“…Once I knew that I could touch a man’s penis for candy, that set the pace for when I was a teenager…” Residential School survival Elaine Durocher told NOW Toronto.
They came in numbers. The young, the old, the workers, and the decision makers all put a halt to their daily routines and dashed into the magnificent Edmonton City Hall. From schools, governments, reserves, police post, businesses, parliament, council chamber, legislature, non profits, and many more with one message, NEVER AGAIN!
Edmontonians came out in numbers on September 28, 2018, at Edmonton City Hall, dressed in orange shirts to reflect the horrendous memories of the devastation of residential schools on First Nations communities across Canada. What kinds of memories did residential schools bring?Â
Elaine Durocher told NOW Toronto: “They were there to discipline you, teach you, beat you, rape you, molest you, but I never got an education. I knew how to run. I knew how to manipulate. Once I knew that I could get money for touching, and this may sound bad, but once I knew that I could touch a man’s penis for candy, that set the pace for when I was a teenager and I could pull tricks as a prostitute. That’s what the residential school taught me. It taught me how to lie, how to manipulate, how to exchange sexual favours for cash, meals, whatever the case may be.”
You certainly want to know why orange shirt, right? Well, Orange Shirt Day was inspired by B.C. residential school survivor Phyllis Webstad, who shared that her new orange shirt was taken away from her by residential school staff on her first day of school at the age of 6.
