Abuse that happened
Physical- When the children were being unruly the Brothers and Sisters most common form of punishment was physical.
Mental- The Brothers and Sisters constantly bullied and embarrassed the students in front of others when they did something wrong.
Sexual- They sexually abused and threatened the children whether they misbehaved or not.
Mental- The Brothers and Sisters constantly bullied and embarrassed the students in front of others when they did something wrong.
Sexual- They sexually abused and threatened the children whether they misbehaved or not.
Stories from students that were there
"She (Dorene Bernard) said both nuns and priests physically and sexually abused both boys and girls. "Students were even abusing each other," she said." (MILLER, 2011)
Norah Bernard's brother was.. humilated for bedwetting...."They forced him to put on a girl' s dress and parade in the refectory in front of all the children.. I don't know why I didn't run away." (Knockwood, 1992)
Students were punished severely for speaking Mi'kmaw, particularly the little ones who just arrived and didn't understand. Isabelle (author of Out of the Depths) witnessed a little girl getting beat up for speaking that language. The next day Isabelle saw the little girl. "She had bruises on both her cheeks and on her throat were Wikew (nun) had pinched her, and her lips were swollen with a cut on the upper one. [One of her friends] tried to comfort her, Wikew called out "Get away... She's a bad girl and if I see you near her I'll give you the same thing!"" When little children first arrived... we would see bruises one their necks and cheeks... Once we saw the bruises begin to fade, we knew they had stopped talking." (Knockwood, 1992)
Betsey Paul (attendee of residential school) remembers "Dorothy was so sick, she used to puke right in her plate and Wikew used to beat her in the mouth with a spoon and stuff the fod mixed with vomit right back into her mouth again." (Knockwood, 1992)
Barbara Paul said sow one day.. and Sister heard her... Father Mackey came.. looking for Barbara and asked if she had said the word "sow". She replied that yes she had, apologized and promised not to do it again. Then "he hauled off and smashed her in face, not with an open hand, but with a fist." She got up and he hit her again with both hand, and she tried to crawl away. He "even pushe some of the desks back to get to her." He smashed her again, and this time "she went down again and didn't get up." "Her nose and mouth were both bleeding." (Knockwood, 1992)
When the girls were going to bed, Sister Wejipsetamite'w's would watch them. The girls were forced to "take our panties and and place them over our clothes at the foot of the bed. Wejipsetamite'w would come to the bottom of the bed and she'd take our underwear and she'd look iside of it then she'd put it back down. (Knockwood, 1992)
A little boy remembers a priest or a brother telling him he was "god's friend, and if i did things for him god would take me to heaven.... He opened a drawer an put his leg up there. He had nothing on underneath...I wouldn't- so he strapped me and told me i was going to Hell." (Knockwood, 1992)
One girl remembers getting hit over the head so hard that they "even broke the pointer". She was hit in the head so hard, that by the age of 14 she had lost her hearing. (Knockwood, 1992)