Healing and understanding
Daughter of residential school survivor brings ‘Indian Horse’ to Sydney
A Cape Breton woman whose family members were forced to attend residential school is hoping a new feature film can help survivors heal and non-Aboriginal people understand the legacy left by one of the darkest chapters in the country’s history.
Nadine Bernard says as soon as she saw the trailer for “Indian Horse,” she wanted all Canadians to experience the story of an Anishinaabe boy who uses hockey to escape the brutalities of an Ontario residential school.
She felt so strongly that after learning the film wasn’t going to be released locally, Bernard and friends Shaylene Paul, Marybeth Doucette and Emily Root successfully lobbied Cineplex bring it to Sydney.
“I’m a residential school survivor descendant, so for me it’s important as a survivor’s daughter, as a survivor’s granddaughter, that this movie be here, and that we have an opportunity to have this story be told,” said Bernard, 40, who is from Whycocomagh and now lives in Sydney. “This is one story of 100,000 kids who had gone to residential schools across Canada.”
Bernard said the fiveday run, which ended Tuesday, nearly sold out every night and now Cineplex is bringing it back for another five days, beginning Friday.
While the film is earning praise for its stark and brutal portrayal of Canada’s residential school system, it can be emotionally overwhelming. Bernard said some residential school survivors were accompanied by their counsellors in case the movie triggered traumatic memories, and many people left the theatre in tears.
However, Bernard said she believes it’s necessary viewing as the country works to repair the damage done by decades of systemic racism.
“There’s lots of movies that are out there that have a similar depiction of a real horrific point in time, but that real horrible and sad truth still needs to be told — especially here in Cape Breton where we have five First Nation communities, yet we still have underlying racism, discrimination,” she said. “It shouldn’t be something that we don’t have an opportunity to share because they want to say, ‘Oh you’re broken and you’re just lazy, and you’re just useless and you’re not doing anything. You’re just protesting over here, and you’re burning tires, and you’re this.’ No, you’re missing the bigger picture as to why we’re doing all of this. And this is only one story of why.”
Bernard knows how deeply the wounds run. Her mother is a former Shubenacadie residential school student who never even told her about it until the Truth and Reconciliation Commission began a few years ago.
Since then, she still hasn’t opened up about her experiences and even refuses to go see the film Bernard worked so hard to bring to local audiences.
Now she has five more nights to convince her.
“My hope from bringing this was that it will help in the healing journey of our people, and in whatever way that comes out and is expressed — whether it’s by word, whether it’s by action — I hope it happens, because it’s time now,” she said.
“It took three generations of mothers away from my family, and if this could help heal my mom in some way, in her journey, I want that for her, and I want that for any residential school survivor and their families, because we carry a lot of pain for them.”