Letters to Eddy: Grade 5 students reach out to a B.C. residential school survivor

On The Island8:25A residential school survivor discovers there is something even more powerful than an orange shirt for healing the wounds of the past.

Carole Thompson was preparing to teach her Grade 5 class in London, Ont., about Canada's residential school system when she came across a two-minute video on Facebook.

In the video, soft-spoken Victoria resident Eddy Charlietalked about why he promotes Orange Shirt Dayto remember the Indigenouschildren forcibly taken from their homes at a young age.

"This is one opportunity when everybody can come together to reclaim their identity and their lost traditions," Charlie said.

"It went straight to my heart," Thompson said. "Immediately, I knew that I needed to share it with my class."

Charlie is a survivor of the notorious Kuper Island Residential School just off the east coast of Vancouver Island, where at least 121 children died between 1896 and its closure in the mid-1970s.

In his public talks and the video promoting Orange Shirt Dayin Victoria, Charlie tends to skirt the details of his own residential school experience, though itleft him with deep physical and emotional scars.

Charlie was not aware how far his message of reconciliation had travelled until a month or so later. Kristin Spray, his friend and a co-organizer of local Orange Shirt Day events,met him at a caf with a thick package bearinga London,Ont.,postmark.

Inside the fat envelope were 25 handwritten letters.

Every child in the class had written a personal letter to Eddy after seeing his video and discussing the history behind it.

Some children drew pictures. Many added encouraging words in bold capital letters around the margins, such as BRAVE,WISE,KIND,CARING.

The lettersexpressed sadness and shock at the horrific treatment of Eddy and others like him.They expressed wishes for his future happiness. Some described their own feelings or fears of discriminatory treatment for their faith or skin colour.

"I was once judged for my skin colour," one boy wrote. "People used to call me brownie. Nobody should be treated thatway."

One girl, who wrote that she is Muslim and wears a hijab, tried to imagine what she would do if school officials cut off her hair. She asked Eddy if he ever thought of escaping the Kuper Island residential school.

"I would, even if it cost me my life," she said.

In late December, Charlie and the students finally connected face to face through a video connection between the London classroom and the CBC studio in Victoria.

The classroom buzzed with excitement before one by one, 22 students took a seat in front of the webcam to readexcerpts of their letters aloud.

'Your ally'

Each student signedoff as "Your ally."

As he listened to the messagesin the students'own voices, Charlie was overcome with emotion.

"I think the children taught us a valuable lesson about what reconciliation is, what reconciliation should look like,"Charlie said later.

"This is everything that me and Kristin ever dreamed about when we wanted to 'meet community and create awareness'about residential school."

Teacher Thompson thanked Charlie for inspiring her students to learn and talk about residential schools.

"It made them braver," she said. "They were able to speak their own truth. Times in their lives where they had felt marginalized or judged because of their culture or because of their differences."

The RiversideGrade 5 class has remained in contactwith Charlie.

Recently they sent an orange T-shirt covered with encouraging messages.

We love you Eddy," one message said.

With files from On the Island