Residential school dorm to be demolished Tuesday

Former residents of the infamous Alberni Residential School are looking forward to Tuesday's demolition of the school's dormitory building.

Thousands of aboriginal children were forced into the Port Alberni school and many were physically and sexually abused by dormitory supervisor Arthur Henry Plint before the school closed in 1973.

Plint, who's since died, was convicted of several charges in 1995 for what happened and sentenced to 11 years in prison.

Some have suggested the dormitory building should stay as a reminder of those abuses but Tseshat chief councillor Les Sam says demolishing it will bring an opportunity to heal.

Yukon MLA Margaret Commodore spoke to CTV News in June 2008 about her experiences at Alberni as she watched Prime Minister Stephen Harper formally apologize for residential school abuse across Canada.

Commodore is a member of the Sto:lo First Nation. At age seven, she was taken from her family in Chilliwack and sent to the Vancouver Island residential school.

She spent the next eight years away from her two sisters and three brothers, who were sent to other schools in B.C.

In Alberni, she said she was regularly beaten and sexually abused, leaving her feeling inferior and lost.

"I went for eight years. If you stay there long enough you think it's normal. But it's not," she said last June.

"It was decades ago that I went. But you know, the pain never leaves."

Commodore's experience mirrors that of the 150,000 aboriginal children who suffered 'forced assimilation', losing culture, comfort and care.

"Everything was regimental. Lineup to go eat. Lineup to go to sleep. Lineup to come indoors or outdoors. Lineup to get your cod liver oil. You had to lineup for everything,'' said Commodore, adding that she experienced no emotional warmth during those years.

"Ahh. No. That was missing," she said.

Commodore went on to serve as ministers of health and justice in Whitehorse.

With files from The Canadian Press.