‘They made us believe we didn’t have souls:’ Survivor of Saskatchewan residential school recounts their experience

Elder Florence Sparvier of Cowessess First Nation recounted her time at the Marieval Indian Residential School in Saskatchewan on Thursday, following the discovery of an estimated 751 unmarked graves at the site of the former residential school. “They pounded it into us, and really, they were really mean, when I say pounding I mean pounding. Those nuns were really mean to us,” she said. “They made us believe we didn’t have souls.”

• ‘They made us believe we didn’t have souls’: Survivors of Saskatchewan residential school speak out