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A review by jandi
They Called Me Number One: Secrets and Survival at an Indian Residential School by Bev Sellars
5.0
This is a first person account of the experience of Bev Sellars in the St Joseph Mission Residential School in BC in the sixties. In a very personal way, Bev shares with us what it was like to be forced to spend most of her childhood and teenage years in what was closer to a prison than a school. By describing the conditions of the school, she also provides some insight into the challenges faced by survivors of the residential school system, several generations raised to behave like they are in jail.
Bev states she is one of the lucky ones, that she had a warm stable family to return to, and escaped the worse of the abuse and "only" had to deal with physical abuse, criminal neglect and dehumanization. The title refers to the number the nuns and staff at the school would call her - children had no names and were reduced to numbers.
But Bev does not just recount all the injustices - she shares the little moments of joy that let her get through the residential school experience and eventually take on a leadership role as an adult. As she tells us her story, her warm and charm shine through, and there is a note of hope.
Bev states she is one of the lucky ones, that she had a warm stable family to return to, and escaped the worse of the abuse and "only" had to deal with physical abuse, criminal neglect and dehumanization. The title refers to the number the nuns and staff at the school would call her - children had no names and were reduced to numbers.
But Bev does not just recount all the injustices - she shares the little moments of joy that let her get through the residential school experience and eventually take on a leadership role as an adult. As she tells us her story, her warm and charm shine through, and there is a note of hope.