Crystal Gail Fraser and Jess Dunkin
In this post, we discuss Indian residential and day schools. Please take care as you read. If you are a Survivor or intergenerational Survivor of residential or day school and you need help, there’s a free 24-hour support line. Call 1-800-695-4419. Additional resources are available here.
The How I Survived Podcast grew out of a research project of the same name. Initiated in 2018 by the NWT Recreation and Parks Association (NWTRPA) in collaboration with Crystal Gail Fraser at the University of Alberta and guided by an advisory committee of Survivors and intergenerational Survivors, the research project was a response to a recognized need for more education about residential and day schooling generally and the place of recreation within this system specifically. We understand recreation to include a variety of creative, physical, social, and intellectual activities including, but not limited to music, art, sports, games, crafts, reading, and Boy Scouts and Girl Guides. How I Survived was also envisioned as a way to further truth and reconciliation in this country, and engage with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s 94 Calls to Action.
Work on the project was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic as well as administrative hurdles. As we awaited the proper permissions to conduct this research and safe conditions for in-person interviews, we turned to archives to better understand the historical context of schooling in the North. We published an article about yearbooks as sources for writing histories of residential and day schooling, including histories of recreation, in the North. We also undertook research about seasonal schools, which were designed to complement the system of northern residential schooling. After public health restrictions were lifted, we returned to the advisory committee’s goals of community engagement and gathering Survivors’ stories.
When we began this project, the advisory committee planned to share the recorded stories through a mobile exhibit and website. We were inspired by “We Took Care of Them,” an exhibit about special constables that travelled around the North in a hockey bag and wooden box. However, in April 2023, at our first post-COVID, in-person gathering, the advisory committee revisited the subject of how best to share Survivor stories and suggested we make a podcast.
A podcast made sense for a few reasons. First, podcasts are accessible. They are free to anyone with a smartphone or access to the internet. Podcast episodes can also be broadcast on community radio stations, which remains a popular way to share information and stories in the North. Thus, a podcast has the potential to easily reach people across different generations. Second, a podcast allows Survivors to speak directly to listeners about their experiences. To borrow from Todd Landman, podcasting is a means of communication that “captures the human part of knowledge creation” because it allows us to hear people “talk about what they do, why they do it and why it matters, in their own words.” Last, various members of the project team had experience in broadcasting and podcasting, so it matched our existing skill set better than exhibit production.
The How I Survived Podcast consists of seven episodes. In episode one, we (Crystal and Jess) share the origin story of the project and the podcast, and introduce listeners to the people and organizations who have contributed to How I Survived. Crystal also provides an overview of the history of residential and day schooling in the Northwest Territories, important context for the episodes to follow. Each of the subsequent episodes focuses on one Survivor’s story. The interviews have been lightly edited for clarity and length, and occasional narration recorded to provide additional context for listeners.
Life Before Residential School
The podcast is about so much more than recreation and residential school. Thanks to the wisdom and guidance of advisory committee member, interviewer, and co-host, Paul Andrew, each interview started with questions about the Survivor’s life before residential school. The interviewees talked about the places they were born and raised. They talked about their families and the activities that kept them busy day to day. They also talked about what they learned from their families, lessons that would prove important during their time in residential and day school.
Rassi Nashalik was born and raised in an outpost camp near Pangniqtuuq (Pangnirtung), in what is now Nunavut. In this clip, Rassi talks about her life in the camp.
Dave Poitras was born on a trapline near Fort Chipewyan in northern Alberta. In this clip, Dave talks about his family life before residential school.
Life During Residential School
While this project uses recreation as the entry point for understanding histories of residential and day school, Survivors talked more generally about institutional life. They talked about where they stayed, what they ate, and how they spent their days. They also talked about how it felt to be at residential school, away from their families. They talked about loneliness and missing loved ones and the Land. They talked about the way that students supported one another. They also talked about bullying and abuse.
Agnes Kuptana was born and raised near Uluksaqtuuq (Ulukhaktok). In this clip, she talks about being taken away to residential school when she was six years old and the accommodations at the Coppermine Tent Hostel in what is now Kugluktuk, Nunavut.
Recreation at Residential School
Survivors had varied experiences of recreation while at residential school. For some, recreation was a lifeline; an escape; something fun; a way to care for one another; a way to remain connected to the Land, home, and their Indigenous identities. For others, recreation was yet another thing they were forced to do. It introduced ways of being and doing that were contrary to how they were raised, and it exposed them to ridicule and violence.
Sharon Firth was born and raised on a trapline near Akłarvik. In this clip, Sharon talks about how cross-country skiing connected her to the land while she was institutionalized at Stringer Hall in Inuuvik (Inuvik).From the age of 6 to 15, Beatrice Bernhardt lived at Grollier Hall in Inuuvik. In this clip, Beatrice talks about some of the negative things about recreation and sport.
In this clip, Agnes talks about how recreation was a form of care between children at residential school.
Life After Residential School
All of the interviewees also talked about their life after residential school. Here again, there were common topics and themes. Chief among them was healing. For some this came through therapy. For others this came through reconnecting with their families, Land, language, and culture. For still others, recreation was part of their journey to wholeness.
In this clip, Ernie talks about how recreation and sports helped him understand who he was and where he came from.
In this clip, Dave talks about his healing journey after residential school.
To date, we have interviewed six Survivors–four women and two men–of different backgrounds from across the North, who were collectively institutionalized at fourteen different residential and day schools. While they have a diverse range of experiences, there are many more stories to tell about recreation and residential and day schooling in the North.
We are interested and willing to produce a second season of the podcast, if there are northern Survivors who would like to share their stories. If you are interested in being interviewed, please reach out (Jess Dunkin, jdunkin@nwtrpa.org, or Dr. Crystal Gail Fraser, cgfraser@ualberta.ca).
You can listen to the How I Survived Podcast on:
- Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/how-i-survived-podcast/id1774961156
- Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5raoLvn2Uv857FkPzmnHlA
- Podcast website: https://www.howisurvived.ca
Crystal is a historian and Indigenous studies scholar at the University of Alberta and author of By Strength, We Are Still Here (2024).
Jessica Dunkin is a settler historian and writer, who has lived in Sǫǫ́mbak’è in Treaty 8 since 2015.She is the project manager for How I Survived and author of Canoe and Canvas (2019).
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