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鈥淪igns of Your Identity,鈥� by Daniella Zalcman, is a visual exploration of the lasting harm of Canada鈥檚 residential schools on the Indigenous population. In multiple exposure portraits, Zalcman overlays images of survivors with the memories of their boarding school experiences. The last residential school closed in 1996. The Canadian government issued its first formal apology in 2008. 

Mike Pinay

Qu鈥橝ppelle Indian Residential School

1953-1963

鈥淚t was the worst 10 years of my life. I was away from my family from the age of 6 to 16. How do you learn about family? I didn鈥檛 know what love was. We weren鈥檛 even known by names back then. I was a number.鈥�

鈥淒o you remember your number?鈥�

鈥�73.鈥�

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Leona Liberty

Muskowekwan Indian Residential School

1960-1966

鈥淢y mother and her siblings went to school [at Muskowekwan] too. When my mom鈥檚 sister was 7 years old, she was pushed down a flight of stairs by a nun and broke her back. She died instantly. All of the kids were terrified that the same thing would happen to them. My mother didn鈥檛 tell me her story until 1993, when she was crippled by arthritis and at the end of her life. It finally became clear why she had never been able to care for me鈥攚hen I was two weeks old, she abandoned me in high grass on our reserve 鈥� We all abuse each other this way. It鈥檚 what we were taught.鈥�

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Rosalie Sewap

Guy Hill Indian Residential School

1959-1969

鈥淲e had to pray every day and ask for forgiveness. But forgiveness for what? When I was 7, I started being abused by a priest and a nun. They鈥檇 come around after dark with a flashlight and would take away one of the little girls almost every night. 鈥� You never really heal from that. I turned into an alcoholic and it鈥檚 taken me a long time to escape that. I can鈥檛 forgive them. Never.鈥�

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Marcel Ellery

Marieval Indian Residential School

1987-1990

鈥淚 ran away 27 times. But the RCMP always found us eventually. When I got out, I turned to booze because of the abuse. I drank to suppress what had happened to me, to deal with my anger, to deal with my pain, to forget. Ending up in jail was easy, because I鈥檇 already been there.鈥�

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Gary Edwards

Ile-a-la-Crosse Indian Residential School (1970-1973)

St. Michael鈥檚 Indian Residential School (1974-1976)

Qu鈥橝ppelle Indian Residential School (1976-1978)

鈥淚 remember after Mass every Monday, the head priest would set a large mason jar on the podium. He and two helpers would lock the church doors, and then put on those 1930s canister gas masks. Then they鈥檇 open the mason jars and just watch us. We never knew what was happening, but within a few minutes kids would start vomiting or twitching or foaming at the mouth. Looking back, I don鈥檛 know, but I think it was mustard gas.鈥�

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Stuart Bitternose

Gordon Indian Residential School

1946-1954

鈥淎fter I鈥檇 had enough of that place, one day I jumped the 8-foot-high fence and I took off down the highway. I found a farm, and I asked if I could work, and I stayed there for two and a half years on a salary of a dollar a day. I told the farmer I鈥檇 run away [from residential school], and he said he didn鈥檛 care鈥攁nd if anyone came looking for me he鈥檇 chase them off for trespassing. He saved me.鈥�