Residential School Survivor Spills Childhood Tea at Flag Ceremony 😭💔

The Deets

Okay, so listen up. At a Survivors Flag raising ceremony in Saskatoon’s Civic Square, April Gamble, who survived St. Michael’s Indian Residential School, straight-up hit us in the feels. She read entries from her childhood journal, and bruh, it was intense.

Imagine being five years old, writing about being yoinked away from your mom. Her journal entries were all about the confusion, the loneliness, and just being a kid tryna figure out why she was suddenly in this totally sus place. She talked about being crammed in a room, getting her hair buzzed off, and dealing with bullies. Straight up heartbreaking.

She also talked about getting beat for being late to class. Like, can you even imagine? Gamble also got real about her later life struggles. She became a mom super young, and then her kid passed away at 25. She also battled addiction, all linked back to the trauma from the residential school system. It's a whole cycle, and it's messed up.

Other survivors like Ida Skarstad and Sydney Fiddler also shared their stories, talking about everything from homelessness and addiction to remembering relatives who didn't make it. Jamie Fiddler talked about how the residential school experience is still affecting people today. The whole ceremony was about honoring survivors and recognizing the impact the system had on literally everyone involved. Mad respect to them for keeping it 100 and sharing their truth.