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They called me number one : secrets and survival at an Indian residential school  Cover Image Book Book

They called me number one : secrets and survival at an Indian residential school / Bev Sellars.

Sellars, Bev, 1955- (author.).

Summary:

"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.

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.
Subject: Sellars, Bev, 1955-
Sellars, Bev, 1955- > Family.
St. Joseph's Mission (Williams Lake, B.C.) > History.
Shuswap  > Education > British Columbia > Williams Lake > History.
Indigenous Peoples > British Columbia > Residential schools.
Shuswap > Biography.
Secwepemc > Education > British Columbia > Williams lake > History
Indigenous peoples > British Columbia > Residential schools
Secwepemc > Biography
Secwepemc
Shuswap  > Crimes against.
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.
Show Only Available Copies
Location Call Number / Copy Notes Barcode Shelving Location Holdable? Status Due Date
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 -


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