I really support this initiative by the Winds of Change, said Lil wat Nation Chief Lucinda Phillips in the release. No one in our community is exempt from the impact of Residential School because of the intergenerational effects of the trauma. A campaign like Reconciliation Week is not only to educate others but it also represents another step in healing for the survivors by having their experiences acknowledged.
Canada s residential school system was designed to assimilate and integrate First Nations people into Canadian society, but many students faced horrible experiences and substandard education as a result. Stories of sexual, physical and mental abuse, illness and punishment for practicing Aboriginal culture are common among survivors of residential schools. For more than 80 years, up until 1981, Lil wat children were sent to residential schools in Williams Lake, Kamloops and Mission, said the release.