AKLAVIK
The truth behind the legacy of residential schools has now been published in a six-volume report. What comes after is tougher and more personal - reconciliation.

For former residential school student Julie Thrasher, reconciliation means coming to terms with the actions of her older brother.

On a May night in Aklavik in 1974, when Julie was 12-years old, 16-year-old Lawrence Eugene Thrasher broke into the Hudson's Bay company store, stole a gun, walked to the Roman Catholic mission house and mortally wounded priest John Franche after firing the weapon into his stomach. Lawrence would also die of gunshot injuries sustained after shooting the community's sole RCMP officer in the shoulder. The pursuing officer, Const. C.F. Bunting, survived; Thrasher, shot by a community resident who saw him shoot the officer, died the following day.

A second youth, Charlie Koe - who Julie says was a classmate of her brother's -was shot and killed as he shot at RCMP officers arriving in the community to respond to the first shooting.

Media at the time reported police were puzzled by the event and quoted one Aklavik resident who speculated alcohol was to blame. While alcohol was involved in the incident, Julie says there was another motive behind her brother's attack that night.

"He drank and did anything he wanted and I didn't really understand why but found out later on what he went through," she said about her brother, a former student who resided at the Catholic school residence Grollier Hall in Inuvik.

"When he told me (about what he went through) at my young age, I told him to be quiet and not to talk like that because they had put the fear of God in us."

"They" were the residential school supervisors. Julie, also a former Grollier Hall resident herself, remembers being taught at a young age never to speak against the church. When they were children, she says, Lawrence told her that he had been sexually abused by Paul Leroux, one of four Grollier Hall supervisors working at the residential school dormitory between 1958 and 1979.

All four supervisors would eventually be convicted of sex crimes against students during their tenure at the school.

There is no evidence to suggest Franche had any connection to the abuse suffered by students at Grollier Hall other than his association with the Catholic Church.

Three decades later, when Leroux was brought back to Inuvik to face the charges, Julie caught a glimpse of the man she says killed her brother.

"When I say that I mean mentally, (and then) physically brought him to his own demise," she said.

"I went up to the door and went to the window. No one looked at me because they were looking toward the (witness) stand and I looked through the window and sitting in the box on the left side of the judge was the man who destroyed our family - killed our family - and our values and our beliefs."

She told News/North about her brother's alleged history with Leroux because she said reconciliation for her was getting the chance to explain why she believes her brother instigated what was described at the time as a mysterious tragedy.

"I know it's wrong to kill people and have revenge but what my brother did as a young kid destroyed his life and destroyed a lot of people," she said.

"And if he were here today I'm sure he would be incarcerated but he would be able to stand up and tell people why he did what he did and ask for forgiveness."

Former politician and Aklavik resident Charlie Furlong remembers the night Franche was shot.

"This was a sad time for the whole community ... and it affected the whole community for a long time," he said.

Reconciliation for Furlong means looking toward the future. He warned against dwelling too much on the past, suggesting instead residential school survivors and their families focus on traditional values, such as the Gwich'in tradition of love, sharing and respect.

"I'll always carry some resentment toward (the church) and sometimes it may come out and I don't want the younger generation to witness that," he said.

"What I have to do is really talk to grandchildren and tell them there's lots of opportunities out there and you have to take advantage of that."

Julie, who is now a 53-year-old health support worker living in Yellowknife, thinks an important part of reconciliation is for everybody, from convenience store clerks to RCMP officers, to keep in mind how past trauma can cause destructive behaviour.

She says she is aware that sharing her brother's story digs up painful memories for residents of her home community.

"I hope that if this hurts or angers anyone I am sorry but I ask that they seek help and speak to someone because I stand with them and support them," she said.

"I speak on behalf of my brother who is not here to speak for himself. And I'd at least like to put some right on his side for people to understand what happened and why it happened. For me to say I know my brother wasn't crazy."

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