Sarah's Story

The Weight of the Mission - A Short Story by Mary Teegee-Gray

"It is a hot, sticky day — dust from the unpaved roads seems to linger in the stagnant air — this doesn’t dissuade the children from playing in the open fields by the dusty street. Even the birds are too hot to sing so the only noise on Wells Street is the sound of laughing and shrieking coming from the wild and free children unencumbered from worry and hurt; even for just a few happy moments.

An older child comes running into the field yelling “the welfare is coming — the welfare is coming!” All children stop what they are doing and run to hide in the trees, some jump into the muddy ditches. Only a scant few minutes later, a blue slow moving sedan with government stickers comes lumbering down the road, seemingly heavy with the weight of its mission. I run so fast through the bushes to take the long way back home.

My heart is going to burst but I don’t stop for fear they will catch me. My fear is not of the “white boogeyman”, my fear is real; of the “Indian welfare worker”. I rush into my house where my father is watching the 1976 Olympics and my mother is beading at the table, all is good, I am safe. That evening I hear my parents saying that the Jones children were taken away, my mother crying as she knew we would probably never see them again."

Sarah's story represents a shared experience of colonial violence and child apprehension. Pre-contact, Carrier and Sekani children were surrounded by culture, clan and community. Traditional child rearing practices protected children and maintained holistic balance and harmony. Colonization saw the loss of land, language and culture; foreign systems of governance imposed on communities broke down familiar and social structures.

In developing Carrier and Sekani child and family legislation, we are working toward a better future for communities, families and the next generation. The future state will be one where children are surrounded by their culture, where families are heard and supported, where communities are guided by traditional wisdom and practices. The future is Carrier and Sekani children living up to their fullest potential.