CANADA
The Link
Kendra Paré — Published September 6, 2012
Residential schools, where Catholic priests and nuns educated First Nations youth about Christianity and European culture, left scars of abuse behind on the communities whose children they sought to fix. That reality is honored in the play Where the Blood Mixes, starting next week at the Centre Culturel Calixa-Lavallée.
“He’s dealing with the aftermath of being told to be ashamed of being First Nation,” said actor Jeremy Proulx of his character. “These schools would brainwash the children to believe that their heritage and culture was something to be ashamed of.”
Proulx comes from Neyaashiinigmiing, ON and is of Ojibwe and Oneida descent. Preparing to play Floyd, a reserved middle-aged man who represses his past, he spoke to his own relatives about their experiences in residential schools, and examined how different generations coped with their abuse.
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