'I still struggle': Residential school survivors share stories during National Day for Truth and Reconciliation

People in Regina gathered at the Eagle Heart Centre on National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. For the community, it's a time to acknowledge.

"I still struggle," said Beverley Vinterlik, a survivor of Gordon’s Indian Residential School.

For survivors like Vinterlik, it’s an effort to heal.

"A lot of us are probably still dealing with addictions, numbing ourselves so that we don't have to deal with reality,” she said. “A lot of us are trying to be invisible."

The community walks around the neighbourhood, for the children of Canada's residential schools who never made it home. The day is a reminder of a dark part of Canada's history.

According to Vinterlik, memories from that dark past have yet to fade.

"We knew about the sexual predators, as children we all talked, everybody knew what was happening,” she said.

“Everybody knew who the sexual predators were and we just knew as children, trying to be invisible and just not be seen, right...."

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Vinterlik says survivors carry the pain and trauma experienced in residential schools throughout their lives. It's often carried in families for generations. The Eagle Heart Centre aims to help those families.

“We have adult mentoring, youth mentoring, we have a home visitation program as well,” Linda Anderson, spokesperson for Eagle Heart Centre said.

“It's about working with families to help them be in a better place."

Like survivors all over Canada, Vinterlik works everyday on a constant journey of healing.

"Our culture, our family, our way of life was stolen, taken from us,” she said. “I would love to see all of this put in the history books for future generations to learn."

While she waits for that day, Vinterlik says she will continue to share her truth. While the Regina community hopes to make steps, one foot at a time, toward reconciliation.