THE INTERVIEWER: Well, we’re ready to start. So if you can just say your name and spell it for us, please.
WALTER WEST: My name is Walter West; W-a-l-t-e-r W-e-s-t.
Q. Thank you. And where are you from?
A. Takla First Nation.
Q. Okay. Where is that?
A. That’s just north of Fort St. James, about a 3 hour drive.
Q. Is it a big community?
A. About 800 or 900 people.
Q. What school did you attend?
A. The first year I went to Lejac was in 1960.
Q. 1960. Do you remember how many years you were there?
A. I was there just for the one year.
Q. Just one year?
A. That was enough for me.
Q. How old were you when you went?
A. The first day I started school I was about 9 years old. They didn’t have no school —
Q. You had not gone to school before?
A. No. There was no school up there.
Q. Did anyone ever come to get the children and take them away to Residential School?
A. No.
Q. Oh, you were lucky.
A. That was the first time, in ’60.
Q. That was the first time any of the children from that community went away?
A. Well, there were a few going in and out before me.
Q. Do you remember what life was like before Residential School?
A. Mom and dad had a farm, so I had lots of work with them.
They took me away to the school.
Q. Did you do farming with them? What kind of a farm did they have
A. They had a bunch of cows and about sixty head of horses. We had some chickens. We did our own vegetables. It was real good.
Q. Did you have brothers and sisters?
A. Yeah. I’ve got 4 brothers and 5 sisters.
Q. Oh, a big family.
A. One of my sisters went to Lejac the same year I went.
Q. Were you the only 2 from your family that went there?
A. Yeah.
Q. So do you remember your first day of school?
A. Well, the first day they picked us up at the northwest arm. They land with that funny plane that landed on its belly like a goose. They loaded us up in that and they brought us to Lejac.
The first day in school I didn’t know where I was supposed to go. They shipped me all over the place from different Grade to different Grade. People were just making fun of me.
Q. Did you speak English before you went to school?
A. Yeah.
Q. And did you speak a traditional language as well?
A. I speak my own language today.
Q. What is your language?
A. Carrier First Nation.
Q. So the first day they didn’t really know where to put you. They moved you around.
A. They pushed me all over the place, going back to different classes. I was supposed to go to Grade 1. That was my first day of school there.
Q. So how would you describe a typical day? What time would you wake up in the morning? Maybe you could talk a little bit about the chores, the food and those kinds of things.
A. The food wasn’t very good in that school at all. Some days I don’t even eat my food. But some days they would just force you to eat the food. If you don’t eat your food you stay in or they make you stand in the corner.
Q. What kind of food was it?
A. Mostly fish and potatoes. The next day it was wieners and some other food.
Q. What about going to church and stuff like that. Can you talk a little bit about that?
A. They go to church —
They usually wake you up early in the morning, 5 o’clock, to go to church. I was going to do their farm for them. I would be working there.
Q. They had a farm?
A. At the Residential School; yes.
Q. So did you have to do chores on the farm?
A. They usually just make you clean up. We shoveled all the snow outside. They didn’t have no machine there. It was all hand work.
Q. So you went with your sister. Did you ever get to see your sister when you were there?
A. We were not allowed to speak to any girls or ladies.
Q. Did you miss her?
A. Yeah. I stayed from September to June. I didn’t go home for Christmas. Some days they sent me a letter, but it’s always opened. They said they send me money but I never received the money, until this day.
Q. So that would be letters from your parents. They would always open them first?
A. Yeah. They always open it and read it before they give it to you.
Q. Did your parents ever come to visit?
A. No. It was too far to travel. In those days it was hard to travel around. Now it’s so easy.
Q. So how would you describe your experience at Residential School? Are there any certain things that happened that you would like to share today?
A. Well, there was a group of kids that would be picking on me and fighting me every day. It just goes on and on every day.
— Speaker overcome with emotion
Sorry.
Q. Don’t apologize. Just take a moment. That’s okay.
Is that one of the reasons you didn’t go back the next year because of these kids that were bothering you?
A. Yeah. Some days it was so bad I thought they were going to kill me.
Q. Was that because you were new that they were bothering you?
A. I don’t know. Even the supervisors and one of our night watchmen, I forget his name, even though I had his name in my mind —
I used to get strapped so bad. Once they hit me way back here (indicating) and I was all black and blue.
Just before Christmas he pulled my pants down and he had me in the back and he was whipping me. He hit me right across the leg and I didn’t pee for 2 days. I was just so black and blue. I was scared to tell them.
Q. Scared to tell the supervisor, or was it the supervisor that hit you?
A. They were all working against me. I don’t know why. I was the only one they were picking on every day. Sometimes we would go for a walk. I don’t know if you know Mouse Mountain. We were going up one mountain and about half ways up that hill, they rolled one big rock down just to get my attention, maybe. There was another guy with me, a friend of mine. It was a big huge rock and as it was rolling down it all bust. All those rocks came with it and by the time it reached us I told the guy to get behind a tree. But he just started running. He got hit with rock on the hip. But I hid under a big tree. All the rocks were just going by me.
After everything was over I run down to my buddy. He was knocked right out. I had to help him back to the road. We were just walking, eh. His hip was broken. And I never seen that person since. Maybe he just went home.
There were a lot of things.
One time we were going for a walk somewhere on the railroad tracks. We were all walking. Every Sunday we usually go for a walk. We would go for miles and miles. There was a bunch of guys waiting for me. They had old sticks and some of them had rocks. A couple of them had knives. I don’t know where they get the knives from. They had a knife. There were about eighteen of them against myself. I broke a stick about this size (indicating). I was getting tired of getting beaten up every day, so I started fighting back all the guys.
In the evening time when we get home all the guys that were there, they said that I caused the trouble. The guy’s name as Brother Currans (ph.), he was the main leader there. He strapped me again. My back was all black and blue.
Some days I just feel like running away.
Q. Did you ever try to run away?
A. No. A few of them from Fort St. James ran away and Inginika (ph.) and the Fort. About ten of them ran away. It was about 2 o’clock in the morning. They woke me up, all the older boys. And we went out looking for these guys. We found them just outside of Fraser Lake sitting under the bridge. That’s where we found them.
The next day —
There are a lot of things I forget. I went through so much in just one year.
Q. The boys that were fighting with you, did you ever try to tell on them?
A. You mean when I was in Lejac?
Q. Yeah. Did you ever try to say “these people are bothering me”, and did anyone try to help you, any of the Staff?
A. No. Nobody wanted to help. One of my buddies from back home, he was there, but he was scared.
What else?
Q. So when you went home that summer did you talk to your parents and say, “I don’t want to go back again?” How did they keep you from going back again?
A. I just went right against school and the Catholic Church. I just went right out. I didn’t want to go back to school. I never went back to school in my life.
Q. You never went to school again after that?
A. Just for that first year, in ’60. I’m a professional log builder. I do lots of carpentry and I’m a professional at it. But one thing, I can’t get my ticket. They say I need my ticket to qualify. But back home I do all the building. I should bring all my profiles with me.
Q. So before we talk about life after Residential School, are there any final things you would like to share, any other experiences that happened to you there?
A. Another thing I didn’t talk about was they put us in boxing. A couple of older guys boxed with the supervisor. They said they were going to cover our face with cloth and put boxing gloves on us. It was okayed. They covered my face and the guy was just hitting me all over, so I took the scarf off my eyes. The other guy didn’t have any cloth on his face. So I just took my gloves off and I walked out of the place where we were at.
There again, if you speak your own language in that school you get strapped. Most of the people I know, they speak my language and I talk to them in my language. One of the supervisors caught us talking and they brought me back in the classroom. There again I get strapped for it.
Q. So with the boxing, was that something they just did to you? They covered your face and the other boy —
Did they just watch this?
A. Well, they said they would cover both of our faces. I took mine off. He was hitting me all over the place, so I took it off. Here he didn’t have anything on his face.
Q. So after that year you didn’t go back to school again. Can you talk a little bit about how life has been since?
A. Some parts is pretty rough, especially if you want to work, you’ve got to fill out a form. I can’t even do that. Some day it will change.
Q. Can you talk a little bit about the work you do now a little bit more.
A. Right now I’ve got my own business. I’m working for Canfor up Mackenzie way. I do all the work during the summer. I get about fifty to sixty guys working for me every summer, and a bunch of students.
I’ve got my own camp. Me and my wife we set up our own camp. I was there just a couple of days ago cleaning off the roof getting ready for the summer.
During the winter I do most of the fall burning. I’ve got a bunch of guys working. My wife works at the office.
Q. Do you have children?
A. Yeah.
Q. How many?
A. Five. I’ve got 2 boys and 3 girls.
Q. How are they doing?
A. They’re doing pretty good. Most of them are cooking out in the city. One of them is working at Moxie’s and the other one is at Shooter’s.
Q. Have you ever been able to talk to them about your experience at Residential School?
A. No, I haven’t. I haven’t even talked to my wife about it.
Q. Did she go to Residential School as well?
A. Yeah. She’s probably next door.
Q. I saw her name. I thought you might be husband and wife.
A. We both had an appointment for 9 o’clock.
Q. Did she go to Lejac as well?
A. Yeah. But she went right through. She graduated and went to university.
Q. Is she able to talk to you about her experiences?
A. No.
Q. It’s hard for both of you.
A. It’s pretty hard.
Q. Is it hard right now?
A. Yeah.
Q. Have you ever told anybody about your experience?
A. No.
Q. Is this the first time you have talked about it?
A. Yeah.
Q. Thank you for being so courageous.
What about healing? Have you done anything for healing? Have you joined any healing circles or sought help from others in any way?
A. Me and my wife started the Native Church down on 4th Avenue. It’s still going right now. We’re still in it. I’ve been a Christian since 1987. maybe that’s why I get help every day just getting this far.
I haven’t drink since. That’s my nineteenth year now. And I told you I quit smoking then. It’s been nineteen years for me.
Q. That’s good. Did you start drinking when you were younger, after Residential School?
A. No. I didn’t hardly drink. The first time I drank was when I was about twenty-one years old. We had a wedding, me and my wife. I had one beer in my life before that, and that was about it.
Q. Are there any final words you would like to share with us today before we finish up?
A. It took a big chunk out of my system. I hope it helps me now to go on with my life. I hear a lot of people talking in the Gathering yesterday. I see a bunch of people crying.
Q. So what made you want to come today and share your story with us?
A. I thought it would just help me. I never talked about this whole thing since I left Lejac.
Q. I think it’s hardest the first time.
A. Those people I see on the street, I feel like just grabbing them and beating them up, but what’s the use?
Q. Do you think after today being able to talk about it for the first time, do you think you’ll be able to talk to your wife about it?
A. Yeah.
Q. That would be good.
Well, thank you for coming today and sharing.
A. Yeah.
Q. You’re off the hook now. You did a really really good job. Thank you very much.
— End of Interview