generational trauma vs intergenerational trauma

I also went into a witnessing room and recounted my experiences as a young child, growing up among people who attended residential school. It was challenging to hear about the abuses in public, with so many people listening.

I was even more honoured to make people laugh, so they could heal a little more. It was a privilege to be able to connect with survivors and listen to their stories. It's also a restorative and healing experience. I had discovered that recalling the wisdom and humour of our grandparents and aunties could be a way to reconnect the older and younger generations. In the routine, we dress as elders and share stories of life. He said survivors would need laughter during the difficult hearings. (Submitted by Sharon Shorty)ĭuring the Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings, Chief Justice Murray Sinclair asked me and my performing partner to do our comedy act, Gramma Susie and Charlie, at several national events. This photo is in the book Finding Our Faces. Winnie Peterson, Sharon Shorty's mother, in residential school. Healing through humourĪs a storyteller, playwright and comic, I have turned to humour for 20 years. I felt that part of the syndrome can be beaten though, and I learned to show my feelings. Years later as a new mother, I struggled with being affectionate to my son. I did not know that since my parents didn't grow up with their families, they didn't learn parenting skills. There was very little affection in the home. I also liked to go to church as a child and my dad would mock me for it. I didn't understand where my dad's anger and hurtful words toward me came from. My dad, the late Joe Shorty, was angry a lot and it was scary. It was a traditional practice to leave me with my aunties, and I thank God she did it and for their support.īefore that, life at home was confusing. from an abusive relationship with my father. When I was in Grade 4 she left me with her sisters (my aunties) to flee to B.C. In the book, she shares: 'I wasn't quite six years old and, 64 years later, I am finally starting to deal with the issues.' She lost access to stories, her language, traditional beliefs and practices like sewing because of residential school.īlack and white pictures of my mother, late father, and her sisters at Yukon's Baptist Mission School are in a book called Finding Our Faces, which acknowledges the survivors and what they endured: separation from family, bullying from other students, and loss of their culture.Ī photo of residential school students on the cover of the book Finding Our Faces. My mother Winnie Peterson is a Tlingit woman. My parents, aunts and uncles, and one brother attended residential schools in the Yukon, British Columbia and Alberta. The impact of residential school is intergenerational, and I am in the first generation to feel the effects of this trauma. I am the child of residential school survivors. My name is Sharon Shorty and I am from Whitehorse. This week we're highlighting the stories of several children of residential school survivors and the effect intergenerational trauma has had on their lives. This story is part of CBC North's series Children of Survivors | Impact of residential schools.

Generational trauma vs intergenerational trauma