Goddess Damn and Curse Anyone Responsible Who Might Remain!!!
Even my beloved, distant home-The Gulf Islands-are not exempt from the horrors of Canada's Residential School System!
I knew the Penelakut. I knew the Coast Salish, Cowichan, Saanich... The Spirits of their ancestors danced with me as a child, as I conjured my own visions of Faeries, Elves, and Imaginary Friends. Later, as a teenage Witch In Training, I was certain that something "Of The Land"; energies tethered to the rocks, trees and tides, could only have been called-by my uneducated mind at that time-"Supernatural". They watched over me, protected me, and even to a degree, subtly influenced my Spiritual development. The Cove to which I often ventured to study, meditate, and swim was undeniably sacred, protected at either end by small (small, being 8-9 ft high) totems that must have been carved hundreds of years before. The wood was bleached almost white, like the driftwood scattered at their feet. Time and the elements had caused severe decay, yet that only seemed to add to their beauty. The first creature was only a little hard to make out. There were no bears on the Island, so I assumed it was an Otter, perhaps? They held a Salmon in their paws. Their companion had been cracked and eroded beyond recognition. Yet, like it's friend, it resonated with a great power, a magick that transcended culture or race. It was universal; primordial. It was Endless, and All of Us. To their credit, the Hippies that gave Saltspring much of it's reputation as a 'Communal Artist's Retreat' knew how important these gentle sentinels were. They revered them as sacrosanct, and there wasn't as much as a smudge of paint or a romantic declaration of unity carved inside a heart ANYWHERE on or near these great wooden Beasties!
I learned as recently as twenty years ago that Otter now resides in a Museum somewhere, having been displaced when the land was purchased by an Asian Fish Hatchery, or some such corporate monstrosity...
Corporate Monstrosities. Institutional Monstrosities...I didn't even KNOW there had been a residential school hidden somewhere within our little archipelago. We boasted one of the first Buddhist Monasteries in North America. We were proud that Saltspring was the West Coast equivalent of Halifax's Africville, too! Some of the refugees who traversed the Underground Railway turned Left instead of Right, and found Saltspring and it's smaller Sister Islands brimming with fish and game, fertile and boundless with agricultural promise, but most of all, secluded, hidden. Safe.
I guess safety all depends on One's belief system. Once the Catholic Church arrived in the 1890's, the Island ceased to be a Paradise for it's original inhabitants. I reiterate-I had NO idea where the school was, or upon which island. I would have thought our little Gulf Islands were small enough to remain unnoticed by the Catholic Juggernaut, yet I suppose a few Jesuit Missionaries found their way eventually, and the Genocide continued. Even on Fantasy Island. I guess nowhere is ever really safe...not even Lotus Land.
I have never felt more betrayed by Nostalgia's ruse.
May those 160 Souls find peace. May those 160 Lives be avenged.
May all manner of Hell rain down upon the Corporate Monstrosity that is the Catholic Church.
Gods and Goddesses Damn Them All...
July 13/2021
)O(https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/penelakut-kuper-residential-school-1.6100201?fbclid=IwAR1Za_FkhST7fE7_j8_-_6hHls8TAqst7Lg67vcjVczynlONlymwEqrvnNU
