Stolen From Our Embrace

I’m reading Stolen From Our Embrace, a book written by journalist, Suzanne Fournier, and Sto:lo First Nations leader, Ernie Crey. The book is an investigation into the impacts of residential schools, the Sixties Scoop (this was where many First Nations children were taken from their families and adopted into white homes largely because First Nations parents were not seen as fit or in the case of Crey, were not able to access the same services as white families) Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, abuse and the lived effects of policies that have discriminated against First Nations people for generations. 

In the book, Crey talks about his own experience growing up in foster homes and looks at the negative effects of similar experiences on his other siblings. He describes how one of his sisters “now spends most of her time on Vancouver’s meanest streets, on a methadone-maintenance program but receiving no psychiatric care or counselling to help her cope with the immense losses in her life” (p. 43). The book was first published in 1997. I think it’s telling that about seven years later, Crey got confirmation that the DNA of his sister, Dawn, was found on the farm of now-convicted serial killer, Robert Pickton. The names of Crey’s siblings were changed in the book so that I can’t say for sure that this sister is Dawn, but I feel that it is and it’s heartbreaking to read. 

I can’t help but feel that society must bear responsibility for the adults produced by systems that have not always valued First Nations culture and have historically worked to systematically remove “Indianness” from First Nation people. This is not to say that all people who went through the foster care or residential school systems have turned out poorly nor that all the people who managed and ran those system did so with ill-intent, but some people did and there are many first-person accounts that speak to that.  I feel as I read this book that there needs to be more education about the effects of years of abuse and belittlement had on some First Nations people. Perhaps if more people understood that this story is not over and that racist policy still exists, there would be less people saying, “get over it.” It is nearly impossible to get over something that is still ongoing but I don’t think that most Canadians see the First Nations experience in those terms. I would love to see a media that works to educate itself more about the historical happenings that make for important, newsworthy stories like that of Ernie Crey and his sister, Dawn. 

Though this entry has been a bit bleak so far, there is some good news in the future. I am looking forward to interviewing a First Nations elder in the next few weeks. Harold Eustache is fluent in the Secwepemc language and has published a book, Shuswap Journey, which catalogues the accounts of his people. At 73 years old, he has years of experience and context and I’m hoping he’ll share those along with the effects that he’s seen government policy have on his community.