'Why did it take so long?' Pope's apology allows one residential school survivor to face hidden past
CBC
WARNING: This story contains distressing details.
For 58 years, Norman Yakeula kept part of his residential school experience hidden, sharing only pieces at a time to protect himself from feeling the pain of the open wounds that remained.
But after travelling to Rome to hear from Pope Francis, Yakeula, 63, asked to sit down with CBC News to share a long-hidden part of his story.
"I got this at five years old," said Yakeula, as he lifted up the pink dress shirt he wore to Friday's final audience with the Pope, First Nations, Inuit and Métis delegates at the Vatican.
Yakeula reveals a long scar with 17 faded imprints of stitches across the right side of his abdomen.
"This is what I live with every day," said Yakeula, who is from Tulita, N.W.T, but now lives in Yellowknife.
"I'm reminded of what happened to me. That's how deep the hurt goes."
Yakeula, a former Dene national chief and Assembly of First Nations regional chief for the Northwest Territories, wrote his last name as "Yakeleya" for most of his life — the spelling given to him while attending Grollier Hall, the Roman Catholic-run residential school in Inuvik, N.W.T.
He recently changed it to its original form of Yakeula, which means "singing in the heavens" in the Dene language.
"That's the name that I have to recognize and respect," he said.
For decades, Yakeula said he was ashamed of his scar. As a child, he always swam with a shirt on to hide it. Now, Yakeula said he's ready to publicly reveal what happened to him to show the truth about those who ran the Catholic residential school.
"While I was here in Rome, I always protected that," Yakeula said.
"Today, I want to share because I'm getting closer to not feeling the same about it."
During his first year at Grollier Hall, Yakeula said he was sent to the hospital by school supervisors and doctors decided to operate on him.
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