Warning: This story contains details that some might find distressing.
KAMSACK - On Sunday, October 10, Grant Severight, a 70 year-old Elder from Cote First Nation, travelled to the site of the Marieval Residential School on the Cowessess First Nation located approximately 155 kilometres east of Regina. It was there that he sat for an interview with celebrity journalist, Anderson Cooper, and a documentary crew from the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).
Severight is a residential school survivor who, as a young boy, attended the St. Phillips residential school on the Cote First Nation as well as the Marieval residential school. The Elder explained to the Kamsack Times that the interview was part of a 60 Minutes documentary program intended to explore Canada’s Indigenous history with a focus on the residential school system.
Severight spent a good portion of the day with Cooper who also interviewed Cowessess Chief Cadmus Delorme and a number of others who attended the community event.
“Anderson Cooper is a really wonderful man,” Severight shared. “He is the real deal. He shared some very personal details about his life with me. He was friendly and playful with all of the little Indigenous children. We spent a good two hours just talking, as well as most of the day together. I didn’t really know much about him before I met him, but getting to know him – I was so impressed – just a really magnificent man.”
A crew from the BBC set up a number of lights and cameras on the infamous residential school site where an unimaginable 715 unmarked graves were discovered in June of this year using ground-penetrating radar technology.
During the on-camera interview, Severight discussed his painful memories from attending St. Phillips residential school near his home on the Cote Nation and then being sent to the Marieval residential school around the age of 11.
Severight said during his time at St. Phillips, he was subjected to ongoing sexual abuse from a music teacher and realized he wasn’t alone when he observed the man abusing other boys at the school.
“We figure he’d sexually abused at least 50 boys at that school,” asserted Severight. “There was a stone monument placed near the school, dedicated to this offender – his name was Ralph Gray. We got permission to have that stone removed and destroyed this summer. That was just one more, small step in the healing process.”
By the time he reached Grade 8, Severight ran away from school and became a street alcoholic – panhandling to buy continuous bottles to numb his pain and rage.
“The RCMP would keep charging us with petty crimes like having ‘open liquor’ or ‘public drunkenness.’ Of course, none of us had any money to pay those fines. The system was full of prejudice and we had no compassion from anyone. So, we ended up in jail. In fact, the police would round us all up in bus loads and stick us all in jail. At one time, I was sitting in jail with three generations of my family - my grandfather, my father, and I were all in there.”
Eventually, Severight attempted to escape custody and was ultimately sent to a high security prison in Prince Albert.
“Looking back, that may have been the best thing for me,” admitted Severight. “I finished my Grade 12 and I was well-behaved. The very day I got out of the penitentiary, I started a job right away and my life changed for the better. I became high on healing.”
As a young professional, Severight wrote papers about his experience in residential schools and was one of the few people able to speak openly about the abuse he suffered. He earned a Master’s Degree in Adult Education and became the first Indigenous therapist to be certified with Health Canada.
Severight would soon become a spokesperson and mental health advocate who understood first-hand about the lasting damage of the residential school system and associated systemic racism. He was hand-picked to work with gangs in urban centres like Winnipeg’s Indian Posse and violent inner-city Chicago gangs. In Saskatoon, he worked with an organization that helped inmates get back on their feet when they were released from jail. During a teaching stint with the Teacher’s College at the University of Saskatchewan, the majority of his students were young, white social workers – many of whom had never even heard of residential schools in Canada.
For twelve years, Severight flew from his home in Saskatoon to Ottawa every Monday and returned every Friday to work for the Aboriginal Healing Foundation – a not-for-profit, private corporation dedicated to encourage and support healing from a variety of abuses inflicted at Canada’s residential schools.
“I was Stephen Harper’s token Indian for a while,” winked Severight. “But you know, Mr. Harper told me straight out that he didn’t care much about Indigenous issues.”
Harper’s conservative government would ultimately cut funding to the program in 2010, which resulted in a closure of the foundation in 2014.
Today, Severight says it is his personal goal to demonstrate and pass on a healing legacy of sobriety and wellness. In his latest work at the Chief Gabriel Cote Education Complex on his homeland, he hopes to become known as a “Mushum” (meaning Grandfather) to all. He speaks proudly of his four daughters, one daughter who has passed away, and his grandson.
“I raised my grandson, so he calls me dad. He says he wants to become a therapist – like me. I’m happy about that. I’m very proud of all of my children.”
Severight is currently working on a book entitled, Disconnected that details his healing journey, career, and experience with a number of high-profile politicians and organizations. He continues the work he started with the Legacy of Hope Foundation.
“While the goal of the residential school was to ‘Take the Indian out of the child”, explained Severight, “Our task is to put the Indian back in the child to create identity and pride.”
The episode on 60 Minutes that features Severight’s personal childhood experience is expected to be aired sometime between late November and January of 2022.
