Kuper Island Movie. QuickTime Movie. Cross-Platform. Sound and Video. 2.2 MB. 24s.
They sit in a raised clearing in the woods - grandmothers and grandfathers,
mothers and fathers, daughters and sons. Between them passes an eagle feather,
and as the feather reaches each of them they begin to speak, heads bowed,
voices barely audible above the rustling of the leaves. They speak of a place
and time far removed from the tranquillity of these woods - a place whose name
is seared into the collective memory of their people, a time that most of them
have spent their lives trying to forget.
They called it Alcatraz. It was the Kuper Island Indian Residential School, a
huge, four story, red brick structure built on a remote island off the east
coast of Vancouver Island - built to provide education and training for the
children of the Cowichan Indian Agency and adjacent Coast Salish groups on
southern Vancouver Island. The government funded, Catholic-run institution
operated from 1890 until the mid-1970's when it was closed and later destroyed.
For many former students, the memories of Kuper Island are almost too painful to
bear. Some recall picking rat feces out of their food before they ate it.
Others buried their babies near the school grounds, babies that were the result
of sexual abuse at the school. Still others remember children who died trying
to escape their Island prison in canoes or on floating logs.
Until recently, few of them talked openly about their ordeal. But, like
thousands of other aboriginal people across Canada and the United States, the
former residents of Kuper Island are now beginning to break the silence and to
speak out about the trauma of their residential school experience. For them,
the time for healing has come ...
Status:
A one-hour documentary film...
Dreamspeakers Aboriginal Film Festival
and at the 24 Northwest Film & Video Festival
Sound
clip. Windows .WAV 281k 24s.
If your interested in learning more about this film or purchasing a copy please email us at: gumboot@pinc.com