CANADA
Edmonton Journal
BY OTIENA ELLWAND, EDMONTON JOURNAL FEBRUARY 25, 2014
EDMONTON – Jerry Wood describes the 11 years he spent in two Alberta residential schools as the worst of his life.
He left angry and lacking self-confidence.
“I spent probably half my life with alcohol,” he said Monday after the Archbishop of Edmonton, Most Reverend Richard Smith, apologized to residential school survivors on behalf of the Catholic Bishops of Alberta and the Northwest Territories at a ceremony at Ben Calf Robe School.
“I realized that I was trying to drown my experiences in the residential schools from the sexual abuse, physical abuse, mental abuse, spiritual abuse that I went through,” said Wood, a member of the Council of Elders with Edmonton Catholic Schools, who was on hand to hear the apology.
He is still dealing with the trauma he experienced.
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