Sen. Beyak’s residential school comments hit close to home in northern Ontario

Willow Fiddler
APTN National News
Sen. Lynn Beyak is from Dryden, Ontario.

It’s a small town in the northwestern part of the province – an area with the scars of residential schools.

When Beyak said last week in the Senate that it was important not to forget the good that the schools accomplished the scars opened up again for some.

“In many ways (I was) hurt again in terms of opening up old wounds,” said Garnet Angeconeb, a residential school survivor.

Angeconeb went to Pelican Falls Indian Residential School near Sioux Lookout.

“Those kinds of views and comments coming from somebody at that level is why I was disappointed and, quite frankly, surprised,” said Angeconeb.

But not everyone in the area thinks Beyak was wrong.

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