Canada

Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

B.C. Doukhobors seek redress from government

Children sent away to schools

By: Kalyeena Makortoff

Posted: 05/22/2012 1:00 AM | Comments: 0

Handout / The Canadian Press Visiting families hold a prayer service outside the New Denver, B.C., residential school in this 1957 photo. (CP)

VANCOUVER -- It was between 5 a.m. and 6 a.m., and Elsie Erickson's mother had just begun lighting the stove when four RCMP officers barged into their tiny wooden home in the village of Krestova, B.C.

"She came to the bedroom and spoke and said 'Vanya stavai politcia skaya, the police are here,' " Erickson said. "And from the tone in her voice I jumped out of bed... and I tried to hide."

The seven-year-old had barely scurried under her bed when she was dragged back out by her foot.

Nearly 60 years later, she remembers her father asking if the family had time to pray.

Erickson and her brother spent the next four years in what she said felt like a jail.

They were housed with nearly 200 others in a residential school in New Denver, B.C., all children of a radical sect of Russian immigrants known as the Sons of Freedom Doukhobors.

Similar to the better-known stories of aboriginals forced into residential schools, the Sons of Freedom children were seized on order of the British Columbia government because their parents weren't sending them to public school.

Now, Erickson and 100 former residents are fighting for an apology similar to the redress given to their native peers in 2008.

The Doukhobors argue the schooling issue was an excuse to assimilate the Sons of Freedom. They say from 1953 to 1959, the children became victims of a long-standing cultural battle between their communities and the province.

Like thousands of aboriginal residential school survivors, former residents say they experienced psychological, physical and sexual abuse in the New Denver school.

Children were punished for speaking their own language, though few came into the schools knowing any English. Visits from parents were strictly limited, traditional dress was banned and cultural and religious ceremonies were left behind.

A group calling itself the New Denver Survivors Collective argued before the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal in early February the government has unjustly refused to apologize to the Sons of Freedom.

They also pointed to hefty compensation packages doled out to other groups who faced abuse at B.C.-run residential schools as unfair.

Ultimately, the group wants the government to carry out recommendations put forward by a 1999 B.C. Ombudsperson report, which called for an unconditional, clear and public apology.

The human-rights tribunal ruling is expected late this summer.

"I hope that it'll put an end to this thing that's been happening for so many years, this negativity, this horribleness.

"It affected so many people for so many years that it's time to put an end to this," Erickson said in a recent interview.

-- The Canadian Press

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition May 22, 2012 A10

Factual inaccuracy? Something missing? Help improve our journalism.

Know about news? Share your story suggestions, photos and video.

Spelling error? Punctuation problem? Send us an email if you’ve found a typo.

More Canada

Undock

You can comment on most stories on winnipegfreepress.com. You can also agree or disagree with other comments. All you need to do is register and/or login and you can join the conversation and give your feedback.

Have Your Say

New to commenting? Check out our Frequently Asked Questions.

The Winnipeg Free Press does not necessarily endorse any of the views posted. By submitting your comment, you agree to our Terms and Conditions. These terms were revised effective April 16, 2010.