#sliammon

[yourdailyqueer]

Evan Adams

Gender: Male

Sexuality: Gay

DOB: 15 November 1966

Ethnicity: Native Canadian (Sliammon)

Occupation: Actor, playwright, doctor

[montaphotoblr]

Adding very hot stones to the water in the cedar canoe

[montaphotoblr]

Heating stones for steaming the canoe

[soypunk]

So that's my take on the residential school system. That they just did a good job at robbing us of our culture. I was fortunate that I was able to maintain my language, and I'm thankful for that, that I remember stories, I remember legends, I remember the teachings. Thank goodness for that. Because if I'd been there any longer, then things might have been different. And it was for a lot of other people my age who just totally lost the language 'cause they were not allowed to use the language. We have people in this community that have never spoke the language. So there's no justification as far as I'm concerned. No amount of money. Now the government has turned around and said, "We're going to compensate people." They say, "Oh we apologize, and we'll give you ten thousand dollars." Well, for people that are so injured and broken and that are living on the streets or they've become alcoholics  or they've become so destitute. They've lost the teachings, they've lost the language, they've lost the culture. And to be handed this kind of money. It's like giving them poison.

Elsie Paul on the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement, Written as I Remember It