How this Mohawk residential school survivor is passing her language down to the next generation
A TV version of this story will air Friday at 5 p.m. on CTV Kitchener as part of our National Day for Truth and Reconciliation special. It will also be available online following the broadcast.
Warning: This story contains disturbing details
Diane Hill’s painful memories of the Mohawk Institute residential school include one she learned decades later from her father.
“When he found out we were there, he came to get us,” she says, recalling how he father told her burst in the door of the institution.
“He said, ‘I’m Harry Hill and I’m here for my kids.’”
A woman there told him his children had been sent to another school that morning.
“And dad left,” Hill says. “I remember when he told us that, my dad cried and he said ‘I did my best.’”
“But I always think of that, what if he got us? We were there. We were never sent anywhere, we weren’t sent away. We were there.”
Before Hill and her siblings were forced to attend to the school – called the “Mush Hole” by Six Nations people because of the food there – she came from a home rich in Indigenous language.
Her father spoke five of the six Haudenosaunee languages. Her mother spoke one, Mohawk.
“When we went into the residential school, it was forbidden,” she says. “We were punished severely."
That punishment was hard to forget when the kids returned home and their mother encouraged them to continue speaking Mohawk.
“You start to look around,” she says “Are they coming?”
In 1986, Hill started volunteering with First Language Academy and taught Mohawk at the immersion school until she retired last November.
“Our languages belong to the kids," she says. "That’s identity.”
For thirty years, Hill has worked to protect the once forbidden language and watch it grow with each coming generation.
Hearing kids speak to her in Mohawk is her greatest enjoyment.
“They’ve done the work, all I did was deliver it,” she says.
Support for is available for residential school survivors and those affected by the ongoing legacy of residential schools.
The National Indian Residential School Crisis Line can be reached 24-hours a day, 7-days a week at 1-866-925-4419.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Fluid in eye cells can 'boil' if you watch the eclipse without protection: expert
Millions of people in parts of Eastern and Atlantic Canada will be able to see the rare solar eclipse happening on April 8. But they should only look up if they have proper eye protection, experts say.
CRA no longer requiring 'bare trust' reporting in 2023 tax return
The Canada Revenue Agency announced Thursday it will not require 'bare trust' reporting from Canadians that it introduced for the 2024 tax season, just four days before the April 2 deadline.
NEW More unauthorized products for skin, sexual enhancement, recalled: Here are the recalls of this week
Health Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency recalled various items this week, including torches, beef biltong and unauthorized products related to skin care and sexual enhancement.
Where is the worst place for allergy sufferers in Canada?
The spring allergy season has started early in many parts of Canada, with high levels of pollen in some cities already. Experts weigh in on which areas have it worse so far this season.
Do these exercises for core strength if you can't stomach doing planks
Planks are one of the most effective exercises for strengthening your midsection, as they target all of your major core muscles: the transverse abdominis, rectus abdominis, external obliques and internal obliques. Yet despite the popularity of various 10-minute plank challenges, planking is actually one of the most dreaded core exercises, according to many fitness experts.
He didn't trust police but sought their help anyway. Two days later, he was dead
Jameek Lowery was among more than 330 Black people who died after police stopped them with tactics that aren’t supposed to be deadly, like physical restraint and use of stun guns, The Associated Press found.
Grandparent scam: London, Ont., senior beats fraudsters not once, but twice
It was a typical Tuesday for Mabel Beharrell, 84, until she got the call that would turn her world upside down. Her teenaged grandson was in trouble and needed her help.
Polar ice is melting and changing Earth's rotation. It's messing with time itself
One day in the next couple of years, everyone in the world will lose a second of their time. Exactly when that will happen is being influenced by humans, according to a new study, as melting polar ice alters the Earth’s rotation and changes time itself.
Sunshine list: These were the Ontario public sector's highest earners in 2023
Ontario released its annual sunshine list Thursday afternoon, noting that the largest year-over-year increases were in hospitals, municipalities, and post-secondary sectors.