They called me number one : secrets and survival at an Indian residential school / Bev Sellars.
"Xat’sull Chief Bev Sellars spent her childhood in a church-run residential school whose aim it was to 'civilize' Native children through Christian teachings, forced separation from family and culture, and discipline. In addition, beginning at the age of five, Sellars was isolated for two years at Coqualeetza Indian Turberculosis Hospital in Sardis, British Columbia, nearly six hours’ drive from home. The trauma of these experiences has reverberated throughout her life. The first full-length memoir to be published out of St. Joseph’s Mission at Williams Lake, BC, Sellars tells of three generations of women who attended the school, interweaving the personal histories of her grandmother and her mother with her own. She tells of hunger, forced labour, and physical beatings, often with a leather strap, and also of the demand for conformity in a culturally alien institution where children were confined and denigrated for failure to be White and Roman Catholic. Like Native children forced by law to attend schools across Canada and the United States, Sellars and other students of St. Joseph’s Mission were allowed home only for two months in the summer and for two weeks at Christmas. The rest of the year they lived, worked, and studied at the school. St. Joseph’s mission is the site of the controversial and well-publicized sex-related offences of Bishop Hubert O’Connor, which took place during Sellars’s student days, between 1962 and 1967, when O’Connor was the school principal. After the school’s closure, those who had been forced to attend came from surrounding reserves and smashed windows, tore doors and cabinets from the wall, and broke anything that could be broken. Overnight their anger turned a site of shameful memory into a pile of rubble. In this frank and poignant memoir, Sellars breaks her silence about the institution’s lasting effects, and eloquently articulates her own path to healing." -- Provided by publisher.
Record details
- ISBN: 9780889227415
- ISBN: 0889227411
- Physical Description: xx, 227 pages : illustrations, map, portraits ; 22 cm
- Publisher: Vancouver, British Columbia : Talonbooks, 2013.
- Copyright: ©2013.
Content descriptions
Bibliography, etc. Note: | Includes bibliographical references and index (pages 215-227). |
Formatted Contents Note: | My grandmother and others before me -- Sardis Hospital = loneliness -- St. Joseph's Mission = prison -- I get religion but what did it mean? -- The body was no temple -- A few good memories -- Pain, bullying, but also pleasure -- Home sweet home -- Summer of '67 -- Life on the reserve -- One day I realized I had survived -- Becoming a leader -- Going to university -- Final thoughts. |
Search for related items by subject
Genre: | Autobiographies |
Topic Heading: | Indigenous collection. |
Available copies
- 39 of 43 copies available at BC Interlibrary Connect.
- 1 of 1 copy available at Fernie Heritage Library. (Show)
Holds
- 0 current holds with 43 total copies.
Other Formats and Editions
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Location | Call Number / Copy Notes | Barcode | Shelving Location | Holdable? | Status | Due Date |
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Fernie Heritage Library | 371.82997943 SEL (Text) | 35136000605700 | Adult Non Fic | Volume hold | Available | - |
100 Mile House Branch | 371.82997943 SEL (Text) | 33923005241108 | Cariboo | Not holdable | Lost | 2014-06-14 |
Alexis Creek Branch | 371.82997943 SEL (Text) | 33923005138809 | Non-fiction | Volume hold | Available | - |
Anahim Lake Branch | 371.82997943 SEL (Text) | 33923005357227 | Non-fiction | Volume hold | Available | - |
Big Lake Branch | 371.82997943 SEL (Text) | 33923006527935 | Non-fiction | Volume hold | Available | - |
Burns Lake Public Library | 371.829 Sel (Text) | 35198000516634 | Adult Non-Fiction | Volume hold | Available | - |
Castlegar Public Library | 371.829 SEL (Text) | 35146001811264 | Non-Fiction | Volume hold | Available | - |
Chetwynd Public Library | 371.829 Sel (Aboriginal literature) (Text) | 35222000928589 | Adult Non-Fiction | Volume hold | Available | - |
Creston Public Library | 970.54 SEL (Text)
Acquisition Type: New |
35140001077273 | Adult Non-Fiction | Volume hold | Available | - |
Fort Nelson Public Library | 371.829 SEL (Text) | 35246000801868 | Non-Fiction | Volume hold | Available | - |
Fort St. James Public Library | 371.829 SEL (Text) | 35196000244652 | Adult Non-Fiction | Volume hold | Available | - |
Fort St. John Public Library | 371.829 SEL (Text) | 35211000329336 | ADULT Non-Fiction | Volume hold | Available | - |
Fraser Lake Public Library | 371.829 SEL (Text) | 35195000295318 | Upper Floor - Non Fiction | Volume hold | Available | - |
Grand Forks | BIO 371.829 SEL (Text) | 35142002568011 | Biography | Volume hold | Available | - |
Granisle Public Library | 371.829 SEL (Text) | 35190000186492 | Adult Non Fiction Hardcover | Volume hold | Available | - |
Granisle Public Library | 371.829 SEL (Text) | 35190000230779 | Adult Non Fiction Paperback | Available | - | |
Greenwood Public Library | 371.829 SEL (Text) | 35141000212010 | Adult Non-fiction | Volume hold | Available | - |
Hazelton Public Library | 371.8 Sel (Text) | 35154000046940 | Adult Non-Fiction - Main Floor | Volume hold | Available | - |
Horsefly Branch | 371.82997943 SEL (Text) | 33923005145135 | Non-fiction | Volume hold | Available | - |
Houston Public Library | 1510 SEL (Text) | 35150001764333 | Adult Non-fiction | Volume hold | Available | - |
Kimberley Public Library | 371.82997943 SEL (Text) | 35132900004888 | Adult Non-Fiction | Volume hold | Available | - |
Kitimat Public Library | 371.829 Sel (Text) | 32665001862020 | Non-fiction | Volume hold | Available | - |
Lac La Hache Branch | 371.82997943 SEL (Text) | 33923005197466 | Cariboo | Volume hold | Available | - |
Lillooet Branch | FN 371.829 SEL (Text) | 35180000303718 | Non-fiction | Volume hold | Available | - |
McBride | 371.829 Sel (Text) | 35191000262499 | Adult Non fiction | Volume hold | Available | - |
Nelson Public Library | 371.82997943 SEL (Text) | 35148400149668 | Adult Non-Fiction | Volume hold | Available | - |
Pouce Coupe Public Library | 371.829 SEL (Text) | 35333000351530 | Non-Fiction | Volume hold | Available | - |
Prince Rupert Library | 971.175 Sell (Text) | 33294002149789 | Adult Non-Fiction | Volume hold | Available | - |
Quesnel Branch | 371.82997943 SEL (Text) | 33923005845635 | Non-fiction | Volume hold | Available | - |
Radium Hot Springs Public Library | 371.82 SEL (Text) | 35130000066427 | Adult Non-Fiction | Volume hold | Available | - |
Rossland Public Library | 371.829 SEL (Text) | 35162000118395 | Non-Fiction Books | Volume hold | Available | - |
Salmo Public Library | 970.54 SEL (Text) | 35163000093620 | Adult Non Fiction | Volume hold | Available | - |
Sechelt Public Library | FN 371.829 SELL (Text) | 33260000292533 | First Nations | Volume hold | Checked out | 2025-03-25 |
Tatla Lake Branch | 371.82997943 SEL (Text) | 33923005218163 | Non-fiction | Volume hold | Available | - |
Terrace Public Library | 371.829 Sel (Text) | 35151000414227 | Adult Non-fiction | Volume hold | Available | - |
Terrace Public Library | YA 371.829 SEL (Text) | 35151001054592 | Young Adult Non-Fiction | Volume hold | Available | - |
Trail and District Public Library Main Branch | 970.54 SEL (Text) | 35110001083472 | Adult Non-Fiction | Volume hold | Available | - |
Valemount Public Library | anf 371.829 sel (Text) | 35194014196299 | Adult non-fiction | Volume hold | Available | - |
Vanderhoof Public Library | 371.82 SEL MJC (Text) | 35193000335788 | Mary John Collection | Volume hold | Available | - |
Williams Lake Branch | 371.82997943 SEL (Text) | 33923005104959 | Cariboo | Volume hold | Available | - |
Williams Lake Branch | 371.82997943 SEL (Text) | 33923005104967 | Cariboo | Not holdable | Lost and Paid | - |
Williams Lake Branch | 371.82997943 SEL (Text) | 33923005165281 | Non-fiction | Not holdable | Lost | 2018-08-01 |
Williams Lake Branch | 371.82997943 SEL (Text) | 33923005993393 | Non-fiction | Available | - |