File 2008.3.1.204 - Soc. 102 – Mary John / Bridget Moran (April 9, 1991)

• Moving images

1 videocassette (1 hr., 20 min.) : chrome dioxide, original, SP, col.

File consists of a videocassette (VHS) recording of Mary John and Bridget Moran speaking to students in the Social Work 102 course in Quesnel.

Videocassette Summary

• Context: Mary John and Bridget Moran speaking to students in the Social Work 102 course in Quesnel

Introduction:

• 00’0”-1’00” Social work instructor introduces Bridget Moran and Mary John to talk to a Social Work 102 class.
• 1’02” – 8’00” Bridget initially discusses how she came to write Stoney Creek Woman; that it was initiated by Mary’s Heart attack in 1984. She discusses the process of writing the book and that it was now recommended reading for school curriculum in BC and used all across Canada as far as Halifax. Bridget’s interest was to “raise [people’s] consciousness of what it is like to be a native in Canada” because people didn’t know about racism in Vanderhoof.
• 8’10” Bridget introduces Mary John and invites the students to ask questions:
• A student asks a question about Bella – a woman who was very influential in Mary’s life
• Bridget states that women did better at residential schools than men; there was segregation between boys and girls at Lejac. Refers to Joanne Fiske and her thesis that the school somewhat benefited the girls compared to the boys who didn’t acquire skills that they could use later in life
• A student asks a question about segregation at Lejac – Bridget’s impression was that many boys ran away frequently
• A student asks Mary’s age when she went to Lejac; Mary was about 6; she talks about emotional abuse at Lejac; she had nothing to do with her own culture whereas there is more pride now in native culture; Mary refers to the interest now in native culture; drumming & dancing
• A student asks Mary about discipline at home;
• A question by a student refers to the difficulties of having a non-native counselor to talk about problems – needed a native counselor to understand cultural difficulties
• Bridget notes there is still a long way to go in the education system for the native people but that there are some progress being made; and with native students now entering university this is making a change as well
• Changes on the reserve due to the release of the book Stoney Creek Woman; better roads and sewage provided
• Mary says she was fearful of the reaction from crowds during the book signings
• Talks about the creation of the Indian Homemaker’s Association/ involvement at Stoney Creek
• Mary talks about setting up of the Potlatch House at Stoney Creek; Mary notes that they will then build a pit house and smokehouse
• She talks about her actions to counsel native people in her community who have alcohol problems
• Bridget refers to the need to educate the native community about alcohol related problems including fetal alcohol syndrome – there is a need for nurses to work in the native communities to educate them
• Bridget talks about her fight with the WAC Bennett government – her frustration that as a social worker she did not have the power to remove abused children; that this was still controlled by the Indian Agent
• Problems with the Department of Indian Affairs organization structure. A student refers to the DIA’s impact of ‘keeping the control’ away from the native people; that so much money goes away from the native people and to payment of the bureaucracy.
• Bridget says that the ‘social worker needs you’;
• Bridget asks the students about their reaction to the book; they talk about their shock with the inquest of Coreen Thomas’ death; Bridget notes she found it difficult to write about the tuberculosis of Mary’s brother as her father died from tuberculosis; also the chapters about Mary’s mother dying from childbirth and about her marriage
• A student asks about women in native culture being submissive; Bridget notes that at potlatches women control the gift giving and the money
• Mary John talks about her faith in the Catholic Church; she doesn’t judge anyone
• A student talks about the residential school experience and makes a comparison with that of a boarding school. She states she had no knowledge of sexual abuse at the residential school; Bridget talks about some of the other native women she interviewed who had been at Lejac. Talks about Coreen Thomas’s father who attended Lejac and kept trying to run away. Mary notes she was not told that she was going to residential school and her mother didn’t know about it either. She notes the difference now in schools available at Stoney Creek. Bridget notes the population is about 380; Mary notes a shortage of housing on the reserve
• Mary talks about her initial reaction of the book once published
• Bridget talks about the writing of the book and that it was important to let Mary speak her own words and she is glad that people are impacted by the book and ‘the rhythm of Mary’s speech’ Bridget states it’s a ‘story of survival’
• Bridget talks about the writing of her next book that she has decided to call ‘A Little Rebellion’
• Bridget talks about her plans to have Mary translate some of her 1962 interview with Granny Seymour, some of which is in Carrier
• Bridget refers to another book she has written that is unpublished A Horizontal Land “a frivolous novel about Saskatchewan”
• Mary John talks about what type of future she would like for her people
• End of videotape