Family
Who was John Baptise?
John is the dad of Gram.
What happened to Aboriginal parents if they didn’t send their kids to residential school?
If Aboriginal parents didn’t send their kids to the Mission, they would be sent to jail.
How many kids did Bev have?
She had three kids. One daughter and two sons.
Who enforces government policies?
The RCMP.
What job did Allan offer to Bev?
He offered Bev to work at a school as a teacher's aide at Willwood Elementary School but she didn't like the idea of working with white teachers at first because she was terrified.
What was Gram’s fear when she was younger?
She was deathly afraid of water.
How did the residential schools treat the kids?
The schools treated the kids very badly. They gave the kids rotten food and punished them if they didn’t eat the food. The majority of the kids were suffering from hunger and malnutrition.
What happened to Bev when she was five years old?
Bev became very sick that she would not eat and that she didn’t have the energy to do anything. She would stay in bed all day. The nurse told her that she had tuberculosis then later on, she was admitted to the hospital.
What was a "Squaw" Hall and what happened to it?
It was an open-air dance hall, originally built for native built for native people who were not welcome at the white dance hall in town. The hall was shut down due to many injuries, fights and other destructive behaviour that comes with excess with alcohol.
What difficulties did Bev handle when she had her first child?
Bev was only eighteen years old when she gave birth to her first child. She was very young and was struggling with financial problems, responsibilities and didn't have help. This shows how stronger she became by managing everything by herself.
Why was Bev’s mom (Evelyn) sent to jail?
Since the prayers were always long, how did Bev make it seem go faster and less painful?
What were the names of Bev’s two horses?
One was named Betty and the other Loco.
What would happen when someone would call an ambulance on the reserve?
When someone would call an ambulance, it would take hours for it to arrive and when it finally did, the person hurt would be in a worst condition or even dead.
What big change happened during the summer that affected Bev?
Bev's grandfather passed away during the summer Bev was out of the residential school. She loved to be her grandparents therefore his lost was very hard on her.
Did Bev’s older brother Mike change positively or negatively?
He changed negatively because he started drinking more and working. Even though he went to a treatment center in Prince George, he came back to the negative events. He became a chronic alcoholic and a drug addict.
How did Bev Sellars feel when she first got the strap?
She has never been beaten before so ehe felt traumatized the first few times when the leather first hit her skin.
Why did Bev first run for chief of her community?
Bev ran for chief not because of the whole political picture of how things needed to be improve for Aboriginal people but for her community members who were unhappy with the way a few programs were bring administered on their reserve.
Why didn't Bev think of leaving her husband when he first beat her up?
Bev didn't think of leaving him because many of the other women in the community were going through the same thing. Therefore, it was considered as normal to be beaten up. They would call the bruises on their arm "love bruises".
What would Bev do differently with her kids if she could go back a few years?
If she had a chance to go back in time, she would not have raised her kids "Mission style" and she would of offered her children the emotional support that they needed when they were hurting.
What was the saying that Bev’s mom always told Bev?
She always told her to “forgive in order to move on with life”.
How did the kids keep track of who the couples were?
Since the girls and the boys weren’t allowed to get too close, they had to find other ways to flirt with each other. When a girl would leave the dining room, she would look back at her boyfriend and he would be watching her. The girl would giggle and the guy would have an ear-to-ear grin. This would continue till the dining room was empty.
Bev wanted to become a nurse but she quit school, why?
In order to become a nurse, she needed to be on the academic program, which she was not. She should have taken science courses from grade nine. She lost hope of becoming a nurse so she quit school five months before she was about to graduate.
Why do Aboriginal people always plead guilty to a crime they did or did not do?
They always plead guilty because at the Mission, they were taught to take the punishment even if they were innocent. They were taught that they had no rights and that complaining or revealing the truth only made things worse.
What does Bev mean when she says Aboriginal people need to be "deprogrammed"?
She meant that they need to remove the destructive teachings of residential schools and non-Aboriginal institutions from their mind. If Aboriginal people don't realize how destructive the teachings were, they will continue to look at their social issues on a superficial level and continue to blame those closest to them.