Between 1940 and 1975, thousands of children from B.C. and Yukon First Nations were sent to the province's Lower Post Indian Residential School.

There, they were subjected to a government policy of removing the Indian from the child (to paraphrase a now infamous quote of a long-forgotten minister) enacted by the Roman Catholic Church.

There, children as young as four or five were beaten and raped, stripped of their language, culture and self-esteem.

They were given numbers instead of names and they were forbidden to communicate with family members housed in the same building.

As Victor Kisoun, a son of a Lower Post school survivor and a resident of the tiny First Nation town, said last Thursday at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings in Whitehorse: "Lower Post residential school hit the First Nations like a tsunami.

"It ripped apart the cultural fabric of our society. It devastated us, and we are still dealing with the aftermath today.

"It caused social, physical, spiritual and mental devastation which still plagues us today and which has perpetuated our victim mentality.

"These effects continue to be seen in our community today in the form of high rates of premature deaths due to suicide, alcohol-related accidents and illnesses; sexual, physical and mental abuse; substance abuse; hopelessness; depression; loss of culture and identity; loss of parenting skills and family and community dysfunction.”

Speaking on behalf of his Kaska Dene Council and as a member of the Lower Post survivors working group, Kisoun called on the commission to hold a special event in Lower Post, where elements of the old school still stand.

"It is a constant reminder of the trauma and abuse that was experienced by many of our people who will not enter the building or our community because of the pain and memories that are associated with the school,” Kisoun said.

"... We need to confront the dark ghosts of our past and hold the event on the site where these atrocities were committed upon our people because not only do we need to heal ourselves, but we need to heal the land.”

Kisoun echoed the words of many of the former students who spoke during the two-day event held in Whitehorse last week. He said forgiveness can come from the survivors and their families, but it must be asked for by the people who victimized them.

"There is much to be learned from the South African reconciliation experience,” he said, "where the victims sat with the perpetrators so that the perpetrators could attest to their crimes and apologize to their victims taking ownership for their violations.

"Only the victims can truly forgive the perpetrator and release them from their guilt .... The Canadian reconciliation will not be the same as the South African experience, but we can learn from the process that (former South African president Nelson) Mandela and his people went through.”

He said many people from Lower Post and the Kaska Dene Nation did not attend hearings in Whitehorse and Watson Lake because they feel the government which made the policy and the church which enacted it have a responsibility to come to them and makes amends.

"We believe that the Truth and Reconciliation Commission has an opportunity to make a major contribution to the healing of our people communities and nations,” Kisoun said. "To achieve that, the commission must listen to us and respect our wishes.

"We want to be understood with respect to what we feel we need for healing and reconciliation.

"... We firmly believe that the only true reconciliation of the damage that was done at the Lower Post residential school can only be happen at Lower Post, the site of the cultural genocide inflicted upon our people.”

See more coverage on the Whitehorse and Dawson City hearings later this week.