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
Which Canadian cities have the highest and lowest grocery prices?
Where you live plays a big factor in what you pay at the grocery store. And while it's no secret the same item may have a different price depending on the store, city or province, we wanted to see just how big the differences are, and why.
BREAKING McGill University seeks emergency injunction to remove pro-Palestinian encampment from campus
McGill University has filed a request for an injunction to have the pro-Palestinian encampment removed from its campus.
Swarm of 20,000 bees gather around woman’s car west of Toronto
A swarm of roughly 20,000 bees gathered around a woman’s car in the parking lot of Burlington Centre.
U.S. says Israel's use of U.S. arms likely violated international law, but evidence is incomplete
The Biden administration said Friday that Israel's use of U.S.-provided weapons in Gaza likely violated international humanitarian law but wartime conditions prevented U.S. officials from determining that for certain in specific airstrikes.
'State or state-sponsored actor' believed to be behind B.C. government hacks
The head of British Columbia’s civil service has revealed that a “state or state-sponsored actor” is behind multiple cyber-security incidents against provincial government networks.
Mother assaulted by stranger while breastfeeding baby in her car: Vancouver police
A person was arrested in East Vancouver Thursday after allegedly entering a car while a mother was breastfeeding her four-month-old boy.
Rare severe solar storm Friday could bring spectacular aurora light show across Canada
A rare and severe solar storm is expected to bring spectacular displays of the northern lights, also known as aurora borealis, across much of Canada and parts of the United States on Friday night.
More than half the Canadians once detained in Syrian camps for suspected ISIS family members have returned home
A total of 29 Canadians have been freed from detention camps in northeast Syria and brought back to Canada since human rights advocates began lobbying for their release years ago.
Canada abstains from Palestinian UN membership vote but supports two-state solution
Canada was one of 25 countries that abstained from a United Nations vote on Palestinian membership that passed with overwhelming support on Friday.