鱿鱼视频app 250 people witnessed the gesture while gathered to hear Tourangeau describe his experience of attending Holy Angels Residential School in Fort Chipewyan, Alta.
鈥淚 was always trying to figure out a way to leave, to run, to go home, to find a way out,鈥� Tourangeau told the crowd Sept. 30.
He described being picked up and brought to the school in a police wagon at age seven or eight the way dog catchers would pick up strays: by chasing them and locking them up.
鈥淚 was very, very, scared. I wanted to go back home.鈥�
Tourangeau鱿鱼视频app culture valued long hair and he grew it long even as a child. Having it cut short is one of his first memories after he entered the school.
鈥淚 never felt so stripped,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 felt like something that was in me was taken away from me.鈥�
While attending residential school he suffered physical, psychological, emotional and spiritual abuse. He described having his feet beaten as punishment for trying to run away and having his questions about his parents answered with lies that they had given him away. At night he heard the cries of children, and during an escape attempt, he discovered graves in nearby woods. He feared the people in 鈥渂lack robes.鈥�
鈥淚t was the worst place on Earth.鈥�
After more than three years in residential school, Tourangeau was sent to Edmonton and made a ward of the government. By his 18th birthday, he had lived in 16 foster homes.
鈥淢ost of the foster homes I was in, I was either beaten for something I didn鈥檛 do or accused of something I didn鈥檛 do. ... Everything was still the same as the way it was in residential school. The only difference was there were fewer people, fewer kids.鈥�
By age 16, Tourangeau was a 鈥渇ull-blown鈥� drug and alcohol addict and had a reputation for running away. One day, a friend with whom he鈥檇 planned an escape was found dead, having committed suicide not far from the foster home they were living in. Tourangeau attempted suicide several times.
鈥淚 had a lot of fear. I had a lot of anger. There were times 鈥� I wanted to be dead,鈥� he said. 鈥淚n my mind, I had planned to go back and, everybody that harmed me, I would punish them.鈥�
Turning to the hundreds of people listening to him speak, he said, 鈥渋f it was back in the day, I would blame everything on you. I would hate all of you for what happened to me from day one.鈥�
But Tourangeau said he is 鈥渇ree鈥� today, thanks in part to his culture.
鈥淭here are times I go through pain, but I try to 鈥� deal with that pain I have. Forgiveness is a good thing.鈥�
This year, areas identified as possible unmarked graves in Kamloops gave him hope. They 鈥渙pened the doors of the residential schools,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he truth is starting to come out.鈥�
In June, First Nations leaders in Fort Chipewyan told Fort McMurray Today they would begin a search for unmarked graves in the area of Holy Angels Residential School. Founded in 1874, the school closed in 1974 and has been torn down. The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation has a listing of the names of nearly 100 Holy Angels students who never returned home.
Ducharme told Tourangeau the recounting of his childhood deeply moved him.
鈥淎s I was listening, I was thinking I鈥檓 at least three for three in this story. First of all, I鈥檓 Canadian 鈥� a Canadian from European roots. I鈥檓 a baptized Catholic, a cradle Catholic my whole life 鈥� and I鈥檓 a Catholic priest. Three institutions that abused you psychologically, physically, emotionally, spiritually, culturally,鈥� he said.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 consider myself someone who can take full responsibility for everybody else and for others鈥� actions and for a whole history of colonialism, but at the same time, I benefitted from all that. I benefitted from all those institutions that hurt you. The life I have today is a good life because of all of those institutions that hurt you. And I鈥檓 sorry.鈥�
He thanked Tourangeau for taking the 鈥渂old step鈥� of sharing his story publicly and expressed hope that they could collaborate on social projects in the future.
Tourangeau responded with an embrace and these words: 鈥淚 accept your apology on behalf of my reserve in Fort Chip and I thank you, not as a priest, but as a human being. Back when this happened to me, you weren鈥檛 there. I don鈥檛 blame you.鈥�
He gave Ducharme a staff decorated with wolf鱿鱼视频app fur and a dream catcher, then held a smudging ceremony, inviting all those present to join and smudge themselves one by one.