Alice Blondin-Perrin is a Dene born in 1948 at Cameron Bay, Northwest Territories, from a good family, Edward and Eliza Blondin. Alice suffered through many years of abuse trying to fit into a new way of life in residential school. She was abused by Grey Nun supervisors upon entering St. Joseph's Roman Catholic School in 1952 at the age of four. She was hit over and over again but, little by little, the system changed her into a boarding-school ideology of being prim and proper while living with no love, no hugs and no explanations about life itself on a daily basis. Everything seemed sinful then. Upon leaving the residential school institutions, Alice had to learn everything about the outside world by herself and suffered from language barriers between her parents and the community. It took many years to learn about aboriginal culture and traditions, a heritage taken away by Government Initiatives. Despite this, she overcame those barriers by reading thousands of books to self-educate herself about life in general. She worked for thirty years at various jobs and raised two successful daughters. Alice now resides in Quebec with her husband, Dave.
While I took my first step into residential school in 1952 -- Introduction -- First steps (before residential school) -- Entering St. Joseph's Mission School -- Using numbers instead of our names -- Learning routine -- Forcing the "Indian" out of us -- St. Joseph's Mission School residence -- Every day I lived in fear of the Grey Nun supervisors -- Seeing an apparition -- Another phenomenon -- Hospital stay -- My friends -- Activities to keep us busy -- Special church ceremonies -- Making toffee, a native tradition -- Mission Island log house gatherings -- For six summers I stayed for unknown reasons -- My parents' visit -- Schooling -- Move to Breynat Hall during the Christmas break -- My first trip home after six years of confinement -- Learning more about Native values and traditions -- To Yellowknife, and what and experience it was -- Back to Breynat Hall during residential school -- Honour our ways to heal government -- Lapointe Hall residential school and walking away -- Roman Catholic Grey Nuns and priests -- Community observations -- Third phenomenon -- Dysfunctional patterns -- Social behaviour I learned from my parents -- Aboriginal leadership -- The government and the Indian Act -- Dene medicine power -- Long-term effects of abuse -- Twist of faith -- Use the higher power to heal -- Resources to help -- Overview -- Conclusions.
Book
