Broken Circle
Marilyn Stanley
, Ken Gilmour
, Barry Kazimer
, Karen Nordrum
, Jude Castillo
, Nancy Steinhausen
, LJ Law
, Deb Philippon
, Sarah Schwartz
, Vanessa Charbonneau-Dinelle
, Marissa Yip-Young
, Vivian Thorgeirson
, Natasa Ilic
, Andrea Gillespie
, Andrea Pole
, Margo Beredjiklian
, Noelle Walsh
, Holly Elisabeth
, Shayla Bradley
, Olivia Pellegrino
, zelda dwyer
, Rose Hately
, Jessica Trento
, Alanna King
, Thelma Ball
, Diane Edison
, Chris Carvalho
, Patricia Johnson
, Janice Cournoyer
, Jean Smith
, Anndee Newson
, Stephanie Baird
, Debra Fisher
, Melissa Kohlman
, Linda Leitch
, mikayla thompson
, Cynthia Moreau
, Diane McPherson
, sarah campbell
, Eli Cherney
, Paula Adam
, Kat Sommer-Derksen
, Alex Henderson
, Joann Horgan
, Paula Ritchie
, Ellen Clarke
, Margaret Palmer
, Anne Range
, Randi Ann Doll
, Caley Clements
, Penelope Penner
, Jane Graham
, Robert Hykawy
, Susan Ellis
, Sarah Van Dyk
, Jody Spencer
, Rodney Cross
, Laurie Burns
, Margaret Jones
, John Bell
, Dylan Curran
, tom stormonth
, Sara Conway
, Natalie Mudri
, Laura Peters
, Sandra Dufoe
, Elle Andra-Warner
, Karen Kendrick
, Siobhan Monaghan
, Melissa Poremba
, Jessica Gilbert
, Carl Scott
, Pamela Roberts Griffith
, Diane O'Flaherty
, Teira Stauth
, Beth Dekoker
, Rosa Cross
, Adele gallogly
, Katherine Krige
, maria blanco
, Catherine Westerberg
, Kevin Smith
, Amanda Deary
, Cassandra Schiemann
editor@49thShelf.com
Theodore Niizhotay Fontaine lost his family and freedom just after his seventh birthday, when his parents were forced to leave him at an Indian residential school by order of the Roman Catholic Church and the Government of Canada. Twelve years later, he left school frozen at the emotional age of seven. He was confused, angry and conflicted, on a path of self-destruction. At age 29, he emerged from this blackness. By age 32, he had graduated from the Civil Engineering Program at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology and begun a journey of self-exploration and healing.
In this powerful and poignant memoir, Ted examines the impact of his psychological, emotional and sexual abuse, the loss of his language and culture, and, most important, the loss of his family and community. He goes beyond details of the abuses of Indigenous children to relate a unique understanding of why most residential school survivors have post-traumatic stress disorders and why succeeding generations of First Nations children suffer from this dark chapter in history.
Told as remembrances described with insights that have evolved through his healing, his story resonates with his resolve to help himself and other residential school survivors and to share his enduring belief that one can pick up the shattered pieces and use them for good.
