To the Expositor:
After reading the May 18th Manitoulin Expositor article about the Wikwemikong sisters and their remembrances of abuse suffered at a residential school in Spanish, I want to applaud Ida Embry and Blue Cloud Woman for their courage to tell their stories. It takes guts (something completely lacking in the nuns and priests who have perpetrated such violence against innocent children) to open old wounds and expose oneself to the scrutiny of newspaper readers.
I want Ms Embry and Blue Cloud Woman to know that I believe them and feel gratitude for their honesty. This type of abuse has gone on in secret for far too long. Not only have First Nations children suffered at the hands of unscrupulous nuns and priests, but others have as well. I have been friends with a number of people, not of First Nations birth, who have told me of the trauma during their childhoods inflicted upon them by power mongering priests and sadistic nuns.
When I read of how these First Nations children were not allowed to write letters home to loving parents (who were also victimized by this system of residential schooling) I recognize the tactics employed by abusive cults. They typically separate their victims from friends and family. It is a calculated systematic device used to control and brain-wash others. It is reprehensible!
Thank you for sharing their stories. Here’s hoping that those who read the article will think again, very seriously, about entrusting their children’s care and education to the control of a church that does not respect the rights of children, nor their tender souls.
Lynda Chandler
Little Current
