Mary Louie recalls leaving residential school and why her band marks Orange Shirt Day a day early

Mary Louie remembers wanting only one thing when she was a young girl at residential school: to get home.

Louie says she did not understand everything happening around her, but she noticed changes in the friends and became increasingly uneasy.

“Well, I did go to residential school, but what I seen, I didn’t quite understand what was happening,” Louie said.

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She eventually escaped the school late one night.

“I stayed off the road. I stayed in the mountains and crossed the highway at night. Walked back and walked home” Louie said.

She says fear did not stop her from making the journey.

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“I just walked and I wasn’t afraid or anything, so I just wanted to get home,” she said.

Louie’s story was among those remembered Tuesday as the Lower Similkameen Indian Band (LSIB) held its Community Walk close to Keremeos for Truth and Reconciliation, one day before the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

Organizers wanted the community to come together for a collective remembrance on Sept. 29, leaving the actual National Day for Truth and Reconciliation for people to commemorate in their own way.
Darian Ueusta-Che-Peone, who works with the band, says the group activity is meant to happen beforehand so people can spend Sept. 30 reflecting individually.

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“That actual day we can kind of rest and like you know think about what happened and today we celebrate it so we have that kind of rest in between of the day,” he said.

For LSIB elder Herman Edward, residential schools took far more than childhoods from Indigenous families.

“We all lost something. It’s not always the orange shirts, but it was our culture, language, way of life,” Edward said.

But the national day of remembrance has also become a point of controversy.

In Kamloops, masked men were seen protesting Truth and Reconciliation events, drawing condemnation and an RCMP investigation.

Janet Cherbaskin, an LSIB council member, says demonstrations like that cannot erase the experiences of residential school survivors.

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“You can’t erase history. It doesn’t matter what you say and how you dress. You can be in masks and and try and prove a point. But to our people, we know what the truth is,” Cherbaskin said.

When Louie finally made it home, she never wanted to return to school. Instead, she stayed home to look after her younger siblings and learned from her grandmother.

“Ever since I got home, my place was to take care of my siblings, so I didn’t go back to school. A lot of the things I’ve learned was from my grandmother and the teaching she gave me,” Louie said.

For Louie, seeing children take part carries particular meaning after her own experience at residential school.

“Well, it’s good to see the children and to know and I pray that the parents love their children and start teaching them,” she said.

After walking home from residential school as a young girl, Louie now sees children walking together as a community