The Movie “We Were Children”: Aboriginal Canadians And The Impact Of Residential School System
The film “We were children” describes the experiences of first nation school in residential schools of Canada. It was found that until 1996, more than 100000 first nation children were asked to attend the residential school run by churches in Canada. The first nation children were send away from their home to some faraway land. The film showcases the experience of Glen Anaquod and Lyna Hart -the two survivors of residential school. Lyna Hart was taken to a residential school in Central Manitoba and Glen Anaquod was taken to a residential school in Saskatchewan. In the film both of them tell the difficulties, abuses and mental pain faced by them in residential school.
In the beginning of the film Lyna is being bathed and prepared by her mother. Her mother tells her to be good always. After sometime a strange vehicle comes to pick her up. Lyna doesn’t have any idea about it. After a while she found out that she has reached a strange white building. Entering the school she finds people wearing black and white clothes and having stern expressions. It is seen in the beginning of the film that Lyna is being bathed by her mother but when she comes to the school she is bathed again and dusted with DDT and a nun cuts her hair.
She is not explained what is going on and why she is facing all this. After a while a bad tempered nun tells the younger nun about children, she says that – “The savage doesn’t believe that cleanliness is next to Godliness “. In her journey living in residential school, Lyna faces loneliness, hunger, racism, mental pain and violation. She also witnesses the violation done to other children in the school. She narrates an incident in which children are crying because of hunger and a kind nun named sister Mary takes them to the kitchen and feeds them. This is an emotional event of the film. Most of the time the experiences faced by Lyna are sad and negative. The film also depicts the experience of Glen Anaquod, a survivor of residential school. In 1958, Glen is taken to a residential school in Saskechewn.
He tells that the parents were asked to send their children to school and were threatened, moreover the children were punished for speaking their own language and French and English were acceptable because they were considered God’s language and were allowed. In the film Glen narrates an incident in which he asked the priest to take him home instead the priest takes him to a storage room and he is locked in the room for several days. In the room Glen could hear the abuses done to other children. After some days Glen is rescued by a nun and the priest is moved to another school. Further in the film, Glen tells that it became very difficult for the students who were released from the school as they found it difficult to adjust in the society. Many of the survivors became alcoholic and some of them did suicide.
All in all I feel that the film is emotional and heartwarming. It describes the violation, abuses and negativity of residential school. The events narrated by Lyna and Glen brings tears to eyes. However things are changing, the people responsible for residential school system apologized the residential school survivors. The film leads in tears as it is told in the last scene that Glen Anaquod died on May 31, 2011, however the voice of Glen in the film is special.
