the silence that followed indian residential schools: sharing our stories and reconnecting oral history among omushkego cree family members in ontario
abstract
for many indian residential school (irs) survivors, there is a pervasive silence
surrounding their childhood experiences. the first research question, what childhood
stories pre-existed indian residential schools for omushkego elders and community
members in northern ontario, unearthed childhood experiences in order to (re)animate
oral storytelling and cultural practices within omushkego communities in ontario that
were systematically eliminated/reduced for irs survivors during their school years. the
second research question, what omushkego cultural knowledge and/or themes can we
(re)learn and (re)claim from these stories and storytelling experiences with omushkego
elders and community members, explored the various impacts of (re)claiming oral
storytelling and cultural practices for irs and intergenerational survivors from northern
ontario, as well as examined common themes and storytelling practices among the
collected omushkego stories. the last two questions, what are some key outcomes for
individual omushkego community members when they have shared and (re)created
oral storytelling and language cultural practices within our community, and how can
omushkego people identify and assert cultural reclamation in our lives and work as
omushkego people in ontario, and by extension, canada, highlighted cultural and
identity affirmation through storytelling and confirms that healing opportunities can take
place during these processes for elders and community members who lost storytelling
and cultural practices because of irs experiences. this project included three
omushkego women who are from the hudson bay lowlands and were born between
1933 and 1954, as well as me as an intergenerational survivor of residential schools
and ongoing colonization. i used storytelling methodologies, kovach’s (2010)
conversational method, sharing circles and indigenous epistemologies to guide my practical and ethical choices. i relied heavily on indigenous ways of knowing and an
indigenous informed autoethnographic approach. therefore, i am included within this
document through my own stories, my reflections, and my actions which assert my
omushkego cree identity right from the beginning through to the end. i am not alone
and follow in the footsteps of indigenous scholars who feel the need to situate our
selves within research.