Dr. Terri-Lynn Fox (left) and Elder Keith Chief Moon (Photo: Southern Alberta Council on Public Affairs on YouTube)

By Justin Goulet

SACPA: Exploring the deadly effects of Canada’s residential schools

Jun 24, 2021 | 10:23 AM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – An important conversation has been started on the impacts of the residential school system in Canada.

Late last month, 215 child graves were discovered at the site of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Columbia.

READ MORE: “Unthinkable” – 215 child graves found at former Kamloops Indian Residential School

The Cowessess First Nation in Saskatchewan has also announced the finding of hundreds of unmarked graves at the site of the former Marieval Indian Residential School near Regina.

READ MORE: Cowessess First Nation discovers ‘hundreds of unmarked graves’ at former residential school site

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This week, the Southern Alberta Council on Public Affairs (SACPA) welcomed Kainai Nation member Dr. Terri-Lynn Fox and Elder Keith Chief Moon, a survivor of the residential school system on the Blood Reserve, to discuss the effects of the system and how it can be remediated.

Their full presentation can be viewed below.

Fox noted that both of her parents attended a residential school and she herself attended Indian day school on the Blood Reserve. She said having open and honest discussions about what happened at residential schools is an important step to move forward.

She remarked that, “it’s not that I don’t know the effects [of residential schools], it was that it wasn’t talked about because the spiritual phenomenon of the traumas, of the experiences, of the changes, the rapid changes – language and separation and disconnect – they’re felt through each generation in a different way.”

“Until we begin to acknowledge and admit and heal and move forward…than those changes can begin to be seen on a broader perspective, but all Canadians are responsible to be part of that change in a good way.”

Fox listed the schools attended by Blackfoot Confederacy children, with St. Paul’s and St. Mary’s located on the Blood Reserve, Old Sun and Crowfoot on the Blackfoot Reserve, and St. Cyprian and Sacred Heart on the Peigan Indian Reserve.

(Image from SACPA presentation)

Elder Keith Chief Moon spoke of his experience in the residential school system. He said that from the get-go, “it was very traumatic.” He noted both of his parents were members of the church – his mother being a Catholic and his father, an Anglican.

“We were brought to St. Mary’s and right after that we were subjected to a lot of abuse because of my dad being Anglican, then we got transferred into the Anglican [side] and we got chastised, we got abused big time because my mother was catholic, so all along we got [abused] from all sides.”

He said to cope with the abuse from the system, he resorted to alcohol, “because I just didn’t want to experience it, it was just very traumatic, but I managed to complete and survive.”

After surviving the residential school system, he obtained a high school diploma in Cardston and attended the University of Lethbridge. He eventually achieved a B.A. and B. Ed. In Native American Studies and an M.A. in Education. He is currently free of alcohol and drugs.

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