Residential school survivor, Tony Stevenson gave a Residential School Legacy Presentation yesterday at the Cugnet Centre to a large group of students and members of the public. 

This part of Canada's history has affected Stevenson in many ways, as he attended Qu'Appelle Indian Residential School for 10 years, his wife went to a residential school at a young age, and many of his family members were also victims of residential schools.

"My mom wouldn't talk to me about what happened to her, because moms don't want to talk to you about things like that," Stevenson said. "Moms, parents, and dads would never talk about how they got hurt, or what happened to them, but as a child, you can feel it."

As part of his presentation, Stevenson showed a video of former Prime Minister Stephen Harper's 2008 apology to the Survivors of the Residential Schools.

"How do we give back? How do we compensate them? What goes with this apology?" Stevenson asked. 

He also showed several quotes from Canada's first Prime Minister, John A. MacDonald about Indigenous people and residential schools.

"Those are comments that were made by the founder of this country, by the first Prime Minister of this country," Stevenson said. "It was their goal to take the Indian out of the child, to become one of them, and assimilate to be a non-first nation. I'm a First Nation, I will always be a First Nation."

Stevenson will be in Estevan giving presentations at the Legion on Wednesday at 7:00 p.m., and on Thursday at 9:30 a.m.

Everything else happening in Weyburn for Culture Days can be found HERE. 

Tony Stevenson