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House Hansard - 231

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
October 6, 2023 10:00AM
Context: House Hansard - 231 - Oct/6/23
Mr. Ryan Turnbull (Whitby, Lib.)
  • Oct/6/23 11:16:00 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, this past weekend, I attended an event on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation at the Durham Community Health Centre. At that event, a residential school survivor shared his experience and healing journey. I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge Bernard Nelson, a residential school survivor from the Eabametoong First Nation north of Thunder Bay. He dug deep into his painful past and told his story for over an hour. I have to say that I was horrified to hear a first-hand account of the abuse that this man had suffered having been separated from his mother at a very young age, being physically, sexually and psychologically abused at the residential school, and regularly beaten and taught to feel like he did not belong and was worthless. As this courageous man opened up and told his story from his early years through to an adulthood filled with substance use, justice system involvement and the corresponding impacts on his family and children, he painted a portrait of the legacy of residential schools in Canada. I just want to say from the bottom of my heart how grateful I was to Bernard Nelson for speaking his truth and for the opportunity to hear his story.
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