Residential school survivor helps others cope with pain and addictions

CTV Regina: Residential school survivor helps other cope Watch: Cally Stephanow brings us the story of one Residential school survivor who uses his pain to help others.

CARRY THE KETTLE NAKODA NATION -- Howie Thomson is a familiar face on Carry the Kettle Nakoda Nation. Some will recognize him from local powwows, others know him for being a jokester but to some, Thomson holds a special place for helping them through a difficult time in their life.

“I’ve been down that road and I could still go down that road but I don’t want too,” Thomson said. “You know they always say there are two roads, take the good road but I think there are a lot of roads but it’s up to you to make that choice. The best thing to do is to laugh or smile and sometimes when you have to cry, let it out.”

Thomson helps people in his community deal with issues like addictions and mental health.

He and his sons built a sweat lodge in his yard out of reclaimed materials. It’s in his sweat lodge that Thomson feels closest to the creator.

"When I tell people they can cry, go ahead and cry,” Thomson said. “That's another way of praying."

In 1965, when Thomson was five-years-old he taken from his parents and placed in the Lebret residential school.

"We're only five miles away from the nearest school, why can’t we go there? No, you have to go there because there's too much Indian in you,” Thomson said. “That’s what they used to tell us in school. How do you get an Indian out? How do I get the French out of you?

When Thomson arrived at the school, he said he was put in a small windowless room with other children. The other children were from other First Nations but all the kids spoke different languages. Thomson said he and the other children had to stay in the small room for months because the educators thought the kids might have lice.

"Every kid that was in there was crying because this white powder, delousing powder they called it was super-duper itchy,” Thomson said. “Throw it on your kid, tell me how he feels and don’t bother him for eight hours."

Thomson spent ten years in the school, but in that time he says he was dealt a lifetime of pain.

"I broke my arm and my leg and my knee, ribs on both sides. That doesn’t even equal the pain that it has in your mind," he said.

Thomson feels blessed that he didn't fall into addiction like many other survivors. Instead he took his pain and used it in a different way. Thomson is well known for emceeing powwows throughout North America.

"Most of my material is from just around here already. I lived it, I know it, I see it, and how can I make it funny?”

For Thomson, laughter may not be able to erase the past but it can help a person cope.

"Humour and emotions are the best gift the creator could give us and I use it in a good way."