whose value will never diminish

      Wawahte Reviewed by Mr. Peter Trueman

      Peter Trueman is a long-time well-known Canadian television and radio personality. In the 1960s and early 1970s he was a reporter, editor and producer for CBC Television News. Mr. Trueman was the original anchor for Global News, and the documentary producer of the Great Canadian Parks Television Series…

      The book Wawahte makes clear, not everyone responsible for the 100-year history of the residential schools was a monster, but the effect of the schools, even the better ones, was monstrous. That the people in charge of aboriginal affairs failed to see what misery they would bring was not just misguided, but was criminally stupid. It makes one glad to be alive in 2013, when the western world is relatively humane, but those early errors in our country’s history make one wonder what we are blind about today. During the time of the residential schools, there were even a few people in evidence that I would describe as evil, in particular, the Anglican Principal of Pelican Lake Indian Residential School, Rev. Marshall, more to be reviled than revered. He was no man of any God I’ve ever heard of; indeed, he was a racist brute. I quite agree that the book should be part of our school curricula.

      November 2013

      Comments about Bob Wells’ Wawahte

      I came to know Bob Wells when he was with the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources in southwestern Ontario. Bob was a senior enforcement specialist, and the only enforcement person whose advice I felt I could rely on with respect to the issues I was entrusted with. He took the broader – and, at the time, heretical—view that sometimes the best way to achieve consent is by talking, and not by due process.

      Bob’s little book—Wawahte – is exactly the kind of book I needed, but couldn’t find, when I was trying to sort out natural resource management issues involving Aboriginal harvesting rights. To learn all I could about the Anishinabek and their history and culture, I read everything I could find at the time, and listened to anyone who would talk. Wawahte would have helped so much.

      In Wawahte, three people tell their stories about residential schools, how the schools affected the lives of their generation, and of the generations to follow. Without an understanding of this aspect of Canada’s history, one cannot properly understand Canada’s Aboriginal peoples.

      The book is especially readable because Bob doesn’t scold or rail against the evil Crown; there is none of that. Rather, he steps into the background and simply lets the three narrators tell their stories.

      Wawahte is one of the few books that I would strongly recommend to anyone who needs to understand Aboriginal issues in Canada. It is important enough and good enough and readable enough that I am optimistic that those who need to read it will do so.

      Dave Loftus

      Peterborough, Ontario

      March 2014

      I’m Kath Leverette and this is An Educated Minute!

      It took 14 months of research and writing, but it was the adventure of a life-time and author Robert Wells can be justifiably proud of his new book Wawahte, telling the dark history of the Canadian Residential schools through personal stories by victims and survivors of the experience. Wells says it is an integral part of our history and although it is a very difficult subject, it’s time to move forward and find solutions to the many on-going First Nations problems. Telling the story is a first step.

      Wawahte offers first-hand accounts from three Indian residential school survivors affected by Canada’s former laws towards its original residents. Wells knows that by shining a light on our darkest past, this country Canada has a chance to create a bright new day for both Aboriginals and all other Canadians. Understanding the truth, recognizing the need for reconciliation, establishing new relationships and educating Canadians is what he hopes for as a result of Wawahte . . . well done Robert Wells! Your powerful Wawahte will be more of the ‘good news’ in everyone’s education!

      Katherine Leverette, Host

      CKWS Radio—Kingston, Ontario

      Canada

      Queen’s University - Peggy Lunn Teacher Resource Centre Librarian

      This book is a tremendous resource for personal growth as well as an educational tool for secondary teachers. The combination of narrative voice, the primary source based appendices from various government and church organizations, and the discussion suggestions are an effective one. Together, they give the reader access to historical facts, powerful statements of recognition of wrongdoing, and evocative personal accounts of the impact that the residential school era had, and continue to have, on our First Nations communities.

      I will undoubtedly be purchasing a bulk quantity of this resource to make available to our secondary teachers.

      FORWARD REVIEWS - (Three Stars)

      In Wawahte, Robert P. Wells sets out to tell the story of Canada’s First Nation children who were taken from their homes and their parents by the Canadian government and installed in Indian residential schools. For more than one hundred years, from 1883 to 1996, generations of children were subjected to physical, verbal, and sexual abuse; racism; and denigration in these institutions, and were punished for speaking their native languages or practicing their beliefs. As told to Wells by three Indian residential school survivors, these haunting narratives are a familiar but gripping story of Western imperial dominance. While the writing is unpolished the accounts are nonetheless harrowing and important.

      ©

      Copyright 2012, 2014 Robert P. Wells.

      All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written prior permission of the author.

      isbn: 978-1-4669-1717-0 (Softcover)

      isbn: 978-1-4669-1719-4 (Hardcover)

      isbn: 978-1-4669-1718-7 (eBook)

      isbn: 978-1-4907-0939-0 (Audio)

      Library of Congress Control Number: 2012903219

      Trafford rev. 10/08/2014

      51585.png www.trafford.com

      North America & international

      toll-free: 1 888 232 4444 (USA & Canada)

      fax: 812 355 4082

      Contents

      Dedication

      Acknowledgements

      Introduction

      Esther Speaks

      Prologue

      Part One Esther’s Story

      Mammamattawa Village

      Fur Trapping a nd the Summer by the River

      Shattered Innocence…

      Runaways

      Going Home

      Wawahte—Peace in the Heavens

      Part Two They Call Me Bunnie

      In Memory of a Great Man

      Part Three Elder Stanley Stephens

      A Man of Principle As Long as the River Flows, Grass Grows and Sun Shines

      Canadian Rangers

      Aboriginal Indian War Veterans

      Anti-Sealing Movement kills our way of Life

      Part Four Engaging the past…

      Part Five Introduction To Historical Background

      Knives, Iron Cooking Pots, Guns, Traps, Beads and Blankets

      Esther asks, Bob, why did they do this to me?

      Appendix I List of the Indian Residential Schools

      Appendix II Indian Residential School Apologies

      2008—The Government of Canada Prime Minister Stephen Harper:

      1993—Anglican Church of Canada Archbishop Michael Peers—To the National Native Convocation:

      2009—The Roman Catholic Church

      1994—Presbyterian Church of Canada

      1998—The United Church of Canada

      Appendix III Selected excerpts from the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

      The Ten Native American Commandments

      Discussion Points

      Epigraph

      Also by Robert P. Wells:

      book.jpg

      Dedication

      A memorial to the children taken

      and

      the families left behind.

      Wawahte is testimony to the strength of

      the

      Human Heart

      Acknowledgements

      I t is customary at this point for the author to state he could not have done it without the usual list of contributors, family, and friends. This statement could not be more—true and my list is long—thank you.

      In writing the historical narrative about the churches, Hudson’s Bay Company, and Indian residential schools my first acknowledgement and credit goes to The Beaver Magazine, which was re-named Canada’s History Magazine in 2010. I have throughout this book, drawn on but not specifically credited, some well-remembered ideas and words from long-forgotten issues of The Beaver to put Esther, Bunnie, and Stanley words into context and perspective. I extend my sincere appreciation to present and past staff and authors of this great Canadian icon.

      I gratefully acknowledge Esther Faries (Love), Stanley Stephens, and Bunnie Galvin (Kries-Tenniscoe) for sharing their stories. I extend my thanks and appreciation to them. Special acknowledgments go to Chief Robert Joseph, Angela White, and the other people of the British Columbia Indian Residential School Survivors Society, who have advised and supported me in this project.

      That said, I would not have undertaken writing Wawahte or my first book, Mile Post 104 and Beyond, if it were not for a special friend, Gerard (Jerry) Wyatt, a retired professor of biology who shares with me a love of the natural world. He encouraged me to write and then helped to adjust my scribbles into conventional English. Thank you Jerry.

      This same appreciation goes to the Baud family, Doug Huddle, Wm. Bruner and Brian Cameron, for their knowledge of books, and constructive critical assessments.

      A special Mequietch goes to Jack Ogama for the farewell blessing spoken in Ojibway to our four-year-old son Perry—a Canadian Forces

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