At the age of 10 he was put on a bus in Regina – 60 per cent of the occupants were children – and taken to the Gordon Residential School near Punnichy.
The year was 1984, and Aisacan was in for years of both abuse and he would add some good times too.
The school “was not run by the Catholic Church anymore ... It was run by the government,” Aisacan told those attending a National Day for Truth and Reconciliation event in Yorkton Thursday. In fact, while the school still had a church “while there we never attended services.”
On his second morning at the school Aisacan said his head was shaved.
“They were still doing that in ’84,” he said.
And the punishments were harsh too, for example scrubbing the gym floor with a toothbrush, he said.
“There was always the physical abuse,” said Aisacan.
Then it got worse.
“The head administrator was a pedophile. One day he got a hold of me ... Did his thing to me,” said Aisacan, adding the man then “hands me a quarter.
“What do you think that does to a person. I was in shock.”
It happened more than once too.
“That was just the first time. He got me again in the TV room.”
Fortunately, someone finally stood up to the man, and suddenly he was gone.
Then some good aspects did happen. Aisacan said he learned powwow. He was in Cadets and did winter survival training, and learned to shoot. He became involved in sports.
“So it wasn’t all bad, but I wouldn’t put that on anybody,” he said.
The pain of abuse never left.
“I buried that for many years,” said Aisacan.
But, he has learned to talk about it, to share his story, as he did Thursday.
“This is power,” he said, adding through sharing he has found he has regained his own power over the past.
“What happened to me is not my fault. I acknowledge that. This is my therapy, talking to you,” he said. “Thank you for listening to my story. It empowers me.”
