WELCOME....

to our newest followers Mavis Benson, baby_ray_12, Crystal Trudeau and Terra Matthews. from your Administrator

Rocky Patrick...

So I asked…so I asked the boys how to dance. We were in dorm, getting ready for a dance this one time. Also in the washroom doing our hair. Dabbing it down with Brylcream then running a comb through it until we got it just where we wanted it. Different boys had different styles.

And that’s when I told them I didn’t know how to dance. I told them I never ever danced before. I guess I was 11. And so…and so…they said just move up and down….and make sure you move your legs. You have to move your legs to the music….back and forth. This way and that way.

This would have been in about 1967 when I was 11.

‘Just do what Rocky Patrick does.’

Someone said that. They told me to just copy Rocky Patrick. ‘Rocky’s a good dancer,’ they said.

So…so…we get to the dance...down at the showhall. And that’s when I decide…okay….it’s time to do this. I have to learn somehow and probably the best way is to just get onto the dance floor. And copy Rocky Patrick.

So I ask my sister to dance. My sister Sharon who is older’n me. And that’s how I learn to dance.

By copying Rocky Patrick.

Lejac Indian Residential School organized several dances for its students throughout the school year. Usually one in the fall and one before Christmas, then again at Easter before everyone went home for the holidays and of course at year end before everyone left for the summer.

And also on special occasions like when the students from Williams Lake came to Lejac for the weekend for games or just to visit.

Miss Ann

I’m not scared to dance anymore. We had another dance and I even asked Miss Ann for a dance. She is our Secretary at our school and very pretty. She said yes.

December 27, 2011

We decided some time ago to create a post or website where we can write stories or put up photos from our ‘residential school days’ for others to see. We ended up at Blogspot.com which was created by Google for people wanting to create a ‘blog’ which is a little like a website where you go and see what people are talking about or posting. And in our case, our blog is called ‘Lejac Indian Residential School’ and can be found at http://lejac.blogspot.com/ where we have so far posted quite a number of photos starting around 1960 up to the early 1970s from a disk containing over 300 original photos sent to me by Jim Callanan a few years ago.

After we created the blog, I found Jim Callanan (formerly Br. James) through the phone book and we talked about what it was like there....at Lejac...in the 1960s. I sent him the link and he got back to me couple days later and made some changes to things I’d written. Which I later posted and you can see it by going to the blog, where I talk about being there, at Lejac, and his stuff is the writing in blue. And he and I agreed to stay in touch.

We launched the blog on September 1, 2009. We have since posted over 130 times. A posting is each time you add a story or put up some photos on the blog.

After we went on-line, about a year and a half after we launched the blog, I was notified by someone who grew up at Lejac. His mom was our cook at residential school in the 1960s and he sent me emails to say how much he enjoyed the blog. Jim also sent us several stories and more photos. We sent our link to The Travelling Feather, the McLeod Lake Indian Band newsletter who put a small blurb on ‘lejac.blogspot.com’ in the Band newsletter back in 2010.

Then in early 2011 we were approached by a young fellow out of Kelowna who was working on a presentation for his class. He chose to do it on Lejac and requested our permission to use stories from our blog. We graciously agreed. In return we requested his permission to print our exchange in the blog and he granted us that permission. Look for that beginning Feb. 5th, 2011. We met another student on-line (never actually met her in person) requesting permission to use things from our blog just this November (of 2011) for a paper she was working on. Once again we graciously acquiesced.

The blog is for everyone, if you want to share old photos or your stories on residential school. Speaking of photos, we came across quite a number of very old pictures on-line (on Facebook) which we hope to get permission to post here on our blog. I will work on that. Failing that, you may go to Facebook and search a group called ‘Lejac Residential School Memorial Project’ for some stories as well as photos.

WHY DO WE DO THIS?

Probably mostly for the heart and mostly for the soul. I spent most of my childhood there. Eight years to be exact. And all the things we done, the things we saw, heard, learned…affected us for the rest of our life. Whether for good or for bad. I prefer to think for good. Spoke to a fella number of years ago now…we were both there together in the 1960s and we agreed years later that it was not all bad. Not all of it was bad! And we also agreed that given the conditions on our reserve back in the 50s and 60s for some of us Lejac might have been a safe haven. I understand not everyone feels that way.

But for me it’s important to try and feel the good things we learned there. And then move forward. I hope others may find their way as well.

Our email address is ‘jackman2@telus.net’. Thank you and you all have a nice day. Verne Solonas, Administrator

1968

IN HOUSE LEAGUE

We started an in-house league in 1968-69. All the boys in Seniors and Intermediates signed up and we formed several teams of maybe 10 boys to a team including the goalie. And they posted our schedule of all our games on the wall in Rec room.

And competition was fierce. All the teams wanted to be in top spot. The games lasted from after Xmas until April when our ice started melting. In fact, it was so warm out that early April there were bare spots on the ice where the ice had melted through. And the boys on the ice had to watch where they were skating so as not to trip on the bare spots. In the final game of the year, they announced each player one by one as they stepped on to the ice. And a big cheer would go up as the students lined up around the boards to cheer on their favourite team. Then they announced Gilbert Chingee’s name. He was one of the goalies for one of the teams. And….he stepped onto the ice…then fell down on to the ice. In front of the whole crowd. And it just erupted!! Guess he stepped onto a bare spot. And the whole crowd went up into a cheer as he gathered himself up and off to his net. That was so-o-o funny!!

STONY CREEK

We went to Stony Creek one day in about 1968 for a performance. It was a small Native community just south of Vanderhoof. We went in another bus they brought in from Fraser Lake. The school bus was blue and it was another bus driver I never saw before. All us boys in the Band got sick after we returned from Stony Creek. Almost our entire Intermediate dorm came down with food poisoning. Even Mr. Kenny was in bed sick.

Mr. Kenny

Mr. Leonard Kenny arrived at Lejac in about 1967 as the Intermediate Dorm supervisor. He stayed on for two or three years. He was from Newfoundland. He was the one who introduced all the boys to Boy Scouts. Later he began to train with the Vanderhoof police. I guess he wanted to be a cop. His girlfriend was a nurse at Vanderhoof and she used to come to visit him, sometimes sitting in the Rec room with all us boys. I just remember she was very pretty and nice.

Later, in 1968, Charlie Kenny came in as the Intermediate Dorm supervisor and Leonard Kenny got bumped up to Senior Dorm. Charlie Kenny was Mr. Kenny's younger brother. First day in the fall of 1968....this is so funny....first day at residential school that fall we were all in dorm getting ready for bed. And we had just met Charlie Kenny. He was in the little bedroom in the corner of Intermediate Dorm when all of a sudden he poked his head out of his bedroom and shouted ‘Who farred that?’

What? Again he repeated himself. We all looked at each other wondering what the hell he was saying. Turns out someone threw a pop can which bounced off his bedroom wall. Now he wants to know who threw it. He was saying ‘Who fired that?’ except the way he talks everybody thought he wanted to know who farted!

Mr. Leonard Kenny was the one who I remember was just about swearing one morning when we were all getting up in dorm. Brother James, the Senior Dorm supervisor, came in carrying a small radio and told Leonard Kenny someone just got shot. Mr. Kenny kept saying over and over ‘I can’t believe it. I just can't believe it!!' That was the time Robert Kennedy got shot. Robert Kennedy is John F. Kennedy’s younger brother. JFK used to be the U.S president.

At residential school...

I guess I first noticed it that year...when I was 12. 12 years old at residential school. We all went for a walk to Ghost Town one Saturday, all us Intermediates and the Seniors. And me and Mo and Les we were all at the back of the pack. That's when I turned around and saw one of the Intermediate boys walking behind us. He was the last boy...walking all by himself as most boys ran up ahead disappearing into the forest ahead of us. He was always by himself. All the boys at residential school all had their friends...who they hung out with doing stuff together. Made things a lot more fun.

Me I hung out with Mojo everywhere...always doing stuff together. He was my best friend. Sometimes Les hung out with us too. And we would always do everything together at residential school!

Except this other boy behind us. No one ever hung out with him. He had no friends. Always by himself. Not only that but the boys were always making fun of him....and picked on him.

I did something different this year...at residential school...in 1968. Something new.

I stopped. And I waited. I waited for that boy. I...Les...Mojo looked at me. Wondered why I stopped...and waited. Finally I told them let's just wait for him. And so that's what we did. We waited for him...and finally he reached to where we were standing...in that field above our residential school. And when he reached us we all turned around and we all walked together.

He walked with us. That was that year at residential school....and when sometimes things were awesome!

me and marvin...

When we start at residential school we were pretty young. Me and Marvin we both start the same year...in 1963 when we were just 7 years old. I always thought I was a pretty tough kid. But that first year I remember Ian Scott, our Junior Dorm supervisor come to me one day, maybe about couple weeks after school start that fall. And he ask me to go up to dorm to see what's wrong with Marvin.

So I go up to our Junior dorm and I see Marvin sitting on his bed in dorm. And he gots his head down. And I ask...and I ask him...I ask him what's wrong. And he say...and he say...he say he's 'lonely'. I ask him why....and he say he keep thinking of him his mom back home. I tell him don't think about back home. I tell him I never ever think about back home. I tell him if he think about back home it's just going to make him lonely.

'So don't ever think about back home.'

I then...I then tell him let's go play outside. I tell him we should go outside to the playground. Finally he come with me outside...and that's where we play. Me and Marvin....when we were kids.

NEXT ISSUE....

GIRLS!!!!!

OUR STATS (from facebook),,,,

Regarding 'lejac.blogspot.com' it is a collection of stories when we were young. When we were there. Since we opened we have had 7,131 hits from Canada alone, 651 hits from the US, United Kingdom 93 hits, India 77 hits, Malasia 63 hits, France 40, Germany 28, Australia 23, Russia 10 and Thailand 10 hits. For a total of 8,220 hits (or page views). And 7 followers at last count.

verne solonas, administrator

REGARDING THAT DOCUMENTARY...

...spoke to cftk in Terrace who apparentyl did or had a copy of that documentary but UNFORTUNATELY it was never saved! Too too bad. Some of us were in the film. It would have been the only time you would have ever seen us 'live in 1970'. Cheers folks. Maybe in the next life huh.

LEJAC DOCUMENTARY....

A friend contacted me by email and recommended we try CFTK at Terrace who apparently did the documentary in 1970. We have since been in contact with the station and will get back to you on that film on a later date. administrator

'Lejac' , CBC, 1970-71

CBC made a documenatry film of Lejac residential school in about 1970-71 which aired on CBC in July 1971. It was a half hour documentary special featuring life at the school from day to day. I tried to find that film but was unsuccessful. Maybe one of you can locate it. Best of luck! Administrator

LINK.....

There is a Lejac Group on Facebook you might be interested in. Lots of photos there some of which we have on disk. I was quite interested in the older pictures from the 1930s and on. The name of the Group is Lejac Residential School Memorial Project. You need to be invited to the Group. If you can't find anyone to invite to the Group please email me at jackman2@telus.net. Cheers and Best Regards. administrator

WELCOME....

to all our Followers. Sorry also I have not kept this up to date but we have been very busy.

FROM LEJAC TO VANCOUVER...

I remember the first major trip we did with the Lejac Marching Band. It must have been 1964 or 65. We had already done a trip north to Dawson Creek, Taylor and Fort St. John. However this was our first venture south. We spent the first night in Pr. George at the Catholic high school.

We arrived in Kamloops early afternoon the next day where we let all the boys out for a wander in the city for a good leg stretch. The first thing I knew the boys were putting pennies and nickels into the parking meters just to see the arrow move up the dial. Of course the boys had never seen a parking meter, nothing like that in places like Tachie, Talka or McLeod Lake. The other big fascination was pigeons. As one of the boys said "Gee! Sure friendly bird" then proceeded to try and catch one. We ended up at the big Okanagan band tattoo. There were bands from all over BC including the Canadian Forces Band. The boys had perfected most of the moves developed by the RCMP Musical Ride. They did some rather complicated figure marching all done to the music they played, mostly Irish rebel songs. It was quite a site to see. In the stadium in Vernon the Canadian Forces Band members watched the Lejac band. They stood up and applauded about half way through the routine and remained standing until the boys were finished because they were so impressed with the performance. For me that was a very proud day. We also performed in Penticton and Kelowna. We were housed in the Armed Forces base in Vernon and ate in the cafeteria.

Another fond memory was our drive over the Hope Princeton Highway. We met and passed an old antique car with a rumble seat. A few miles later they passed us and all the boys started to encourage our bus driver to "catch ‘em up and pass ‘em back". This went on back and forth for quite a few miles.

The boys were also counting the rural mail boxes at the end of people’s driveways as this was also a new experience since there were no RR mail boxes up in our area at that time. They also had their first experience of fast food as we made a few stops at McDonalds and Dogs & Suds to feed everyone.

In Vancouver we gave each of the boys $20.00 and took them into Eaton’s department store. With Bruce McCormick in the lead and myself taking up the rear we took the boys onto the escalator and headed up to the sixth floor only to turn around and take them all the way down to the basement. We then set them loose to go and find a treasure to spend their money on. What an experience for a group who had never seen a building so large or ever ridden on an escalator.

We tried to take the boys to Marine Land in Stanley Park but unfortunately the park attendants were on strike. We did however manage to take the boys to the Vancouver Planetarium. As we sat there for the show it felt like it was night and they took the roof off the building and we were looking at the stars. I do believe a few of the boys fell asleep during the show.

All in all it was a wonderful experience for all, and a real eye opener for the boys.

ST. JOSEPH'S.....

I’d heard of Williams Lake residential school before. By 1965. Then one year they came to our school and all I remember was they had a Scottish pipe Band which was all girls. And they played for us in our Rec room one day and it was loud. This was about 1966. And their drums sound different than ours.

Williams Lake is approximately 150 south of Prince George in northern British Columbia. Lejac at Fraser Lake is about 100 miles west of Prince George. And almost every year there was an exchange between the two residential schools at Lejac and St. Joseph’s, the residential school just south of Williams Lake. St. Joseph’s brought their pipe Band or their girls or boys teams to Lejac for the weekend. Sometimes Lejac travelled the 250 miles which was an all-day trip just to get there and spend the whole weekend at their school bringing the Band or teams for a weekend of fun and games.

One year, in about 1968, we put together a hockey team made up of all us Intermediate and Senior boys and then travelled to Williams Lake to play hockey against their team. It was one of the first time I ever went on a road trip for anything. That evening we were sent to one of their dorms and we were told to pick a spot on the floor in between their bunks and that’s where we slept. Me and Gilbert we hung out together sometimes at residential school and we met one of the boys from Williams Lake residential school who we latched onto. We asked him everything about their school and how they do things there. His name was Rene Elkins. He was me and Gilbert our guide at Williams Lake.

Gilbert Chingee is an older boy from McLeod Lake in Senior Dorm at our school. Gilbert is Lester’s older brother.

That Saturday we played hockey against their team at the arena in town. It was a pretty even game. Can’t remember who won. But I remember their coffee wasn’t as good as ours. Also their school wasn’t as big as Lejac. Our school was H-U-G-E!

One year, maybe in 1967 they sent their girls to Lejac for the weekend. There was this big huge grudge match between their girls and our girls. In the game of ringette. We had a court up at the old barn at Lejac where students from all the classes enjoyed games of ringette or sometimes did gymnastics. And the girls had a game that Saturday. The barn was packed as all the students from our school watched the game. Some of us students climbed the balcony overlooking the court.

And man were they rough!! Their girls and our girls took it all very personally and they were just about scrapping! Banging each other into the walls, hitting each other hard as they could and trying not to lose. Sister Ann Rosario was very tall. She was the Senior Girls dorm supervisor. She was also the referee for the game and had to try and keep the girls separated and apart, trying to maintain some degree of control. These girls were all on the verge of breaking out into outright fist fights were it not for Sister Ann. Their girls were very tough and so were the girls of Lejac. None of them took any crap. Those were the girls.

PEOPLE

Not everything was always fun at Lejac. In about 1966 we were in class one day when there was a sudden banging on the fire escape door. Our teacher answered the door and all of a sudden she ran out after speaking to whoever was there. Later a substitute teacher came in and explained to us what had happened.

Bill Leslie is our bus driver. He and his wife, Mrs. Leslie, lived in one of those houses next to our school. They said she was sweeping the floor when something happened to her and she had passed away. Someone found her lying on the floor where they live. Our Substitute and us all said a prayer for her that day in class.

That happened again later.

Randy Williams was an older boy in Grade 7 when I was still in Grade 6 in about 1968. His mom used to work in the laundry room before Mrs. Robison came. Mrs. Williams was a Native woman except I don’t know from where. Then one day that year, Brother asked a bunch of us boys from our school to attend church with him on Saturday at Fort Fraser. Fort Fraser is about 7 miles east of Lejac. I guess they had his funeral services at Fort Fraser. He was only 12 years old.

Then in 1970 the boys from Tachie had to go to Thomas’ funeral. Thomas Hansen started Lejac maybe in 1966 or ‘67. He was an older boy always joking and doing funny and crazy stuff. He was always making us laugh. Except he quit Lejac maybe in 1970 and right around that time he had an accident at Tachie where he lived.

So Brother and all the boys from Tachie all went to his funeral. That really put us all in the dumps!

OUR NEWEST FOLLOWER....

'lejac.blogspot.com' Welcomes 'nechakotess' to our BLOG. Cheers Folks. Administrator.

LES IN THE NFL NOW....

Lester Chingee was a boy from McLeod Lake in Intermediate dorm with us in the late 1960s. Maybe in about 1969 all us boys in the Band were in Senior Dorm one day and they were handing out our uniforms to us. Before a ‘road trip’.

Road trips were the most awesome! A lot of preparation went on there. Us practicing for hours and hours. And days and days. And then weeks and weeks. It wasn’t just our music but there were our formations. And our beautiful red and white uniforms. And of course us and our look.

There was our red Cadet Jacket. With the yellow tassle strung through the shoulder and our pressed white slacks. They added a red stripe down the leg that year really sharpening our look! And our black leather marching shoes spit-polished to perfection. Brother James showed us that. And then they got to our socks. There was a lot of hustling and bustling as all us 35 boys in the Band took turns going up to Sir to get our red socks.

At Residential School all the boys called their male Supervisors ‘Sir’.

We were completely excited now. Because we spent so many weeks preparing then one day they called us all together to hand out the uniform which is the last step before a road trip. And to our 15 minutes of fame.

I don’t think anyone else noticed it. Everyone was so busy getting ready in dorm. But Lester just got his socks from Sir and I was next in line when I heard him cheer just as I turned back around to see him throw his bundle of socks up in the air. And at residential school the ceilings in all the dorms were at least some 20 feet high from the floor. And our dorm lights were all covered with these huge glass fixtures. Glass fixtures the size of a football and held in place by screws.

And Les’ socks hit one of the light fixtures. Directly above us. And of course you know exactly what happened next. Sir had his back to us! And I watched as his socks suddenly knocked this huge opaque glass fixture straight off the light 20 feet above us. And straight down toward us. And the floor. And......and…..Les…..for the life of me suddenly realized his error. His blunder as this light fixture came hurtling downwards toward us, and the floor, and Sir, and the whole wide world and braced himself much like a quarterback at the end zone bracing to catch an in-coming football.

AND JESUS....HE CAUGHT IT! I couldn’t believe how he managed to place himself just right, both arms out, knees bent perfectly and to make such a perfect catch. That was the best best BEST catch I ever seen at Residential School!!

Sir finished handing out the socks. And everyone tried on all their uniforms. And we all looked so smart in Dorm when we were all done. And no one in Dorm ever saw that game-winning catch down in our end-zone Les made! Except me.

LES. BEST BEST CATCH! BEST BEST CATCH EVER! At residential school.

US....

When I first entered residential school back in 1963 there were boys there from Hazelton some 180 miles (300 km) out west. Like Charles Sampson who was an older boy in Seniors and much later Wilfred Sampson who was our Drum Major in Band in 1971. The Gunanoots were also from the Hazelton area. Shubert was in Seniors in 1969, Harvey in Intermediates and of course Elaine was in my class in the 1960s.

We had students from Moricetown not far from Hazelton in the late 60s. There were a number of students from Burns Lake like Steven Tom, Francis Holland and the Alecs and the Augustas. North of Burns Lake is Babine. Roger West, Paul West and Alec West were brothers in Intermediates and Seniors in 1968 at Lejac. Garnet Williams and I both finished Lejac Indian Residential School in 1971. He and I were in Band that year and I saw him on tour. Funniest thing ever is after residential school I moved to Fraser Lake some 3 miles up the road to start Grade 9. And Garnet also registered at Fraser Lake the following year for Grade 10 in 1972.

Garnet was in Seniors with me in 1970-71. Victor Williams, his older brother, was in Seniors with us in 1969. Victor used to be in our dance band along with Alec West and all the other boys from Babine. The guys from Babine were all very good on guitar and were always playing in the band.

Antoine Madam was a much older boy at residential school in the early 1960s who left then came back later. Philip Madam was the school night watchman in 1970 for a few years. The Madams were from Babine. Takla was east of Babine. Victor and Kenny West were from Takla. They were in Senior Dorm in 1971. Also students like Tina and Doreen French attended Lejac in the mid to late 60s. A lot of our students came from Takla.

Stellaquo was a reserve just 7 miles (11 km) west of Lejac on Highway 16. Many of the students at Lejac through the 1960s and 70s came from Stellaquo. Students like Evan Casimel, Gary Michelle and Peter Luggi. Pete Luggi (Peter’s dad) used to also be our night watchman. All the students from Stellaquo were ‘day scholars’. They came in…in the mornings on the bus and went home at the end of the day. Gary, Evan and I hung out at Fraser Lake in the 1970s after residential school.

All the names used here for the different communities are the names used in the 1960s. For instance, Stellaquo is today called Stellat’en. Nautley is Nadleh, Shelley is Leihdli, Stony Creek is Saikuz, Fort is Nak’azdli, Portage is Yekooche, Tachie is part of Tlazten, Moricetown is Wetsuwet’en, Ingenika is Tsay Keh Dene and Fort Ware is Kwadacha.

We also had a couple of students from Nadleh just east of Lejac. Junior Ketlo and Richard Ketlo attended Lejac Residential School with us in the mid-1960s for a short time. Richard and I were in Grade 9 and 10 at Fraser Lake in 1971 and 1972.

Richard Patrick and George Patrick were from Stony Creek outside Vanderhoof. We had a few students from there in the 60s. Brady Antoine and his brothers and sisters also were from Stony.

A lot of our students were from Tachie, Pinchi, Portage and Fort. Everybody at residential school called Fort St. James ‘Fort’. There were a lot of Josephs at residential school. Shirley was in my class all the way through residential school. She and I used to hang out in class. Also Art was my best friend, him and Morris back in 1969-70. Emma Joseph, Andy Joseph, Bob Cho, Mojo, Alec M, Alec C, Philip, Benny, Stuart, James, Greta, Ann, Ronnie and so on. Lots of Josephs. And Thomas, or Alexander, Duncan, those were their last names. Barry, Ronnie, Yvon, Lucille and Teddy. A lot of students from the Prince families at Fort. Like Oliver Prince, James Prince and Tony (Hobo).

We had a few students at residential school from Shelley reserve like Domo Frederick and his brother, Robert. Also Peter and Clifford Quaw.

All the Solonas, Inyallies, Chingees, McCooks, Thomahs, Pierres, Izony, came from McLeod Lake, Ingenika and Fort Ware. In the 1960s. The Isadores, Abau, and so on. Too many to name but these were some of the kids who went to Lejac in the 1960s and 70s.

WHERE WE CAME FROM.....

NEIL DIAMOND & WHITE BOARDS

I always sort of hated chores. We were assigned chores after school like cleaning the Rec room or washroom downstairs or our dorms and washroom upstairs. Also the cloak room where we changed into our boots and coats before going outside. Some of the boys were assigned to the dining room cleaning it up after meals. After they built our great big dining room in 1967 they had to teach the boys and girls how to clean the new dining room. One of the reasons is because in the old dining room there were booths but the new dining room had these great big tables which could be folded up and had wheels on the ends so you can roll these tables out of the way while sweeping and mopping the floors. Trick was move the tables without toppling them over which could be dangerous they were so heavy.

We also had spring chores once the snow melted and everything warmed up. Spring chores involved working on the rinks outside, the ball diamonds, cutting the grass in the fields or up at the barn. One spring once the snow went they called all us Intermediate and Senior boys together on a nice warm sunny Saturday and assigned us different chores throughout the school. Me and couple other boys got sent out to the Old Rink and we had to paint the boards. And it wasn’t all that bad because first of all we were outside and it was so nice out. So warm and so nice and sunny with music blaring over the P.A. system you could hear it all over the school even way out to the rinks.

That was the first time I ever heard Neil Diamond. He’s a real famous singer in case you never heard of him. We painted our boards white. story and photo by verne solonas

CHASING RABBITS....

Verne, Another interesting little story about Lejac was the fall rabbit hunt. The boys would make all kinds of clubs and spears from whatever they could find. Apparently the rabbits go in cycles where once every 5 years or so there would be a great abundance of rabbits. At that time CN Rail was upgrading their tracks to 120 lb steel so the old tracks were being taken up and all the spikes that held the rails to the ties were being changed as well. The old spikes were left between the tracks to be picked up at a later date to be recycled. For the Lejac boys those spikes were weapons from heaven. The spikes were picked up by the boys and stuck in their belts like tomahawks. When a rabbit which by this time of year had turned white for the winter season was spotted the shout went up and 5 or ten boys would surround the rabbit and the spikes would fly. The poor rabbits did not have a chance against such an onslaught. On one Saturday I think they brought back about 70 rabbets which were skinned and cleaned and delivered to the cook who made rabbit stew for everyone. I bet the CNR is still trying to figure out why there were no spikes to be picked up for recycling for two miles either side of Lejac. To this day I'm sure you could walk through the bush around Lejac and still find all kinds of Rail Road spikes. Any grouse in the area also fell to the onslaught of the RR spikes. To this day I'm still amazed how no one ended up getting seriously hurt by a flying spike. There must have been thousands of spikes scattered throughout the bush. One of these days the area will be mistaken for an iron ore deposit. Happy days. Thanks to Jim Callanan for this story and photo

AND THEN THERE WAS MY RABBIT....

I remember those rabbits. At Two Mile Encombe there were rabbit trails running all over the place in the bush on the bank over-looking the railroad tracks. And in the fall once the leaves all fell you could see the rabbits so-o-o-o clearly in amongst the willows once their coats turned white. Even at some distance.

One day we were out bunch of us hunting rabbits there. Some of the boys starting one end of this bushy area and the rest of us would wait down the other end. Their job was to make lots of noise shouting as they walked through the bush toward us and hopefully scaring all the rabbits in our direction. And it worked because I was running along a rabbit trail when I spotted one some distance coming in my direction. The rabbit was running in a large arc along a trail toward a corner in the trail. Then it turned the corner and I figured if it kept going it was going to be heading in my direction for sure. I quickly checked around me and sure enough found a huge heavy stick maybe about 4 feet long lying in the bush next to the trail. The rabbit kept coming and turned my corner just as I lifted the stick up over my head planting one foot one side of the rabbit trial and the other foot the other side.

I COULDN’T BELIEVE IT! RABBIT JUST KEPT COMING!

All of a sudden the darn thing ran right under me as I brought the stick down hard as I could! Jesus! If I didn’t nail the ground with a thousand pounds of force!!!

Where....rabbit....I turned around quick as I could.....what the hell happened?!

The rabbit ran right through and under my legs and kept going. I thought I got it but it just kept going. But then....but then....all of a sudden one of the boys was hollering “I got it, I got it!”

The rabbit ran right by me then hit a tree some ten feet behind me. I’m pretty sure that’s what happened. It got so scared it never made the corner behind me instead running head-on into a tree on the corner. I just remember seeing him, it looked like he was just sitting there when one of the boys (I think it was Harvey Gunanoot) came running up grabbed the rabbit which was already dead!

Harvey Gunanoot was one of the boys in Intermediates with us in 1967-68. He was from Hagwilget at Hazelton. His older brother was Shubert and his sister, Elaine, was in my class at residential school.

IN THE BAND NOW....

When we all joined the marching Band in 1967, or after New Year in 1968, first thing starting that January we had to learn how to read music. That was the hardest thing. Almost like when we had to learn Latin for church. They gave us music sheets and explained all the different notes for us. This was upstairs in the Grade 8 classroom after school and sometimes in the evenings or Saturdays. And we stuck to it, all us boys, until we learned all the different songs like’ Red Wings’ or ‘Green Beret’. We learned some 10 different songs we played as we marched sometimes in parades or at events. Us in our red and white cadet uniforms.

And in the spring time, once we learned all that music we hit the pavement. And began to learn different formations as we played our music. Two formations we did were the ‘Wheel’ and ‘Musical Ride’. Some days we spent hours practicing the different formations. Each formation had to be right on cue, with the song. Sometimes you finished one formation at the end of a song, then, if you were going to be performing in an arena before crowds, you finished one formation and one song, then you went straight into another formation and another song.

At Kamloops, our entire performance took a full 15 minutes! With some 5 formations and maybe 5 songs back-to-back. We memorized every song, every formation, every step! It was awesome!

AT KAMLOOPS WE WERE AWESOME!

That was in 1969. That was us....we were the boys in the Band.

One year we had been outside our school quite some time practicing our entire 20 minute performance with half a dozen formations and at least as many songs. Every song, every formation, every step. And we weren’t getting it. There was one part which wouldn’t fit. And Brother McCormick, our Band Master, was getting extremely frustrated! Something wasn’t working.

He tried this, then that but for some reason we ended up off note! And our lines backwards.

We were just outside the workshop, all us boys and Brother McCormick. Then Father Sweeney and a couple of visitors stopped by to watch us practice. It was also at that point when Brother McCormick had become so frustrated he was beginning to raise his voice as he shouted out instructions to us. Then….he got so mad he just about swore. I remember Father Sweeney looked at us, then at his two guests, then they all wandered off. To leave us be.

Then....Brother tried something else.... and it worked. There would be days like that.....when nothing worked.....then you tried something entirely different....something new.....and somehow it worked.

That was Band.

GOING TO FORT....

I’m not entirely sure but that may be the little church overlooking Stuart Lake at Fort St. James in the first photo above. The church below St. Maria Goretti School in the far right corner of the picture with the Lejac Boys Band in this early 1960s picture. The Band often travelled to such northern towns throughout the 1960s and 70s to perform for the crowds. Sometimes family showed up to these events giving the boys’ an opportunity to spend a few precious moments with their parents as demonstrated in the 2nd photo with Benny Joseph and his two younger brothers. I’m guessing that is their parents standing behind them. This photo ca. 1964

photo courtesy of Jim Callanan, uploaded by verne solonas

Selling Xmas Cards....

We made our own Christmas cards, and then sold them for our Band trips. We had a contest one year, maybe in about 1968, to see who could design our Christmas cards. We were told when designing the cards that it had to be fairly simple so our designs can be used when we make the Christmas cards using paint and screening. They explained it all for us and of course, we were all confused.

Until we actually got to do the screening ourselves then we could see what they were saying when they explained to us how the ‘screening’ works.

They picked maybe a half dozen designs from all the students from all the classes at Lejac. They even picked one of mine which was about three Wise Men in a Canoe following the North star.

Once they made the selection they then made a number of screens at the Scout Hall and all us students and supervisors (and our Band Master, Brother McCormick) began making the cards. It involved a lot of paint which we poured onto the screens and then hung these cards onto lines of string across the hall for them to dry. We had to run some of these cards through the screens more than once depending on how many colors in the picture. All the boys and girls chipped in and helped.

Once the Christmas cards were all done we travelled to the local towns and sold them door-to-door. They sent me and another intermediate boy with a senior and we sold cards at Vanderhoof one weekend. I remember knocking on a fellow’s door that Saturday afternoon. And he was watching television. We each took turns asking people if they would like to buy the Xmas cards. And we had to be ‘polite and courteous’.

The fellow had a color television. And none of us had ever seen a color television before. And we took turns poking our head in his door and watching his color TV while the third boy talked to him.

In 1969 we went to Prince George and sold cards at a table we set up at the Hudson Bay store downtown. Me, Victor West and two other boys took turns sitting at the table selling cards. It was a lot of fun but a lot of work. photo courtesy of 'flickr'.

IN THE BEGINNING....

I spent my first four months at Lejac beginning in September until Christmas when me and my older brother, Andy, were told by our supervisors we were going home early. All the other students were scheduled to leave for the holidays maybe about 5 days before Xmas except me and Andy left a week before them. I guess that was because Mom wanted us home early. At least that was what we were told.

And, also we were going to Fort St. James. I guess Mom and Dad moved to Fort, so that was where we were going instead of McLeod Lake where we really live.

All I remember was riding a bus, the one Brother Poulliot he drives, to Vanderhoof early one morning before Xmas in 1963. I was only seven years old then. I sit near the front and after we leave Lejac, the bus stop all along the way to Vanderhoof picking up all these white kids. I never....I never....okay....they must be....they must students. Too.

And our bus the more it stop, the more full it get. And then....and then....a young white girl maybe almost my age she get on....and there are no more....there are no more seats. And then....and then she sit beside me. And me I just look....I just look out the window. And I never even look around or nothing. Except my window you can hardly even see through it, it’s all frozen and stuff.

Me and Andy got off at the Priests’ residence in Vanderhoof. It was a nice little house and that’s where we stayed until our bus left for Fort St. James that afternoon. And it wasn’t a bus. It was just a van which I guess they use to take passengers from Vanderhoof to Fort St. James. At Fort Mom met us at the bus station downtown and then we had to check her mail at the post office. I never been in a post office before. And I ask Mom what you’re supposed to do. And she say you have to ask for your mail. Oh.

St. Maria Gorretti was a public school at Fort St. James 45 miles north of Vanderhoof, BC in the 1960s. Both Native and non-native students from all over town attended the school. At the end of the day, all students went home after school.

Mom registered me and my sister, Sharon, at St. Maria Gorretti after Xmas and so that’s where I went until Easter. I was top of my class at Indian residential school. At Lejac. But the arithmetic book at Fort was way different. I try and keep up. I even stay in class during lunch hour, and try and figure out their text book, but I didn’t recognize anything. My teacher told me to just start where all the other students were. I never ever did figure out their text book.

First day at St. Maria Gorretti, all the students left for lunch. I just sat in my desk all through the lunch hour. I was so scared to even go outside! After lunch my teacher came in and couldn’t believe I sat at my desk the whole hour. She gave me a snack because I guess I never eat that day. Next day she told me it was okay to go home for lunch. We lived in a small house just below the school and so after that I told Mom my teacher told us we were supposed to go home for lunch. And that’s when she started making me lunch at home each day.

I even used to play with Kevin Austin. He was a boy my age. We lived in that small house below the school and next to the church. Kevin and them lived in a small house on the other side of the church. He was my best friend at Fort. We even used their yard for street hockey. A bunch of us boys including my older brother, Andy, and Kevin his older brother, Stewart. One time we were playing and one of us hit the ball too hard and it went bouncing and then bounced off their window. And Stewart’s sister banged on the window and hollered at us to ‘watch the window’. Stewart hollered back and said it was just an accident!

That was the best time at Fort. When we all got outside with our sticks and played street hockey in Kevin their yard springtime.

Fort was way different than Lejac. I returned to Lejac after Easter, me and Sharon. Sharon she’s my older sister. And I had to catch up all over again. But at least I finish top of my class that year. That was in 1963.

The photo above, courtesy of 'fortstjameschamber.com ' I'm sure is the church on Stuart Lake at Fort St. James. In the 1960s there were houses on the south side of the church and Mom and us lived in a house on the north side of the church, below the school.

OUR NEWEST FOLLOWER...

'lejac.blogspot.com' Welcomes our newest follower Pat Jack. Cheers everyone. Administrator

Road Trip....

In the mid-1960s most of us kids from McLeod Lake never used to join the Band. We considered ourselves ‘renegades’, the last of the holdouts. All the other older boys in Intermediates and Seniors joined the Band, except us ‘renegades’. And when they were on the road, we had the whole school to ourselves. Both dorms, to just a few of us. I remember our dorms being somewhat deserted with the exception of maybe a dozen of us kids from McLeod Lake. Us Intermediate boys were even allowed to watch TV in the senior dorm with Mr Lundy.

At Lejac, there were two TVs, one in the Rec Room on the main floor and the other in the Senior Dorm. Intermediate boys were sometimes allowed into the Senior Dorm evenings to watch Hockey Night in Canada every Saturday or Ed Sullivan on Sundays. Or even Red Skeleton.

The following year, in 1967-68, Mr. Kenny talked to each of us separately. Mr. Kenny had just come in that year in the fall of 1967 as the new Intermediate dorm supervisor. He slept in a small room in the corner of the Intermediate dorm. He asked each of us (the renegades) to come to his room one night one by one and had a bit of a chat with us individually. It was a bit funny because I felt like I was going to the Principal’s Office to be given a lecture.

Us kids from McLeod Lake always did things differently than all the other boys at residential school. We liked to be different. And not joining the Band in the early and mid-60s for us was the coolest thing to do.

That all changed that year after Mr. Kenny spoke to us, we all joined the Band. They put me on fife and I still remember our first ‘road trip’. First of all we all had to learn a couple songs and in this case there was no marching. We were invited to a school Concert at Burns Lake 40 miles west of Lejac. And all we had to do was stand there in our uniforms, on stage, and play two songs. That was easy especially for us new kids who were never in the Band before. There was also a new change that year. Instead of the standard ‘red and whites’ we wore our Boy Scout uniforms. That was Mr. Kenny’s idea, to change the Band uniform to Boy Scout uniforms instead of the traditional red and white cadet uniform the Band was known for.

That following spring we went to Smithers and played at the arena in between periods at a hockey game there. We were all billeted out to families in Smithers. And we were outfitted with special rubber soles which fit over our black shoes so we didn’t slip and fall on the ice. We practiced on our own home ice before going to Smithers so we knew what it would be like marching on ice.

(There was a guy there who played for one of the teams at Smithers and was later drafted by the Philadelphia Flyers of the NHL.)

Lejac School Band started in about 1960. It was in the beginning an all-boys band wearing their traditional red and white cadet uniforms and black shoes. The band typically had over 30 boys playing drums, fifes, cymbals and glockenspiel. Later, in about 1968 brass instruments were introduced to the ranks including trumpets, trombone, French horn, clarinet and saxophone.

Practice was after school beginning in January. The boys had to learn over 10 different songs to be performed while marching and doing formations. Everything was based on drill and precision. Once the snow went each year the boys spent hours outside practicing marching techniques and their formations. Then starting in the spring, the band would travel to northern towns and cities to perform, to such places like Smithers, Burns Lake, Fort St. James, Vanderhoof, Stony Creek and Prince George.

Then....in 1969....the BC government introduced the All-Native Tattoo, a province-wide annual event featuring marching bands from all the Indian residential schools in British Columbia. It was a chance for every residential school in the province to come together each June and show their stuff. First year was Kamloops....in ’69....then Chilliwack in 1970 and of course the famous 1971 province-wide tour of British Columbia celebrating BC’s 100th Birthday. With some 300 students from all the residential schools performing at all the major cities from Prince George to the Okanagan, Vancouver, Vancouver Island and the Sunshine Coast.

The 1971 Tattoo featured bands from Kamloops, Nanaimo, Sechelt, Mission City, Williams Lake, Lejac, and dance troops from the Queen Charlottes and Terrace. Kuper Island were at Kamloops in 1969 but never showed in ’71.

A Photo of our ADMINISTRATOR today....

We thought maybe it might be a good time to post a photo of our Administrator here at 'lejac.blogspot'. This photo was last March at McLeod Lake. Photo by Sharon Dugan.

Residential school...

Verne, a few little corrections on numbers quoted in the Blog. In 1922 Lejac got it's first students. The school was built to accommodate 60 girls and 60 boys but all through the Sixties we always had between 90 and 92 Boys and the same on the girls side, thus the bunk beds. The need was there and we did our best to accommodate. There were no schools on most of the isolated reserves at that time. Teachers of the day were not prepared to live in isolation and besides that the native people of the time were partially nomadic as they followed game, berries and fish as a means of a livelihood.

Re the changing of clothes. In the blog you stated that you got clean clothing every two weeks. In fact all the students got a complete change of clothing once a week not every second week. As you can see by the enclosed picture keeping everyone half decently clean was not an easy task. The picture was taken on laundry day. Roy French on the extreme left of the picture has just come outside, everyone else has been outside playing broom ball in the mud for about a half hour. By the smiles you can see they were enjoying their game despite the mud. The mud probably added to the joy of the game. Life at Lejac had lots of good times and most of them found in the simple things of life. Jim photo courtesy of Jim Callanan.

FREE TIME....

THE TERMITES....

Verne,
I found your exchange with Taylor the student from Kelowna very interesting indeed.

One of the things that happened at Lejac that I thought was very significant for a lot of the boys and girls was our dance band "The Termites" not to be confused with the "Beatles" but darn near as good. I so much enjoyed the dances we had at the school just for the opportunity to sit and listen to the talent we had in our midst. The band was made up of about 8 boys who took turns on the different instruments, base guitar, lead guitar, rhythm guitar, drums and on occasions the accordion plus the vocals. The range of music the band played always astounded me and they could go on for a good four hours without repeating themselves. I remember one of the boys paying particular attention to a song that was playing on the radio in my room "Never on Sunday". Later that day I heard him playing the song on his fife while another boy was trying to pick up the tune on a guitar. Then about two weeks later at a dance I hear the dance band playing "Never on Sunday" and they had never heard the original.

Yes, there was natural talent as none of the students could read music, it was all by ear. The big amplifier the band used was one I built myself from a mail order kit. The drum set was a Christmas gift from my mom in Newfoundland. We always had to beg, borrow or steal to get the things we needed to entertain the boys and girls. Our government budget for entertainment was $10.00 per year per student and that does not cover very much, so we had to be resourceful. We used to take the dance band along on trips we would go on like Hockey trips to the Williams Lake school and on a few of the band tattoos we attended in the Okanagan where the boys would entertain the large gathering with their great music. I remember one weekend we played for a dance at the Fraser Lake Community Hall. Each of the band members got about $15.00 for their effort. The dance band was always a hit where ever they played. Great memories. Jim

Residential School...

Thank you to Alfred Solonas of McLeod Lake for this photo of boys and girls after First Communion at Lejac Residential School. This photo from about 1962.

Cont'd....

Quoting Taylor

Hello,

First off I would like to say you have an excellent blog that does an excellent job in humanizing Lejac! I am a student at UBC Okanagan inKelowna and am preparing a short power point presentation on Lejac and I was hoping you might be able to help me out a bit? I'm interested in knowing what the living conditions were like at Lejac, and primarily if you believe whether or not Lejac became a more welcoming and enjoyable experience in contrast to the early days of the school in the 20's-40's. Any information that you can give me would be greatly appreciated! Once again great work on the site and thank you very much for any help, Taylor

TO OUR READERS....

I'm sorry about the BIG MESS. We generally keep a nice neat tidy blog but in this exchange I saved the original email exchange with Taylor into a Microsoft Word document, then from there onto our BLOG and we lose all our formatting when we do that. Cheers folks!

Cont'd....

-----Original Message-----
Date: Mon Jan 24 12:10:28 PST 2011
From: jackman2@telus.net
Subject: Re: Lejac Experiences
To: Taylor Jan 24, 2011

Hi Taylor:

Glad you were able to find the BLOG. I'm a former student of Lejac Indian Residential School having attended there for 8 years from 1963 to 1971. I always told people we had the best school in the whole wide world. But of course that is my own personal opinion. I know things went on at Lejac, some of which we never talked about. I had some of my own experiences but the reason for the BLOG is to tell the 'good' side of things. I spoke to Jim, a former Brother and supervisor at Lejac, and we both agreed much later in life that life was sometimes hard at Indian residential school but sometimes it's better to reach out and make something good out of it. I only tell the good or funny things! That's how I was all my life. Try and focus on the good stuff. That is what keeps us going. As for living conditions, the nuns, priests, and Brothers assigned to watch us in many cases had no formal training and so imagine entering a situation as a young adult and expecting to have to watch 35 young Native boys in a dorm. Or a young Nun straight out of some city somewhere else. I suppose that is what we boys were up against. In many cases, as with Mr. Lundy who came to Lejac as a young man (maybe 24 years old) he turned out to be one of the best supervisors including teachers like Mr. Hensel, Mr. Vurhulse and Miss Bowen.

I also had two horrible teachers.

We were fed good and the school was kept very spic and span. We boys were assigned chores sometimes in the morning before our first classes duringthe week, and of course every Saturday morning first thing after breakfast. The purpose of chores was to keep our school clean. Then we took the rest of Saturdays off and often went on hikes, or skating, swimming, doing sport activities. One thing about Brother James and Mr. Lundy, it wasn't just a job. They tried to make it fun (Jim is actually Brother James). And I always got the impression that Mr. Lundy had a bit of fun while at Lejac. He definitely made it fun!

They also started changing the way we did things from the early 1960s to the late 1960s. Things were very strict when I first got there in 1963 when we prayed alot. We even went to church twice on Sundays, mass in the morning and then Benediction in the evening. By 1971, we were told after Xmas that church on Sundays would from now on be optional!! Holy Smokers anyway!!! None of us could believe it! That of course was dream heaven! We all slept in that first Sunday when we were told we didn't have to go! Some of them still went but many of us stayed in dorm.

Food was good. We had very good coffee! We changed all our clothes every two weeks when they brought us clean clothes. And we dressed pretty warm for the winters. I would say, compared to Williams Lake residential school we really had it made! They had shitty coffee!!

I would like to help you. My phone number is (deleted) and my email addresses are (jackman2@telus.net) and (deleted). Cheers. Verne, McLeod Lake, BC

Cont'd....

Hi Verne,

Thanks a lot for the quick and extremely helpful response Verne, it's good to see that you had mostly positive experiences at Lejac and continue to have a positive life philosophy. Do you mind if I read some aspects of the below email in my presentation? Particularly about the lack of formal training given to those put in change of looking after you? I believe Lejac was in Dakelh/Carrier land, are you Carrier or did you come from one of the neighbouring tribes or communities? Also, what were some of the things you did in your free time after and between classes? I see hockey was common, but what about during the fall and spring? I hope this question is not too personal, and if it is please don’t feel any need to answer it, but did you feel that by the end of your years at Lejac that there had been a genuine effort to assimilate or otherwise remove aboriginal traditions or cultural aspects from yourself and your classmates? Thank you very much Verne, your help has been immensely helpful! Take care,

Taylor

Cont'd......

-----Original Message-----

Date: Tue Jan 25 14:41:02 PST 2011

From: jackman2@telus.net

Subject: Re: Lejac Experiences

Taylor

Hi Taylor:

First of all I wanted to thank you for your comments in your first email about the BLOG. I'm always surprised when I find out that someone actually reads my stuff! There was a fella from Prince Rupert who sent me an email few months back and said his Mom was in one of the photos we posted. That is why we created the BLOG, partly for self-therapy I suppose, but also for people to stimulate memories from their childhood. Hope it's all good.

Feel free to use any of my ideas or photos from the BLOG for your presentation. Whatever helps and brings some understanding of what went on there. Yes, the Nuns and Brothers had no formal training for the most part and then come to Lejac and have to look after a dorm full of kids (about 30 to 35 to a dorm) and they never got any time off. Every day it was the same day in, day out. Can you imagine for a moment working every day 365 days a year! I'd go bananas. Some of them figured it out but I know some must've had problems adjusting.

I should qualify that. I remember being watched one Christmas by some ofthe former Lejac students who left and were brought in from the Prince George College and were paid to supervise kids over the holidays. These were thechildren who couldn't make it home for Christmas or Easter. So they must've at least had the holidays to themselves (the Nuns, Brothers and Priests). I just remember the school being rather deserted over the holidays.

One of my supervisors had a frank discussion with us on one occasion. Mr Kenny. He complained about how little he was making, and that he had to sleep in a small bedroom in the corner of Intermediate dorm. Bill Robertson, our senior dorm supervisor explained to us once we got older, in about 1970, that it was the Church who watched all us kids but the government who paid for it all.

As for assimilation, I know Mr. Kenny for all the problems he had, had us learn as much of our own Indian language as part of Boy Scouts. In Boy Scouts, we earned badges for learning how to sew, make a fire, water survival, and even things like knowing how to speak a second language. He encouraged the older boys who knew their own language to teach us younger ones at least phrases in a second language so we could earn those badges. And many of us passed. My mother was Carrier from Fort St. James (today they are known as Nak'azdli) so I learned phrases in Carrier. Lejac was in Nadleh Whut'en territory. We used to call it Nautley which is how English-speaking people refer to it and for the longest time, Nadleh was known as Nautley. Today all the signs on the highway say 'Nadleh'.

My father was Sekani and there were a few of us Sekani kids at Lejac but it was mostly Carrier. All students at Lejac were either Carrier or Sekani. One year, in about 1969, they sent us a young boy (a teenager) from the Yukon. They said he ran away from every residential school he got sent to. And so as a last resort, they were sending him to Lejac to see if he could adjust. We were asked by our supervisor, Mr. Kenny, to make sure we talk to him and be nice to him. First day he showed up some of the older boys sat with him to find out where he was from and just to try make him feel at home. He didn't last very long before he ran away again. He was the only non-Carrier or Sekani I know of who went to Lejac.

And actually, after I sent this response to this reader, I remember there were two girls from one of the Bands around Fort St. John at Lejac in the mid to late 1960s. I think their last name was 'Chipesia' and would be either from Doig or Blueberry.

We were not allowed to speak our own language in the 1940s and 50s but they did not discourage it by the late 1960s. It was all partly due to the fact that the whole residential school system was undoing great change during the mid to late 1960s. They started bringing in Lay Apostles (normal people like you and I) who were neither Nuns, Brothers or Priests, to be supervisors and part of the Staff. Before bringing in the Lay Apostles to watch the students, it was only the Nuns, Brothers and Priests who watched the dorms.

The funniest thing ever is I got my fist taste of Indian rights from residential school, and why Indians were fighting to get recognition.We were warned by our supervisors in 1970 to be careful and keep an eye out for any strangers who might come to our school. We asked them why. And they said that there was a movement out of the States called AIM (American Indian Movement) and they might come to our school and try to talk to us about the movement and that some of the stuff they practice is based on violence (true). Nobody ever came but it sure scared a lot of us!

We had a lot of sports for fall, winter, spring and summer. Fall time we went hiking a lot. Boy Scouts was introduced in 1967 so that took up a lot of our time all year long. We also had band. Where we each learned to play instruments and prepare for road trips and parades. Band was so much fun. Everyone looked forward to it because not only did you have road trips in the spring and summer but you also got out of 'chores' after school and sometimes in the evenings. Even girls started joining the Band by 1969-70. They went on parade with us at Prince George in the spring of 1970.

A typical day starts at 7:00 am when all students arose. Everyone got dressedand you had to literally race for the washroom because there were only limited sinks to wash in or you ended up standing in line. Everyone then made their way downstairs to Rec Room where we kicked around in the mornings until breakfast. After breakfast, some of the boys had to stay and sweep and mop the dining room. Also, pick up all the dirty dishes and place them in carts and bring it down to the dishwash room. Then race back upstairs and get ready for first morning class which started about 8:30 am. We had school all day long until 3:30 pm with a recess in mid-morning, another one in mid-afternoon, and lunch off. We studied science, social studies, math, art and catechism. During lunch hour most kids went outside and the younger ones headed for the play ground where we had swings, slide and sandbox. The older ones sometimes headed out to the fields and kicked around until classes started again.

After school everyone headed outside once again or up to dorm until supper which was at 6 pm. All the meals were announced by a bell outside the kitchen which you could hear all over the school. There were two TVs on the boys side, one in Rec room and one upstairs in senior dorm. We spent part of our free time watching TV. Spring time everyone was outside most days and evenings. The different sports we had were hockey, broomball, soccer, softball, hurling, curling, lacrosse and we even had a sports day every early June where everyone in the whole school competed. We had dances, and every Friday night they showed a movie down at the showhall and everybody in the whole school went! Friday night was a big event every week! Some kids bought pop and junk food for the movies from the concession we had in Rec Room. We had a lot of stuff happening all the time and sometimes I think it was because the supervisors needed to find stuff to do themselves.

Lights out in dorm was at 9 pm every night except Friday and Saturday nights (in seniors) when the TV often stayed on until 2 am, or whenever everybody fell asleep.

To get back to assimilation, I don't think the teachers and Staff set out to assimilate us, that is just what happened because they were teaching us only the things they knew. Assimilation was incidental. The goal of the church may have been based on assimilation to teach the Natives non-Native ways and values but by the late 1960s we were told that it's okay if you spoke your own language, they even promoted it in Boys Scouts. But when it came to things like AIM the message there was be careful what you learn.

I got the sense by the time I left in 1971 was these guys (Bill Robertson, Jim Lundy, Brother James) were really just trying to protect us! And they really never ever had any training, all the training was on the job! And they did the best they could with what they had. Of course, as we found out later, some people took advantage of the situation. I'm referring to a fella by the name of (name deleted) who was the Junior dorm supervisor and was accused of molesting some of those boys.

I hope that all this helps. I don't mind talking about any of this stuff if you still need more information. Cheers.

Verne