North Island resident Denise Nelson counted on her fingers the six relatives that died of fentanyl overdoses last year.

She was with her husband Dean Nelson at the 91裸聊视频楴amgis First Nation burial grounds at Alert Bay, a tiny village on Cormorant Island, northeast of northern Vancouver Island.

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Their lives have been marked by tragedies they trace back to residential schools and other colonial policies. While neither of them attended residential schools, their close relatives did. The trauma lingers in every Indigenous community, said Denise.

91裸聊视频淓very reserve you see has been afflicted by the residential schools,91裸聊视频� she said.

She recalled discussing residential schools in Campbell River recently. A non-Indigenous passerby told her 91裸聊视频渢hat91裸聊视频檚 done and over with,91裸聊视频� Denise recalled. 91裸聊视频淚 said, you know what? It is not done and over with.91裸聊视频�

Her mother was among the estimated 150,000 Indigenous children who attended residential schools in Canada. About 6,000 of them died inside those institutions. The last one closed in 1996 in Punnichy, Sask.

Her mother survived the experience at a school in Port Alberni. But Denise said it turned her mother, who died years ago, into an abuser.

91裸聊视频淚t doesn91裸聊视频檛 go away91裸聊视频� I was the victim of her wrath,91裸聊视频� said Denise, 55, who is originally from Squamish Nation. She recently started attending counselling.

She was in Alert Bay to visit the grave of her daughter, Doreen Joseph. Denise said her daughter died in car accident involving a drunk driver. The cycles of substance abuse and tragedy are all linked, she said.

91裸聊视频淚t all stems down to residential schools.91裸聊视频�

The 91裸聊视频楴amgis First Nation burial grounds in Alert Bay are located near the former site of St. Michael91裸聊视频檚 Residential School, which was run by the Anglican Church until 1974.

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Indigenous children from across Vancouver Island and as far north as Haida Gwaii were forced to attend St. Michael91裸聊视频檚, where they were prohibited from speaking their language. Many students reported physical, sexual and emotional abuse.

The decrepit four-storey brick building was demolished following a healing ceremony in 2015 that brought together hundreds of people.

Former students threw stones at the building, and heavy equipment tore down the school91裸聊视频檚 front porch.

The school that once loomed over Alert Bay is now an empty field. But the past is close behind, and the intergenerational legacy of residential schools and other colonial policies endures.

91裸聊视频淗alf of these people went to that school,91裸聊视频� said Dean Nelson, who is originally from Gilford Island, as he gestured at the surrounding grave markers. 91裸聊视频淭hey got taken away from all their villages.91裸聊视频�

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Many of them would attempt to escape the institutions, which were designed to assimilate Indigenous children. Those who ran away included his mother, who is now deceased.

She went to a residential school in Vancouver, he said, but she ran away after it burned down.

Dean said that most of his uncles and aunts went to residential schools. They still suffer, he said, and many turned to substance abuse.

91裸聊视频淧eople drank trying to kill the pain,91裸聊视频� he said. 91裸聊视频淚 drank, thinking about my family, and I drank and drank. And one day I quit91裸聊视频� I had to.91裸聊视频�

He said that a healing program for Indigenous people in the Campbell River area was shut down a few years ago for lack of funds. Dean and Denise both attended workshops that offered support for people dealing with issues including grief, anger and trauma.

To deal with the grief of lost family, Denise said, she often weeps and washes herself in the Campbell River as medicine.

91裸聊视频淭hat91裸聊视频檚 how I91裸聊视频檝e survived.91裸聊视频�

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