Editor:
The Wednesday, April 25 event at the shíshálh longhouse was a full house: full of residents both Indigenous and non-Indigenous, full of astonishing food contributions from both of those sources, full of energy, full of beautiful gifts from young native dancers, singers, drummers – and graced by elders who poignantly shared residential school realities, expressing not only the pain of alienations from family and culture and the enduring of mental and physical abuses, but also going on to explain the intimate and personal and psychological pains along with the unrelenting and long-lasting and wide-ranging aftermaths.
Full and happy stomachs took a back seat to the insights, the grace, the spiritual depth, the heart and soul, the embraces, and the warmth of life that even the well-stoked fire couldn’t compete with. I will carry this event in my heart forever!
Nina Haedrich, Sechelt
