Kuper Island

So devastating and at times so hard to listen to. Your heart breaks for these innocent lives and the impact it carried for years. Beautiful storytelling, captivating and amazing.

A difficult story of native peoples’ genocide that is professionally produced, well-written, and most importantly includes many voices of former residents of a Catholic residential institution rife with abject abuse, sanctioned by church and government. This is a rare program voiced by an empathetic, native person whose voice rings with truth and compassion. I usually binge a series in one or two days while doing chores or crafts, but this one stilled my hands and demanded my full attention. Incredibly told.

This is truly a heartbreaking story. The host is an incredible storyteller, and I could listen to him all day Man, John is incredibly moving. I felt the exact same anger as he was feeling while speaking. He has this rare ability that very few people have. He is able to place listener right into his, and his family’s shoes simply through his words and nothing else.

On this National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, I’ve just finished listening to the Kuper Island podcast. It is fitting that I listen today, a day dedicated to speaking and hearing the truth about the genocide perpetrated at Indian Residential Schools, and to finding a path forward as a nation. This podcast does justice to its devastating subject matter. It speaks a brutal, unflinching truth. But it does so with incredible compassion, and importantly, in service of accountability, and healing. Bravo, Duncan and team. I think this it should be required listening for adults, and in Canadian schools, for children at an appropriate age. The only path forward together will be lined with truth and undoubtedly with tears.