It brings me back to time in my life
my time when I lived in peace and comfort and safety
and I felt protected by my family
and
excuse me
that was probably
the safest time in my life
[Reporter] Barbara McNab-Larson still remembers the day changed
I remember
when they came to get us from here
the first year we went in a livestock truck
[Reporter] And the next year...
[McNab-Larson] They came out with an army truck
and they drove us back to the school
in these trucks
and they unloaded us like we were just little animals
[Reporter] She is one of thousands
forced through the doors for nearly 80 years
of Kamloops Residential School
[McNab-Larson] The first things they did
was they took us down to our cleansing room
where they cut off our hair
then they deloused us
then they scrubbed us down with disinfectant
like we were diseased animals
sorry
[Reporter] The name of the institution is now known worldwide
students always suspected children were buried here
and now they are reliving the horror
For three days
I went into a depression so deep
and a grief that I never knew I had
[Reporter] No cross or stone
and scarce information to mark who lies buried here
It's going to be Christmas
and we want to get all ready for Christmas don't we
[Reporter] The Catholic order Sisters of St. Anne taught at the school
We have knowledge of maybe about 20 children that died in the school
over that 80-year period.
[Reporter] Sister Marie Zaroni belongs to the order
so there is a hint in the records of another cemetery
connected to the school
but we don't know where
I actually don't know if that reference comes from that school
or from another school
[Reporter] At Kamloops Residential School
the threat of death hung in the air
[McNab-Larson] You better behave
don't get out of line because there's the graveyard
and there's also the river
those were warnings that were given to us as little tiny children
five, six years old
[Reporter] Death was real here
we do know how some of these children died
records from the 1930s were shared with us
Leslie Lewis
nine-year-old boy
died from an epileptic seizure
the Indian agent filed a report noting
the overcrowded conditions in the institution
"during an epidemic, it is impossible to properly isolate
the patient in contacts."
The need for separate quarters to house sick children is evident
I wanted to go home
and I was weeping
I remember there's a train whistle
the trains would go by Kamloops and I'd hear the whistle
and it became one of my triggers later on
after I left a residential school
you know I'll tell you the truth
that years of residential school was like a blur to me
suicide
I remember this young man or young boy
hung himself in the bathroom
still today they remember that
they still get nightmares about it
and about to runaways
and people jumping trains
getting killed jumping a train you know
freezing outside
running away in the wintertime
[Reporter] There was another girl, Florence Morgan
whose age is not noted
died from a viral infection
the Indian agent reported her body was returned home by truck
And that's one of the things about life lessons
say for example uh
when he got the strap the first time
I sounded like a coyote howling and crying
um the second time, not much so then
the third time
I uh
he wanted me to cry
and I said I'm not gonna cry
and I went and found a nice uh spot where
there was nobody around a and then I had to cry
[Reporter] Some never made it home
the girl's name was Mary Francois
aged not noted
died in hospital from a blood clot in her brain
her father, chief of the Adams Lake band
who only saw her after death wrote a letter
requesting when a child of the school is taken sick
and requires hospital attention
that the parent be notified at once
the community gathered testimonials in this book
when you're growing up you're not allowed to do something
I wasn't allowed to read this book
[Reporter] Mike McKenzie reads a passage from survivor James Child
I walked along the riverbank
and I found that student floating in the water by the shore
his body was stiff
for finding that deceased person
I was strapped 150 times on each hand
I think there was a few times that happened
[Reporter] McKenzie's father's story is also in here
my dad Terry Denault went to the uh
we call him shiny
and he went to the Kamloops Indian Residential School
we were so young
we didn't know where to turn for help
I was whipped so many times
that eventually you get so tough
that you block those things out
and you can't feel things
that's how it was here
[Reporter] This oral history fills the gap
between the still-incomplete record of the residential school era
many records were pulped by the federal government
including from Kamloops
funeral records destroyed
Indian agent reports destroyed
student lists destroyed
those records were not highly um
highly valued in terms of being preserved uh from uh
you know the from the recycling process that went on
[Reporter] John Malloy, an author and historian
who work for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission
a lot of that information was simply lost
[Reporter] He said Indian Affairs officials sometimes failed to record information
we report abuse of these children to you
when you don't do anything about it
and therefore we're not going to be bothered reporting to you any longer
[Reporter] The same lack of care accompanied the death of children
children died, children were buried
parents were not necessarily told that they had died
children were buried in unmarked graves
adjacent to the schools often times
[Reporter] Death, a part of life in residential schools
but there's one institution with key information
still in the shadows
[Malloy] There were records kept by nuns
and records kept by uh priests
um and and their diaries
and the claim was made that these were personal documents right
[Reporter] Zeroni says a fire at the school destroyed the first 30 years of records
she said they have opened their archives to aid in the search
but as for letting outsiders sift through the more personal files
I would need to know what
what it is they're looking for
and no we wouldn't just turn them all over
[Reporter] But the one history that can never be hidden
is the one carried by those who came home
[McNab-Larson] I call upon all our people across our Turtle Island
all of our First Nations
it doesn't matter whether you're a Mohawk or a Cree
or a Dene or a Shushwap or Gitxsan
we're all one people
we're one nation
and it is our cultural and traditional strength I believe
that has allowed us to carry on
and to live
Jorge, Canadian Cardinal Thomas Collins
and the prime minister seemed to disagree
over whether the church did hand over records
from residential schools
what did your research show?
Well they're kind of both right
most Catholic entities including the those who ran Kamloops Residential School
turnover records to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission
but about 17 didn't
what none of them turned over were personnel files
like priests discipline reports
transfers
diaries that itemized daily life in residential schools
and I've spoken to some who work for the TRC
who say it's time to give an independent body subpoena powers
to search all church archives in Canada
and why did the Government of Canada destroy some of the records?
Well it was an issue of priorities
Indian Affairs prioritized records around land and band membership lists
so they when they were faced with edicts to recycle paper
because of paper shortages
they saw resident school records as expendable
but we don't even have an idea of what was lost
because the government also destroyed files
that describe the records that were pulped
thanks, Jorge