Sixty years ago, when he was four years old, Eddy Charlie went on a long walk with his grandfather, Alby. The forest was bright and green, teeming with life and the sounds of animals, birds, creeks.
They were in the traditional territory of the Cowichan People, also known as Duncan, and spoke the Hul91裸聊视频檘91裸聊视频檜mi91裸聊视频檔um language.
They walked until they arrived at a tree with branches that scraped the sky. Charlie91裸聊视频檚 grandfather spoke to him of the importance of the tree; of the bugs and soil and air around it, of how everything was interwoven 91裸聊视频� even into themselves 91裸聊视频� and that this affected what it meant to be human: to respect those around you, and to be kind.
91裸聊视频淥urs is a culture to be proud of,91裸聊视频� his grandfather said. 91裸聊视频淚f you ever forget that, come back here.91裸聊视频�
In hindsight, Charlie realizes his grandfather was preparing him for something. Six months later, his grandfather died and Charlie was forcibly taken to the Kuper Island Residential School.
Even now, Charlie remembers it all.
91裸聊视频淗ow can you forget?91裸聊视频� he says with a deep breath. 91裸聊视频淚t91裸聊视频檚 branded into my brain. It91裸聊视频檚 a scar I will carry for the rest of my life.91裸聊视频�
On the first day, the nuns cut his hair and took his clothes. After two weeks, physical abuse began when the children spoke their own languages, or acted how the school deemed inappropriate.
After about a month, a priest at the school raped Charlie. It started to happen once a month, then twice a month, then every day. The abuse continued for years.
One day, when Charlie was seven years old, the children and nuns were out on a walk in the forest when a couple of kids began to roll a large log down a steep hill.
91裸聊视频淚91裸聊视频檝e never said this to any of them, they all thought it was an accident. But I was so sick of the abuse, I jumped in front of the log,91裸聊视频� he says, lifting his cap to show a thin white line carved through his black hair, as if a child had drawn a crude line in the sand with a stick.
Charlie was brutally injured; his skull was crushed, his bones were shattered. He lost hearing in one ear. It changed the shape of his face, how he smiled and spoke. He was hospitalized for six months, and after that discharged from residential school and instead sent to day school.
After the injuries, people made fun of how he looked, spoke and struggled to hear.
91裸聊视频淚t made me twice as violent,91裸聊视频� he says.
He began to secretly work out. Then he began to fight back.
Teachers at the school reported him as more and more dysfunctional, until he was removed from his home and placed into foster homes. Charlie ran away each time until social services wrote him off as a lost cause.
91裸聊视频淭o be honest, some of the foster homes I ran away from were nicer to me than my family,91裸聊视频� he says.
Charlie91裸聊视频檚 parents and siblings suffered from their experiences at residential school. Alcoholism and violence were predominant in his home, and the homes in the wider Cowichan community.
One of the biggest acts of violence, however, was silence. No one spoke about what had happened to them or why they were so violent.
91裸聊视频淚 live with regret that I was silent,91裸聊视频� Charlie says. 91裸聊视频淢y younger sister didn91裸聊视频檛 know I91裸聊视频檇 gone to a residential school. She didn91裸聊视频檛 find out for decades.91裸聊视频�
By nine years old, Charlie relied on alcohol. He remembers stealing beer and sneaking off into the bushes, drinking until he passed out.
91裸聊视频淚 drank to black out what I could see inside my head,91裸聊视频� he says. 91裸聊视频淭he priest91裸聊视频檚 face91裸聊视频� his smile. Right behind my eyes.91裸聊视频�
At 14, he moved to Vancouver and lived on the street.
91裸聊视频淏eing homeless and drunk was preferable to being beat up,91裸聊视频� he recalls.
He was in and out of high school, and in various living situations, but alcohol was his one constant 91裸聊视频� until years later, he says, when he hit rock bottom.
While on the street, he met a friend who came from the most opposite of situations: an affluent, Caucasian Vancouver family. But, with demons of his own, he preferred to drink with Charlie. They were friends for years, even when they grew up and both got married. Charlie had two daughters.
But one day, while drunk, they got into an argument. Charlie beat his friend so badly he was hospitalized, while Charlie went to jail.
91裸聊视频淚n there I thought, 91裸聊视频楬e was my only true friend91裸聊视频� that91裸聊视频檚 just so messed up.91裸聊视频�91裸聊视频�
After that he stopped drinking.
91裸聊视频淭o be honest, alcohol is one of the reasons there are so many residential school survivors,91裸聊视频� he says. 91裸聊视频淓ven now in alcohol, I feel like, 91裸聊视频楾his is a place I can belong91裸聊视频�. A huge part of me still cries out for it. But then, I remember the violence.91裸聊视频�
He worked in construction for 15 years, until he fell 15 feet and broke a bone in his lumbar spine. So, he had to find something else to do.
He enrolled in Camosun College91裸聊视频檚 Indigenous Family Support Program. He wanted to help Indigenous people understand they don91裸聊视频檛 need alcohol in their communities to be strong.
But, he experienced racism on campus which made him so uncomfortable he spoke with the dean about leaving the school. Two Indigenous elders were a part of the conversation, and implored Charlie to stay.
91裸聊视频�91裸聊视频橶e are old now,91裸聊视频� they told me. 91裸聊视频榃e aren91裸聊视频檛 going to be here forever. But you have a voice. We need someone to take our place.91裸聊视频�91裸聊视频�
So, he returned to the program and met someone named Kristin Spray, a woman with whom he quickly became friends. Together, they decided that stories of residential school survivors needed to be shared.
91裸聊视频淚 don91裸聊视频檛 want children to grow up in a world of alcohol and violence,91裸聊视频� he says. 91裸聊视频淚 want them to be the true human my grandfather wanted us to be.91裸聊视频�
With her encouragement, he began to go into Indigenous communities and speak of his experiences. Together, Charlie and Spray launched Orange Shirt Day in Victoria, after seeing it take place in other locations across Canada.
Orange Shirt Day is tied with the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation on Sept. 30, and was launched by a woman named Phyllis Webstad, who had her orange shirt taken from her when she was entered into the Mission Residential School. It is a day to honour residential school survivors and their families, and to remember those that never made it.
However, Eddy Charlie91裸聊视频檚 outspokenness was not initially welcomed in Indigenous communities. Survivors didn91裸聊视频檛 want to talk, and their families didn91裸聊视频檛 know why they were getting upset. Plus, his violent past didn91裸聊视频檛 leave him with a good reputation.
91裸聊视频淧eople beat me up, spat on me,91裸聊视频� Charlie recalls. 91裸聊视频淚 felt like this is something that needed to happen91裸聊视频� I felt that it91裸聊视频檚 time to stop being scared.91裸聊视频�
Charlie and Spray have been encouraging others to share their stories for nine years, and with each year more and more people are opening up, like a clenched fist slowly releasing.
91裸聊视频淧eople who despised us and told us we shouldn91裸聊视频檛 do this now are going to their grandchildren91裸聊视频檚 schools and sharing their stories,91裸聊视频� Charlie says. 91裸聊视频淚 recently heard an elder speak at the B.C. Legislature, and share their experience for the first time. I got choked up, I was very moved.91裸聊视频�
Charlie91裸聊视频檚 biggest hope is to end the intergenerational trauma caused by residential schools.
91裸聊视频淚 want the children to know the way we are is not meant for them. That we are ashamed that all we gave them was the gift of hate, instead of knowledge and tradition.91裸聊视频�
This, he adds, is not only for Indigenous children, but all people. He wants everyone to listen to survivors, and use their words like medicine.
Since Orange Shirt Day was launched in Victoria, many people have come forward with their stories, while thousands of shirts have sold with proceeds going towards continued efforts to share the effects of residential schools.
91裸聊视频淲e are cleaning out all the ashes from an old fireplace,91裸聊视频� he says. 91裸聊视频淚t91裸聊视频檚 time we build a new fire and feel the warmth of community again.91裸聊视频�
