One day after Truth & Reconciliation Day, I’m reading these childish, foul, name-calling posts on Facebook by those who have no clue about “Truth” in regards to what children were exposed to and suffered through in long-ago days.

They have been manipulated into thinking its all about the unmarked graves. We know now that the stories that were whispered about for years were true. I’m not Catholic and I’m not Indigeneous but I am convinced the stories were true.

The poorly-managed and , in some cases, cruel and sadistic situations that developed were the direct result of the uncaring politics of the federal government. It attempted to duplicate the British schooling system that didn’t even work back home.

The Lejac Residential School was the mind set of a caring Catholic priest (yes there were a few caring priests) named Father Coccola who petitioned the government to set up the institution near the brand new railroad tracks at Fraser Lake, BC. He hoped to replace an older over-crowded building that already housed children at Ft St James.

One sad story was told to me by the late Leah Patrick: Leah was 8 years old and fascinated with watching the kitchen workers at Lejac rolling out dough for making bread.

Little Leah played with the leftovers, stating she was making the Native biscuit known as “bannock” when a nun or “Sister” became enraged that the child used a word from her own culture.

Leah was in her late nineties when she hesitantly revealed to me that the nun had beat her extensively, “within an inch of death”

Father Coccola who’d had some medical experience or possibly even medical training, had bandaged and coddled the little girl until she recuperated from the horrific beating.

The old saying “The road to hell is paved with good intentions” is often true. Father Coccola is buried at the Lejac cemetary and I wonder if he ever kicked his own butt for coming up with idea in the first place? As everyone now knows, the children suffered.