Fifth in a series of first-hand accounts from the children of Sons of Freedom Doukhobors who were forcibly removed from their families and confined at the New Denver School. Approximately 200 children were interned at the school between 1953 and 1959.
When police unexpectedly showed up in the community of Gilpin to search Mandy's home, the six-year-old's mother told her to run and hide behind a bank.
But Mandy was terrified and didn't understand what was happening.
Unable to contain her fear, the child came out of the hiding spot and ran to her mother. She began clinging to her mother with all her strength, even grasping her mother's skirt in her mouth.
When the police physically ripped her away from her mother in order to apprehend her, a torn fragment of her mother's skirt remained clenched in her teeth. It would be all she had to cling to for a long time.
Mandy, who is now deceased, was one of 200 Sons of Freedom Doukhobor children that spent time at the residential school in New Denver between 1953 and 1959, primarily because their parents refused to send them to public school.
Castlegar News has agreed to change the names of the people in this story due to the sensitivity of the subject matter.
Mandy spent more than six years interned at the facility – she entered as a barely school-aged child and left as a teenager.
The long internment also made her one of the first children to arrive at the school and one of the last to leave. According to her family, she left with scars of trauma that would last her entire life.
“It ruined her life, my life and my kid’s lives," says her former husband Alex.
He spoke to the Castlegar News shortly after representatives of the B.C. government visited Castlegar in February to apologize for the detention of the children. In the apology, the government acknowledged that the children had been mistreated both physically and psychologically while in provincial care.
Alex wasn’t aware of his wife’s childhood trauma until after the pair were married. Eventually, he learned most of Mandy’s story and witnessed how it affected her.
While at the school, Alex says Mandy was abused by both fellow students and adults.
“She was really scared and not co-operating with authorities,” said Alex, “So they punished her to try to contain her somehow.”
Sometime during her detention, Mandy developed epilepsy and a nervous blinking disorder.
Alex says she was teased continually because of the blinking.
Years after leaving New Denver, Mandy’s blinking eventually stopped, but Alex says she struggled with mental-health issues her entire life.
“I think she was broken from what happened to her.”
He says he wishes that counselling or supports of some type were offered to the children when they were released from the school.
Alex recounts numerous instances while the couple was living in Robson where Mandy would leave their children unattended either at home or in a public place.
One time, he got a call from an acquaintance who had recognized his young children just sitting at the Robson Ferry Landing for hours.
Another time, Mandy’s sister dropped in for a visit and found the two-and seven-year-old siblings alone in the house.
On another occasion, Mandy showed up alone at her parent’s home in Grand Forks. When asked about where the grandchildren were, unconcerned, Mandy simply said she left them at home. Her father immediately hopped in his truck and rushed to Robson to collect the children.
Alex said she also would forget to feed the children or send lunches to school.
He says that over the years similar scenarios repeated themselves, and that it seemed that Mandy just didn’t understand how to care for her children.
“She didn’t know how to be a mother. She just didn’t learn how to treat people."
Alex blames the removal of Mandy from her family and the culture of the New Denver School for her lack of nurturing capacity.
"There was no mommy or daddy to say what is wrong, what is right," said Alex. "It was just do what they say or else you will get punished."
Mandy’s bizarre behaviours earned her a reputation around Castlegar and she was given the nickname “Crazy Mandy.”
“It was not a nice name, but that is the way she was,” said Alex.
The strain took its toll on Alex as well. He ended up spending several months in hospital for psychiatric treatment.
Even though the couple eventually separated and Mandy is no longer living, Alex wanted to hear the government’s apology. But in the end, it wasn’t satisfying and couldn’t make up for the multi-generational trauma his family has suffered.
“They can apologize until the cows come home, apologize every day. But it’s done and you can’t undo it.”
