'They took us': Metis elder's residential school experience on display at CMHR

The art installation is a series of 24 panels telling stories of strength, survival, resistance and healing. (Source: CTV News Winnipeg)

A respected Metis elder is reflecting on her residential school experiences at an exhibit depicting them at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights (CMHR).

In 1947, at just eight years old Angie Crerar was taken to the St. Joseph's Residential School in Fort Resolution in the Northwest Territories with her two younger sisters.

"See the RCMP there? They took us. They took me from the school," said Crerar. "My little sisters were crying and screaming 'I want to go home,' and I couldn’t help them."

That experience, along with many others, is now the focus of "Metis Memories of Residential Schools," an exhibit currently running in the CMHR's Community Corridor.

The art installation is a series of 24 panels telling stories of strength, survival, resistance and healing.

Crerar said being taken away from her parents was a traumatic experience.

"I didn't know anybody there. We didn’t know where we were going, what we were doing, where is everybody?" she said.

"We had nobody, we were absolutely alone. No mail, nothing. We didn’t know what happened to our families, they didn't even speak our language," she added.

Crerar, now 84, said her youngest sister won't talk about her time at the residential school.

"She will never ever speak about residential school. No, we tried," she said.

"Metis Memories of Residential Schools" is on display at the CMHR until January 13, 2023.