"My life flat-lined"

Notes: "Isabelle Knockwood was just four years old when she was sent to the Shubenacadie residential school. Now 80, Knockwood said the experience shifted her worldview 'violently, suddenly, permanently. I cannot remember talking, feeling, crying or even growing', said Knockwood., who is an elder and author of 'Out of the Depths: The Experience of Mi'kmaw Children at the Indian Residential School at Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia'. 'My life flat-lined'. The Mi'kmaq had a hunting and gathering tradition and their own customs, ceremonies, language and belief system. This was supplanted by 'artificiality, dogma and Christianity', said Knockwood, who earned a degree in anthropology and English from Saint Mary's University in Halifax at the age of 58". [Text of entire article.]

Subjects: Knockwood, Isabelle, 1931-; Indigenous peoples - Canada - Residential schools; Indian residential schools - Canada - Catholic Church; Shubenacadie Indian Residential School; Micmac Indians