By Strength, We Are Here

Katie, we had to institute the Indigenous Speak First because my daughter came to a book club with some very Christian folks, and they really put down the book.

And so that was when I made the choice.

You know, we had the guidelines.

I'm pretty sure you would have been emailed them when you got the Zoom link.

So, you know, it's just a, I'm just trying to be respectful.

I think When we started the book club, like eight years ago, 10 years ago, I guess already, holy, you know, it was new talking about all of this stuff.

So I think that a lot of folks didn't know how to talk about it at all anyway.

So I, you know, I just hope, you know, I hope you feel safe and comfortable here exploring this because ultimately what it is, it's about us trying to figure out the very history that our dumbasses, you know, government officials and education folks chose not to give us, which I think was really evident in this book as well for anyone who read it.

So I'm really excited to talk about it with you all.

And I guess I'll get started.

I'm sorry, I'm always like taking up the most space because I just am that way.

Now, I only got into the, you know, it talked about the Mensis, in 150 ish and um I kind of flipped through the pictures and such and and I want to finish this book tonight I um unfortunately got hit with a whole bunch of bots on Facebook yesterday so the time I was going to be devoted to reading I ended up having to I I just kind of got lost in all of the bots so and I I learned too late how to mute a lot of the conversation anyway um I'm big on blocking and deleting harmful comments because I'm trying to create a safer space, not a, you know, vialistic, um, bot rage thing that, that goes on there.

I know it makes more money, but I'm not that person.

And I don't like, I'm not verified.

So I don't make money off of these things

because that's, uh, anyways.

so this book is uh i i guess to start with the reason why i have this book was because they came down to calgary to do a book launch and so this is at the book launches where i met the author and i met uh sharon and firth for the first time because she was there to support and um You know it was it was really a wonderful event and they have a cat in their book bookstore so anyway, it was wonderful and everyone seemed to know each other, except me and.

You know, and then later they had some kind of opening at the airport that I published on my sub stack and.

Sharon was there as well as Crystal but I don't think either of them remembered me from the book club so it was just kind of it's cool because now here I am reading about it and seeing Sharon and her twin sister as babies well as young children in a residential school and then later they have the pictures of them as the Olympians they are and so I just wanted to start by giving that backstory before you even open this up and start talking about what's in

here um

I also thought the chapter three's poem would be a good place to start on 97 because it's such a eloquent way to really encapsulate the gravity of this book, which I should actually start by saying, if at any point in time this is too heavy, HopeForWellness.ca is a really great place for support for folks who are kind of triggered about talking about Indian residential schools.

And if you're listening online, you know, pause at any time or maybe skip this one if you're not in that space to really discuss Indian residential school experiences.

For me personally, this was really important because just to give a timeline, my granny Well, actually, my great grandfather, Milo B. Wolf, went to Fort Providence, the Sacred Heart Indian Residential School.

My granny also attended there.

She was born in 1933, and in 1935 is when she was taken there.

Katie, we had to institute the Indigenous Speak First because my daughter came to a book club with some very Christian folks, and they really put down the book.

And so that was when I made the choice.

You know, we had the guidelines.

I'm pretty sure you would have been emailed them when you got the Zoom link.

So, you know, it's just a, I'm just trying to be respectful.

I think When we started the book club, like eight years ago, 10 years ago, I guess already, holy, you know, it was new talking about all of this stuff.

So I think that a lot of folks didn't know how to talk about it at all anyway.

So I, you know, I just hope, you know, I hope you feel safe and comfortable here exploring this because ultimately what it is, it's about us trying to figure out the very history that our dumbasses, you know, government officials and education folks chose not to give us, which I think was really evident in this book as well for anyone who read it.

So I'm really excited to talk about it with you all.

And I guess I'll get started.

I'm sorry, I'm always like taking up the most space because I just am that way.

Now, I only got into the, you know, it talked about the Mensis, in 150 ish and um I kind of flipped through the pictures and such and and I want to finish this book tonight I um unfortunately got hit with a whole bunch of bots on Facebook yesterday so the time I was going to be devoted to reading I ended up having to I I just kind of got lost in all of the bots so and I I learned too late how to mute a lot of the conversation anyway um I'm big on blocking and deleting harmful comments because I'm trying to create a safer space, not a, you know, vialistic, um, bot rage thing that, that goes on there.

I know it makes more money, but I'm not that person.

And I don't like, I'm not verified.

So I don't make money off of these things

because that's, uh, anyways.

so this book is uh i i guess to start with the reason why i have this book was because they came down to calgary to do a book launch and so this is at the book launches where i met the author and i met uh sharon and firth for the first time because she was there to support and um You know it was it was really a wonderful event and they have a cat in their book bookstore so anyway, it was wonderful and everyone seemed to know each other, except me and.

You know, and then later they had some kind of opening at the airport that I published on my sub stack and.

Sharon was there as well as Crystal but I don't think either of them remembered me from the book club so it was just kind of it's cool because now here I am reading about it and seeing Sharon and her twin sister as babies well as young children in a residential school and then later they have the pictures of them as the Olympians they are and so I just wanted to start by giving that backstory before you even open this up and start talking about what's in

here um

I also thought the chapter three's poem would be a good place to start on 97 because it's such a eloquent way to really encapsulate the gravity of this book, which I should actually start by saying, if at any point in time this is too heavy, HopeForWellness.ca is a really great place for support for folks who are kind of triggered about talking about Indian residential schools.

And if you're listening online, you know, pause at any time or maybe skip this one if you're not in that space to really discuss Indian residential school experiences.

For me personally, this was really important because just to give a timeline, my granny Well, actually, my great grandfather, Milo B. Wolf, went to Fort Providence, the Sacred Heart Indian Residential School.

My granny also attended there.

She was born in 1933, and in 1935 is when she was taken there.