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Xwist Memin Kin "I Want to go Home": Memories of Kamloops Residential School and Joeyaska Ranch
Personal memories of people, routines, rules and education at an Indian residential school are outlined. It is a very different picture when compared with home life and family visits. The Government of Canada intended to separate children from parents, traditions, language and spiritual beliefs, but these were the very things that saved and nurtured Nk'xetko, Mary Jane Joe.
"By describing my twelve years of suffering at the school, year by year and grade by grade I realized that the strengths that held me together and gave me the courage to survive and finish school were the teachings of my parents and grandmother. I never said thank you to them. They have passed away but their love and resilience live on. This book is a belated kwuks chemxw, thank you my dear family."
"By describing my twelve years of suffering at the school, year by year and grade by grade I realized that the strengths that held me together and gave me the courage to survive and finish school were the teachings of my parents and grandmother. I never said thank you to them. They have passed away but their love and resilience live on. This book is a belated kwuks chemxw, thank you my dear family."
112 pages, Paperback
Published August 21, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 9, 2026
I heard some of Mary Jane Joe's story when she did a book launch for the sequel to this book, Returning to the Highest Chief: Life after Residential School. She explained that readers of this present book had wondered what became of her faith as she leaves belief on a cliffhanger.
This book is a memoir of her childhood at residential school and in those precious interludes where she could return home to her family. Mary was a student at the notorious Kamloops Indian Residential School. Her experience there was largely negative; about two-thirds of the telling are negative and one-third positive. Much of this is due to particular individuals - Sisters Thomasa and Cleo appear as vindictive, cruel, and bigoted bullies but Father Francis and Sister Beverley Mitchell encouraged Mary, the latter of whom put together an assignment so that Mary could share with her peers about her indigenous heritage. It is especially appalling that the school authorities insisted that siblings could not come alongside each other as brothers and sisters.
Mary relates her studies, her relationships with fellow students, her aspirations for further education, and the time she was able to spend time with her family during the holidays. She notes that one of her elder sisters at one point reveals that the government gave the school sixty cents per day to feed students; that works out to about $6 in today's dollars which showcases how chronically underfunded these institutions were. The book also features numerous photographs.
This book is a memoir of her childhood at residential school and in those precious interludes where she could return home to her family. Mary was a student at the notorious Kamloops Indian Residential School. Her experience there was largely negative; about two-thirds of the telling are negative and one-third positive. Much of this is due to particular individuals - Sisters Thomasa and Cleo appear as vindictive, cruel, and bigoted bullies but Father Francis and Sister Beverley Mitchell encouraged Mary, the latter of whom put together an assignment so that Mary could share with her peers about her indigenous heritage. It is especially appalling that the school authorities insisted that siblings could not come alongside each other as brothers and sisters.
Mary relates her studies, her relationships with fellow students, her aspirations for further education, and the time she was able to spend time with her family during the holidays. She notes that one of her elder sisters at one point reveals that the government gave the school sixty cents per day to feed students; that works out to about $6 in today's dollars which showcases how chronically underfunded these institutions were. The book also features numerous photographs.
October 31, 2021
Thoughtfully written. I'm grateful for firsthand books like this to fill out the history of Canada.
February 18, 2026
Very straightforward and simply written. A sad firsthand account which I am thankful Mary Jane Joe had the courage to write.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews