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FISHING LAKE FIRST NATION — As the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation approaches, Fishing Lake Knowledge Keeper Shirley Wolfe-Keller is ensuring the painful history of her family’s residential school experience is not forgotten, sharing her grandmother’s stories of loss, survival and resilience at the Muskowekwan Residential School.
In an interview with SaskToday, Wolfe-Keller tearfully spoke of the traumatic memories her grandmother used to share.
“Eleven of my grandmother’s 13 children were ripped away from her, away from everything they had ever known and suffered greatly,” said Wolfe-Keller.
Two of her grandmother’s children died at the school, and her grandmother never knew how they died or where they were buried. Five of Keller’s cousins, whom she helped to raise, were residential school survivors.
She recalls hearing stories of children running away and freezing to death in the middle of winter, and some were never found. The Muskowekwan Residential School building is the only remaining one, and many want it gone as it is a constant reminder of traumatic, painful times.
"Truth and Reconciliation brings together the truth and the accurate historical record of the Indian residential school system in Canada, the impacts are a legacy of harm against the Indigenous First Nation people," said said Wolfe-Keller. The importance of truth, healing and building new relationships between the Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities is very important to continue sharing survivors’ stories in a truthful and safe, informative and educational way. We all are affected in some way by residential schools and the atrocities the children endured, the abuse and deaths unclaimed. Many stories to date are real and the survivors lived to tell.
"The revelation of the systemic abuses and traditional and cultural destruction of Indigenous children in Canada's residential schools was huge. Children suffered intense fear of the unknown, starvation and were used as experiments, had a loss of identity and language, loss of the love of a parent, and suffered emotional and mental illness,” she added.
“For myself, I was one of the lucky ones. I had a good life with my grandmother, mother, aunt and uncle as constant caregivers. They were my rock and biggest supporters. In 1961, the government opened hotels and bars, which was a huge downfall, resulting in an increase in violence and alcoholism.
"When I was 16 years old, I started to experiment with alcohol but never drugs and by the age of 31, I was sober.
"We were all told we could make our own decisions as adults. I made some very bad decisions, that saw me having my first child at 18 years old. I wanted to turn my life around, for myself and to make my caregivers proud of me,” she said.
She attained her GED and continued her education, travelling across the province, continuing to share her grandmother's stories and experiences in residential schools. Wolfe-Keller became a teacher in culture and treaty and later a social worker instructor as a therapist in PTSD.
She made history as the first woman to be an elected chief in two different reserves, Fishing Lake from 2009-2011 and Muskowekwan from 2001-2005. She has also received a Contributions to First Nations people Award from the Saskatchewan Seniors Association.
She has participated in many workshops and a special shoe ceremony for the 215 graves found in B.C. She made two pairs of little moccasins for display during the ceremony. She continues to be proactive in her belief in a better tomorrow together.
