People & Culture
Connie Walker discusses her late father’s experience of abuse as a First Nations child at St Michael’s Indian Residential School in Saskatchewan
“Who has been held accountable for the things that have been done to us? Nobody.”
– a survivor of St Michael’s Residential School
Investigative journalist Connie Walker joins us on Explore to talk about her new Spotify podcast series, Stolen: Surviving St Michael’s (episode six drops the same day as this interview).
It’s the story of her late father’s experience of abuse as a First Nations child at St Michael’s Indian Residential School in Saskatchewan. And then the beating he later gave as an adult to the priest who assaulted there, and Connie Walker’s own quest to find that priest and seek justice.
Surviving St Michael’s is an incredibly powerful, personal and accessible account of the impacts of the Residential School system, and the painful echoes it has through the generations.
Connie Walker says, “it’s changed the way I think about my life.”
At its essence, Walker’s podcast series, and our conversation, focuses on why we’ve heard so much about the brutal experiences of survivors of residential schools, but there has been so little effort to bring those who carried out that abuse to account.
There is a hotline for Survivors of Residential Schools and their family members, available 24-hours a day for anyone experiencing pain or distress as a result of Residential School experiences: 1-800-721-0066
Are you passionate about Canadian geography?
You can support Canadian Geographic in 3 ways:
People & Culture
Indigenous journalists are creating spaces to investigate the crimes committed at Indian residential schools, grappling with unresolved histories and a reckoning that still has a long way to go
People & Culture
The story of how a critically endangered Indigenous language can be saved
People & Culture
Phyllis Webstad turns her residential school experience into a powerful tool for reconciliation through Orange Shirt Day
People & Culture
During Truth and Reconciliation Commission events, personal items were placed in a carved bentwood box to symbolize the journey toward reconciliation. How far have we come?