SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Several residential school survivors told harrowing and emotional accounts of their experiences at the Truth and Reconciliation hearing yesterday at the Multiplex.

After hearing opening remarks from Murray Chatlain, bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Mackenzie-Fort Smith, one of the two commissioners, Marie Wilson, addressed the crowd of about 100 people.

Marie Wilson, Wilton Littlechild and Bill Erasmus listen to the account of a residential school survivor at the Truth and Reconciliation hearing in Yellowknife on Thursday. - Ian Vaydik/NNSL photo

"We are mistaken, really, to say this is a dark chapter in Canadian history. It really is the dark piece of Canada's entire history. It is the ribbon that runs right through it," she said.

The commission was in the city to gather information about the legacy of residential schools, and the affect they had on aboriginal families.

The hope, she said, is that participants can leave the session feeling as though they are part of a "renewed community." The other commissioner in attendance was Wilton Littlechild.

The first speaker was a 52-year-old woman who said when she woke up this morning, she didn't know if she was going to make it to the hearing.

On her way to the event, she said she started to shake. She told the commission how her life story has consistently involved her being told she is "not of value."

"I don't belong. You don't fit. And I'm tired of that. I no longer accept that."

She also said her situation is unique in that her school hasn't been acknowledged by the federal government as a residential school, though she didn't disclose the location of the school.

She told of an incident where nuns took one of her schoolmates away into a room, and described the shame the girl felt after they cut her hair.

She also described how she'd been raped from the time she was 10 years old.

"It's taken me a long time for me to stop apologizing for who I am," she said.

After speaking, she remained at the table and wept as a friend hugged her for several minutes.

The next speaker, Bill Lyall, 69, began by telling the commission how his experience began when he was nine years old. He, too, broke down in tears and needed several moments to compose himself. He continued to say when he was taken from his home community of Stanton in the Beaufort Delta to a residential school, he was an "innocent boy in mukluks." He told the commission about the loneliness and sadness of life at the school, at times inaudible because of sobbing. "When I was in the residential school, we were not allowed to speak our own language. If we did, we were punished."

The Yellowknife hearings were held yesterday at the Multiplex from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m., and then from 6:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. The commission is moving on to six more communities in the NWT - today in Behchoko, then to Fort Providence, Fort Smith, Tulita and Aklavik on May 12 before moving on to the Yukon. The commission will then be in Inuvik on June 28 to July 1, 2011 for the Northern National Event.

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