The Survivors Speak

Gender relations • 97
She said that on January 6, 1953, she was told there was someone at the school to see her.
And then the parlour bell rang, and Sister said, “Somebody came to see you.” So, I
went to the door there, and he says, “I came to see Father to ask to marry you.” It’s,
like, yeah, I said, “Okay,” and I walk away. Then that was January 6, and I guess I
didn’t know the wedding was set for January 12th, six days later.
She was upset by the prospect of having the wedding announced in advance.
I was gonna get married that Monday morning. And the custom then was Sunday
church, they used to announce wedding, like, Monday morning. In those days, the
church used to be just full of people. Every Sunday people would just, all the time.
And that Sunday morning I got up, I was so sick. I was just throwing up. I was just sick
just thinking that they’re gonna announce my wedding, like, I’m gonna get married.
I was so sick I couldn’t go to church. They, you know, usually if you’re sick they don’t
let you, I was sick. When the church was over, the girls came back, oh, they’re just
teasing, “Oh, Violet, you’re getting married.” And oh, I, I didn’t like that, but I just, I
had to do it.
She could recall little of the marriage ceremony itself.
Next morning, 6:00 o’clock in the morning, my sister-in-law come, a wedding gown,
veil, everything, and she was, oh, the whole set of clothes, helped me dress up now.
And she must have knew by my expression that, I didn’t say nothing to her, but she
must have known I didn’t want to. She kept saying, “Don’t say no, don’t say no,” she
kept saying to me. I didn’t say nothing.
And you know ’til to this day, I don’t remember going in church. I blocked everything.
I don’t remember going in there. I know the church was full. I don’t remember
nothing. Only one time I came to when the priest asked me, “Will you take Jonas for
your husband?” I woke up, and just like I woke up, not a sound, and they’re waiting
for my answer, and then, like, in the back of my head I could hear my sister-in-law
saying, “Don’t say no, don’t say no.” I said, “Yes.” And from there, I don’t know, just
the day went. Like, that’s how I got married, without, I didn’t want to, and I still got
married. 337
For most of the period during which residential schools operated, no school system in
Canada offered much in the way of sex education. It usually fell to parents to ensure that
children received some information about puberty and sex, though there was no guarantee
that would happen. Among First Nations people, puberty-recognition or passage ceremonies
were generally held, during which women spoke to young girls and older men counselled
young boys. Residential school students could not, however, turn to their parents or
families for such knowledge, and tribal ceremonies were banned. Muriel Morrisseau said
that she and the other girls at the Fort Alexander school did not know about the physical
changes they would undergo at puberty.