WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.000
[sil.]

00:00:10.000 --> 00:00:14.999
[music]

00:00:15.000 --> 00:00:19.999
I was born in Fort Chipewyan.

00:00:20.000 --> 00:00:24.999
That much I know for certain because
it’s on my birth certificate.

00:00:25.000 --> 00:00:29.999
I have no memories or certain knowledge of
what transpired over the next few years.

00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:34.999
I was once told by a social worker

00:00:35.000 --> 00:00:40.000
that my parents were alcoholics, and that all
of us kids were removed for this reason.

00:00:45.000 --> 00:00:53.000
[music]

00:01:00.000 --> 00:01:08.000
[music]

00:01:10.000 --> 00:01:14.999
Dear, Chuck, if I die, try to understand,

00:01:15.000 --> 00:01:19.999
I didn’t do this because of you.
I love you very much,

00:01:20.000 --> 00:01:24.999
even though we don’t know each other very well.
I hope that you can do better in life than I,

00:01:25.000 --> 00:01:29.999
I keep trying. Things are
bound to get better.

00:01:30.000 --> 00:01:34.999
And you know me, I quit everything.

00:01:35.000 --> 00:01:39.999
Love, Richard Stanley Cardinal.

00:01:40.000 --> 00:01:44.999
[music]

00:01:45.000 --> 00:01:49.999
I… I cried a lot, you know, and that for the first
time in the long time nobody use that I really cried,

00:01:50.000 --> 00:01:54.999
you know, for something like that,

00:01:55.000 --> 00:01:59.999
a person. But now, you know, I
don’t know, I don’t really…

00:02:00.000 --> 00:02:04.999
I can’t really… You know what, we might see him.
It’s really different because I don’t have…

00:02:05.000 --> 00:02:09.999
I can’t really feel anymore, you know.

00:02:10.000 --> 00:02:14.999
[music]

00:02:15.000 --> 00:02:19.999
In June, 1984, Richard cardinal was
found hanging from a birch tree

00:02:20.000 --> 00:02:24.999
in the back yard at his last foster home.

00:02:25.000 --> 00:02:29.999
He was 17 years old, and he was Métis.
From the age of 4 to 17,

00:02:30.000 --> 00:02:34.999
he had lived in 28 different placement
situations throughout Alberta,

00:02:35.000 --> 00:02:39.999
including 16 foster homes,
and 12 group homes,

00:02:40.000 --> 00:02:44.999
shelters and locked facilities.

00:02:45.000 --> 00:02:49.999
Richard left a diary which not only describe his
hardship, abuse, and neglect during his lifetime,

00:02:50.000 --> 00:02:54.999
but also revealed what
an aware(ph) sensitive

00:02:55.000 --> 00:02:59.999
and articulate young man he was.

00:03:00.000 --> 00:03:04.999
I would be returning to
grade two this year.

00:03:05.000 --> 00:03:09.999
I was not considered an outcast this year.

00:03:10.000 --> 00:03:14.999
I got my first taste of puppy
love with a girl name Heather.

00:03:15.000 --> 00:03:19.999
I was halfway through the school year,
and a social worker came to our home

00:03:20.000 --> 00:03:24.999
and I was to be moved, and asked
how soon I would be ready to move.

00:03:25.000 --> 00:03:29.999
I answered one week, I
should have answered never.

00:03:30.000 --> 00:03:34.999
[music]

00:03:35.000 --> 00:03:39.999
Him and I got along really good, we… I
mean, we did a lot of things together. We…

00:03:40.000 --> 00:03:44.999
we didn’t, uh… overwork each other, that’s for
sure. Like I say we built the bridge down there,

00:03:45.000 --> 00:03:49.999
across the creek and we picked
a few rocks in the field,

00:03:50.000 --> 00:03:54.999
and we built a few things, you know, he really enjoyed
it. He… he was a good worker and he… he didn’t complain

00:03:55.000 --> 00:03:59.999
and… and uh… we just enjoyed ourselves. He was company for me
too, because you know, you don’t like to do things by yourself.

00:04:00.000 --> 00:04:04.999
And he talked but he never
did ever talk about his past

00:04:05.000 --> 00:04:09.999
or I never ask him anything about his past.
I figured was none of my business,

00:04:10.000 --> 00:04:14.999
and uh… we worry about the future
sort of thing. On May 7th,

00:04:15.000 --> 00:04:19.999
Richard met his last foster parents, Terry
and Leo Crothers at their farm near Sangudo,

00:04:20.000 --> 00:04:24.999
90 kilometers northwest of Edmonton.
On the third day,

00:04:25.000 --> 00:04:29.999
after his arrival, Richard nailed
a board between two birch trees,

00:04:30.000 --> 00:04:34.999
and from it suspended a rope.
When it was discovered,

00:04:35.000 --> 00:04:39.999
Mrs. Crothers immediately contacted the
social worker. She was told not to worry

00:04:40.000 --> 00:04:44.999
that Richard was interested in bodybuilding,
and would used the board to do chin ups.

00:04:45.000 --> 00:04:49.999
Thirty nine days later, Richard was dead.

00:04:50.000 --> 00:04:54.999
It was June 26th… I’ll remember that date. I might
forget every other day, but it was 26th of June,

00:04:55.000 --> 00:04:59.999
uh… it was my birthday. And we
were going to my son’s for supper,

00:05:00.000 --> 00:05:04.999
uh… kids next door, and… and all of us.

00:05:05.000 --> 00:05:09.999
And uh… I got home from work at about four.

00:05:10.000 --> 00:05:14.999
And uh… Rick was supposed to
fed and watered the chickens.

00:05:15.000 --> 00:05:19.999
But he wasn’t around and I didn’t pay any attention.
Because he hung around over with the kids over there,

00:05:20.000 --> 00:05:24.999
so then Leo come home at about quarter to five, and then, we had
to go by five. And I said, \"Well, I better go and find the kid.\"

00:05:25.000 --> 00:05:29.999
So I went over Das Jackie. I said,
\"Have you seen Rick?\" She said,\"

00:05:30.000 --> 00:05:34.999
No, as you mentioned, I… I haven’t even seen at all today.\"
And so that’s when I got to think and I come back,

00:05:35.000 --> 00:05:39.999
and I said, \"Leo, Jesus, you know, they… they haven’t seen
him. And he’s got to be somewhere. The bike was in the yard.

00:05:40.000 --> 00:05:44.999
He hadn’t gone motor biking or…\" And that’s why
I went down to have a look, and of course,

00:05:45.000 --> 00:05:49.999
he was dead. You know, he had been for…

00:05:50.000 --> 00:05:54.999
for several hours, and was, you know,

00:05:55.000 --> 00:05:59.999
a very hot day and everything.
And uh… I didn’t touch him.

00:06:00.000 --> 00:06:04.999
I knew by looking at him that
there’s nothing that I could do.

00:06:05.000 --> 00:06:09.999
So I went back and told, \"Terry,
you had to phone the police.\"

00:06:10.000 --> 00:06:14.999
And while she was running the
place, I went and got my camera,

00:06:15.000 --> 00:06:19.999
and I thought, you know,
that this should be,

00:06:20.000 --> 00:06:24.999
uh… observed by other
people than me, you know.

00:06:25.000 --> 00:06:29.999
You ever(ph) got to the stage where nobody would
listen to us, it was a little tough to do,

00:06:30.000 --> 00:06:34.999
but uh… I took about ten slides when
we just waited for the police to come.

00:06:35.000 --> 00:06:39.999
The next five hours seemed
endless for the Crothers.

00:06:40.000 --> 00:06:44.999
Richard’s body remained in the trees
while he waited for the police

00:06:45.000 --> 00:06:49.999
and the crime detection
unit to do their work.

00:06:50.000 --> 00:06:54.999
No autopsy nor inquiry was ordered
into his death at that time.

00:06:55.000 --> 00:06:59.999
But we waited for about a month or five weeks
or so, we never heard a word from anybody.

00:07:00.000 --> 00:07:04.999
So that’s when I had these
slides developed in the prints.

00:07:05.000 --> 00:07:09.999
And I mailed one to each the
minister, uh… the opposition leader.

00:07:10.000 --> 00:07:14.999
And Peter Transhy and uh…
which is our local Amalayan

00:07:15.000 --> 00:07:19.999
really tor enemy over this, uh… a
bad taste by sending this picture

00:07:20.000 --> 00:07:24.999
of this dead boy hanging in a tree. And I said, \"Well\",
certainly he did get somebody’s attention in it.

00:07:25.000 --> 00:07:29.999
You know, I said, \"Otherwise, it would have
been swept on the table and nobody would ever,

00:07:30.000 --> 00:07:34.999
you know, thought anything more of it.\" It’s just been
another dead end. And soon as the media association

00:07:35.000 --> 00:07:39.999
lady got these pictures, and that’s
when everything took right off.

00:07:40.000 --> 00:07:44.999
And of course, everybody’s analyst on the
bandwagon, you know, everybody who was hidden

00:07:45.000 --> 00:07:49.999
in the woodwork from the government, got right up and
started speaking out, how it wasn’t their responsibility,

00:07:50.000 --> 00:07:54.999
and wasn’t her fault.

00:07:55.000 --> 00:07:59.999
Tonight on the national…

00:08:00.000 --> 00:08:04.999
Richard cardinal he had been young, Métis and lost in the
shuffle. Richard had been a foster child for 14 years.

00:08:05.000 --> 00:08:09.999
He had lived with no fewer than
16 families. And in between,

00:08:10.000 --> 00:08:14.999
he had been shuttled from Youth Emergency
Shelters to psychiatrists to caseworkers.

00:08:15.000 --> 00:08:19.999
Last June, he killed himself. This week in a
courthouse in Mayerthorpe, Alberta judicial inquiry,

00:08:20.000 --> 00:08:24.999
a sifting through his life to see what went
wrong. Steve Andrews X, CBC News, Edmonton.

00:08:25.000 --> 00:08:29.999
The inquiry lasted five days.

00:08:30.000 --> 00:08:34.999
It was presided over by Judge Walter White
of the Provincial Court of Alberta.

00:08:35.000 --> 00:08:39.999
A shocked media reported to
testimony from 21 witnesses,

00:08:40.000 --> 00:08:44.999
including social workers,
psychiatrists, psychologists,

00:08:45.000 --> 00:08:49.999
foster parents, and program administrators.

00:08:50.000 --> 00:08:54.999
The hearing revealed serious inadequacies
in the child welfare system as a whole.

00:08:55.000 --> 00:08:59.999
Richard’s voice was finally heard.
One point emerged clearly.

00:09:00.000 --> 00:09:04.999
Richard Cardinal never got what
he needed most to go home.

00:09:05.000 --> 00:09:13.000
[sil.]

00:09:15.000 --> 00:09:19.999
I was seven years old. And uh… I remember, we
were staying at the missionary at the time,

00:09:20.000 --> 00:09:24.999
and the RCMP came, pick us up.
And they took us all in,

00:09:25.000 --> 00:09:29.999
and we were taken to Fort
McMurray from Fort Chipewyan.

00:09:30.000 --> 00:09:34.999
There was eight of us at that time. We were
all split up and put in different homes.

00:09:35.000 --> 00:09:39.999
So I was put in a home with
my second oldest brother.

00:09:40.000 --> 00:09:44.999
And the… my other brother, the oldest one,
Edmund was placed in the home by himself.

00:09:45.000 --> 00:09:49.999
And Richard was placed in a different room. And
the girls, I am not very sure where they went.

00:09:50.000 --> 00:09:58.000
[music]

00:10:00.000 --> 00:10:04.999
By the age of six, Richard had already been
separated from his family for two years.

00:10:05.000 --> 00:10:09.999
He was to be moved to his eight
foster home in Lac la Biche

00:10:10.000 --> 00:10:14.999
where he would live with his brother Charlie
for 11 months. After leaving Lac la Biche,

00:10:15.000 --> 00:10:19.999
the two brothers were moved
together to the town of Breynat.

00:10:20.000 --> 00:10:24.999
[music]

00:10:25.000 --> 00:10:29.999
The… the abusing was started in
Breynat in the foster home there.

00:10:30.000 --> 00:10:34.999
And uh… that… that home was pretty rough,
you know. I could… Yeah, as you know,

00:10:35.000 --> 00:10:39.999
Richard had a… the bed wetting problem, yeah. And in
the mornings, when he got up, and he had wet his bed,

00:10:40.000 --> 00:10:44.999
both him and I would both get,
uh… looking for it. And knowing

00:10:45.000 --> 00:10:49.999
that we had to go outside and get our
own stick for them to beat us with the…

00:10:50.000 --> 00:10:54.999
And that… you know, that
happened quite often.

00:10:55.000 --> 00:10:59.999
And he used to just hate us, you know, just
for spite of it. I think a lot of times,

00:11:00.000 --> 00:11:04.999
uh… he just wanted to see us cry, you know.
And he… of course, all the family would stand

00:11:05.000 --> 00:11:09.999
around watch and we’d have to drop
our pants, you know, and they had,

00:11:10.000 --> 00:11:14.999
uh… was uh… four girls of their own. And the
girls just stand there and watch us do it,

00:11:15.000 --> 00:11:19.999
while he give us a licking. Our
next home was in the same town,

00:11:20.000 --> 00:11:24.999
just a few miles away. This
home was good in one way

00:11:25.000 --> 00:11:29.999
but bad in a lot of ways. It seemed
that for every good happening,

00:11:30.000 --> 00:11:34.999
there were two bad ones. I remember
one night, we were not fed

00:11:35.000 --> 00:11:39.999
and there was a bag of raw turnips by our
bedroom door. So we ate about three a piece.

00:11:40.000 --> 00:11:44.999
[music]

00:11:45.000 --> 00:11:49.999
By the age of nine, Richard was
moved to his 11th foster home,

00:11:50.000 --> 00:11:54.999
\"The Smith Family\". He was accompanied by
his brother Charlie and his sister Linda.

00:11:55.000 --> 00:11:59.999
And what were they like
when they first arrived?

00:12:00.000 --> 00:12:04.999
I don’t know

00:12:05.000 --> 00:12:09.999
how to explain. They were quite…

00:12:10.000 --> 00:12:14.999
[sil.]

00:12:15.000 --> 00:12:19.999
…upset and uh… disturbed,
as you would put it.

00:12:20.000 --> 00:12:24.999
At first, I had to cook quite a bit

00:12:25.000 --> 00:12:29.999
to get them filled up. But then afterwards,

00:12:30.000 --> 00:12:34.999
they… they were just like any other children. They
were content and uh… They were contented afterwards.

00:12:35.000 --> 00:12:39.999
And when we just got them,

00:12:40.000 --> 00:12:44.999
when I used to put food on the table,
they used to just grab for it.

00:12:45.000 --> 00:12:49.999
They were so scared that there
wouldn’t be enough go around.

00:12:50.000 --> 00:12:54.999
And I thought this home was really good. You know, all
three of us, we… we had a lot of fun around here.

00:12:55.000 --> 00:12:59.999
You know the creek, that’s running by the
farm here that kind of shrunk a little bit.

00:13:00.000 --> 00:13:04.999
But there is one certain part where it had rabbits,
you know, had rocks and everything falling down there

00:13:05.000 --> 00:13:09.999
and we go tubing down with the tubes. A few
months later, his current foster parents

00:13:10.000 --> 00:13:14.999
had become frustrated with his bed wetting.
And once again,

00:13:15.000 --> 00:13:19.999
the social worker was asked to move Richard.
So then I asked their social worker,

00:13:20.000 --> 00:13:24.999
I said, \"Uh.. help me get
some kind of big rubber.\"

00:13:25.000 --> 00:13:29.999
Umm… to cover the mattress sort of

00:13:30.000 --> 00:13:34.999
because I couldn’t find anything in the
storage(ph) for the big. And I said,

00:13:35.000 --> 00:13:39.999
\"Is there something to put on
him.\" You know, so he don’t wet.

00:13:40.000 --> 00:13:44.999
And then, they didn’t… all they did it…

00:13:45.000 --> 00:13:49.999
The way we were told that Richard
was gonna be taken away,

00:13:50.000 --> 00:13:54.999
and he was supposed to be getting treatment,
special treatment for his bettering problem,

00:13:55.000 --> 00:13:59.999
and he was supposed to be placed
back with us which never happened.

00:14:00.000 --> 00:14:04.999
I had four hours before I would
leave my family and friends behind.

00:14:05.000 --> 00:14:09.999
And since Linda and Charlie were at school,

00:14:10.000 --> 00:14:14.999
I went into the bedroom and
dug out my old harmonica.

00:14:15.000 --> 00:14:19.999
I went down to the barnyard and sat on
the fence. I began to play real slow,

00:14:20.000 --> 00:14:24.999
and sat like for the occasion.
But halfway through the sound,

00:14:25.000 --> 00:14:29.999
my lower lip began to quiver.
And I knew, I was going to cry,

00:14:30.000 --> 00:14:34.999
and I was glad. So I didn’t
even try to stop myself.

00:14:35.000 --> 00:14:39.999
[music]

00:14:40.000 --> 00:14:44.999
I guess that my foster mother heard me,

00:14:45.000 --> 00:14:49.999
must have come down to comfort me. When she put her arm
around me, I pulled away and ran up the road ways.

00:14:50.000 --> 00:14:58.000
[music]

00:15:05.000 --> 00:15:09.999
I didn’t want no one to love anymore.

00:15:10.000 --> 00:15:14.999
I had been hurt too many times,

00:15:15.000 --> 00:15:19.999
so I began to learn the art
of blocking out all emotions

00:15:20.000 --> 00:15:24.999
and shut out to rest of the world.
The door would open to no one.

00:15:25.000 --> 00:15:29.999
When Richard left, you know, this place
was… wasn’t the same, like both the Linda

00:15:30.000 --> 00:15:34.999
and I were pretty upset that
Richard had to go away,

00:15:35.000 --> 00:15:39.999
and this place just seem
to have lost its spirit.

00:15:40.000 --> 00:15:44.999
[music]

00:15:45.000 --> 00:15:49.999
The social worker arrived to
take me away to my new home.

00:15:50.000 --> 00:15:54.999
And the word(ph) there, she tried to talk to
me but I wasn’t hearing or trying to hear.

00:15:55.000 --> 00:15:59.999
[music]

00:16:00.000 --> 00:16:04.999
When we arrived, the social worker
wanted to talk to my parents alone.

00:16:05.000 --> 00:16:09.999
So I remained in the car.

00:16:10.000 --> 00:16:14.999
About a half an hour later,
she came out and called me,

00:16:15.000 --> 00:16:19.999
but I would not move and she came
to the car. I locked the doors.

00:16:20.000 --> 00:16:24.999
I did not want her to leave me here.

00:16:25.000 --> 00:16:29.999
Here I was friendless,
alone, and very scared.

00:16:30.000 --> 00:16:34.999
Finally, they coaxed me out of
the car and I began to cry.

00:16:35.000 --> 00:16:39.999
The social worker told them that I
would get over it soon and left.

00:16:40.000 --> 00:16:44.999
But I wouldn’t get over it, not now,

00:16:45.000 --> 00:16:49.999
not ever, I told myself.

00:16:50.000 --> 00:16:54.999
You know, for a long time, we never heard anything
about Richard. Nobody told us how he was doing.

00:16:55.000 --> 00:16:59.999
I was taken into the house and
shown where I would sleep.

00:17:00.000 --> 00:17:04.999
The room was in the basement.
When I walked into the room

00:17:05.000 --> 00:17:09.999
I could not believe my eyes. The floor
was covered with water about 1.5 inches.

00:17:10.000 --> 00:17:14.999
There were boards on the floor to
keep your feet from getting wet.

00:17:15.000 --> 00:17:19.999
The walls had been painted red that
had long before began to peel off.

00:17:20.000 --> 00:17:24.999
The bed was no wider in 2 feet across

00:17:25.000 --> 00:17:29.999
and about 1 foot off the floor. There
was a 40 Watt light bulb in the ceiling

00:17:30.000 --> 00:17:34.999
which was not completely finished. And
you had to pull a string to turn it on.

00:17:35.000 --> 00:17:39.999
It looked like something
you’d see in a horror movie.

00:17:40.000 --> 00:17:44.999
I ran away from here, onetime Richard
phoned me, he was really upset.

00:17:45.000 --> 00:17:49.999
He said he wanted to get out of that place,
really bad. So I ran away from here.

00:17:50.000 --> 00:17:54.999
And I hitchhiked down to his place, but by
the time I got there through that night,

00:17:55.000 --> 00:17:59.999
so I went into the barrels and I doubt myself, uh…
a little lean another straw… another straw-bales.

00:18:00.000 --> 00:18:04.999
And I slept there that night.
And early in the morning,

00:18:05.000 --> 00:18:09.999
I snuck out of that before anybody was got up. And I went and
stood in the back of the bush and waiting for the Richard

00:18:10.000 --> 00:18:14.999
to wake up, so I could go see him. And he came
out doing his chores, then Bob Jones came out,

00:18:15.000 --> 00:18:19.999
and I was watching all this from the back.
And I’d seen him yelling at Richard

00:18:20.000 --> 00:18:24.999
for building that, uh… straw-stack
and Richard was saying

00:18:25.000 --> 00:18:29.999
that he never done it, which was true,
you know. It was me that built it.

00:18:30.000 --> 00:18:34.999
And he gave him, like he started beating on really bad for
building that, eh. And I heard Richard just crying, screaming.

00:18:35.000 --> 00:18:39.999
Remind you, Jones wouldn’t
let him come to our place.

00:18:40.000 --> 00:18:44.999
He just forbid him to come to visit.

00:18:45.000 --> 00:18:49.999
But uh… we did ask social worker

00:18:50.000 --> 00:18:54.999
that them, brothers wanted to see but…

00:18:55.000 --> 00:18:59.999
[music]

00:19:00.000 --> 00:19:04.999
I kept telling myself that
this was all a bad dream

00:19:05.000 --> 00:19:09.999
that I would wake up soon, Charlie
and Linda and the rest of my family

00:19:10.000 --> 00:19:14.999
in our home in Fort Chipewyan.
But in reality,

00:19:15.000 --> 00:19:19.999
I knew that I wouldn’t wake
up, and that this was real,

00:19:20.000 --> 00:19:24.999
and not just a bad dream. I spent
the rest of the winter here,

00:19:25.000 --> 00:19:29.999
feeling lonely and very depressed.
And I began to seriously

00:19:30.000 --> 00:19:34.999
think about suicide.
Richard lived four years,

00:19:35.000 --> 00:19:39.999
his longest stay with any one family.
While at this home,

00:19:40.000 --> 00:19:44.999
Richard ran away several times,
stole a truck, shot a cow,

00:19:45.000 --> 00:19:49.999
and was feeling all his
subjects in school. At age 13,

00:19:50.000 --> 00:19:54.999
Richard met the Keslers, his
13 set of foster parents.

00:19:55.000 --> 00:19:59.999
Richard would once again live
with his brother Charlie.

00:20:00.000 --> 00:20:04.999
He always had this bed wetting
problem, so they decided, well, maybe

00:20:05.000 --> 00:20:09.999
he went to the psychologist or you know. So we
were all for it because I knew, it wasn’t medical,

00:20:10.000 --> 00:20:14.999
that was definitely
psycho… psychologically.

00:20:15.000 --> 00:20:19.999
So we thought, it would do him good and we can
send him. He said, \"Sure.\" And he went for…

00:20:20.000 --> 00:20:24.999
I don’t know two or three sessions.
And then, we started changing,

00:20:25.000 --> 00:20:29.999
and I think what was happening was he was
bringing out everything that he had buried.

00:20:30.000 --> 00:20:34.999
And I don’t know, it just…

00:20:35.000 --> 00:20:39.999
I don’t think he ever really… they
should have brought it right out,

00:20:40.000 --> 00:20:44.999
and I think they stopped the…
the therapy too soon because

00:20:45.000 --> 00:20:49.999
uh… I found out, well,
it was supposed to be,

00:20:50.000 --> 00:20:54.999
umm… diary he was writing later. And in
there he said, \"I’ve got all this anger.

00:20:55.000 --> 00:20:59.999
I don’t know what to do with it.\" And yet, he didn’t display
it to us. I had no idea, he had this thing anger inside.

00:21:00.000 --> 00:21:04.999
When Charlie was about to turn 18

00:21:05.000 --> 00:21:09.999
and would soon have to go out on his own,

00:21:10.000 --> 00:21:14.999
Richard’s sense of loss was overwhelming.
His anguish became unbearable.

00:21:15.000 --> 00:21:19.999
[music] When I woke up next

00:21:20.000 --> 00:21:24.999
a child to sit up, but my arms were
struck down in a sudden burst of pain,

00:21:25.000 --> 00:21:29.999
start from my neck. It hurt so
much, I ended up yelling in pain,

00:21:30.000 --> 00:21:34.999
and then, I burst out crying.
About two or three nurses came

00:21:35.000 --> 00:21:39.999
running into my room, and one
nurse instruct(ph) my arms

00:21:40.000 --> 00:21:44.999
And held me in her arms, repeatedly,
told me everything was okay now.

00:21:45.000 --> 00:21:49.999
It felt strange to be held, and yet,
it also felt soothing the warm inside.

00:21:50.000 --> 00:21:54.999
I can’t remember how long it had been since

00:21:55.000 --> 00:21:59.999
I had been held by anyone. And I
know that I missed it very much.

00:22:00.000 --> 00:22:04.999
[music]

00:22:05.000 --> 00:22:09.999
He attempted suicide twice
while he was at Kessler’s.

00:22:10.000 --> 00:22:14.999
Once was in school that was the
first time he attempted it.

00:22:15.000 --> 00:22:19.999
And the second time, he came
back from the hospital maybe,

00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:24.999
uh… three days later, after that, he was
with us at Kesler’s and was myself.

00:22:25.000 --> 00:22:29.999
And they hired, and we were down in the barn and we
were working and building calf pens in the barn.

00:22:30.000 --> 00:22:34.999
And Richard came down, he was…
you know, he looked all right.

00:22:35.000 --> 00:22:39.999
And… and uh… he said he was gonna go up and makes a cup
of coffee and says \"Okay, we’ll be up about 10 minutes.

00:22:40.000 --> 00:22:44.999
We just had to finish up.\" And we went up to the
house, and I heard this whining, this moaning.

00:22:45.000 --> 00:22:49.999
And I thought Richard was singing with the stereo, and I
went down to see and here he was… he was in the doghouse.

00:22:50.000 --> 00:22:54.999
And I looked inside, there was Richard. He… he had
like blood all over him, like he’d written the note.

00:22:55.000 --> 00:22:59.999
And the note said, \"Help me,
please\", and was written in blood.

00:23:00.000 --> 00:23:04.999
Charlie drove Richard back
to the Mayerthorpe hospital.

00:23:05.000 --> 00:23:09.999
This time, the attending physician
arranged for Richard to be transferred

00:23:10.000 --> 00:23:14.999
to the Misericordia hospital in Edmonton.
On the way there,

00:23:15.000 --> 00:23:19.999
the ambulance attendant said
that Richard nearly died.

00:23:20.000 --> 00:23:24.999
On his arrival at the hospital, the doctor reported
that Richard was unconscious and smelling of alcohol.

00:23:25.000 --> 00:23:29.999
No referral information was provided

00:23:30.000 --> 00:23:34.999
on his previous attempts two days before, and
Richard was released the following afternoon.

00:23:35.000 --> 00:23:39.999
And we went and picked him up, and brought him back to Kesler’s,
and that’s when Kesler’s, you know, they said they… they…

00:23:40.000 --> 00:23:44.999
they couldn’t keep him anymore. And so,
social services, they sent him to,

00:23:45.000 --> 00:23:49.999
uh… Grand Prairie to lockup.
In Grand Prairie,

00:23:50.000 --> 00:23:54.999
he was supposed to be getting psychology…
psychiatric help as they call it.

00:23:55.000 --> 00:23:59.999
And I don’t think he really got
any psychiatric help over there.

00:24:00.000 --> 00:24:04.999
After Charlie’s departure,
Richard ran away repeatedly.

00:24:05.000 --> 00:24:09.999
His search for his identity and his
family had haunted him all his life.

00:24:10.000 --> 00:24:14.999
He would aim for the notch. He once
made it as far as Fort McMurray,

00:24:15.000 --> 00:24:19.999
a town he had been first
moved to at the age of four.

00:24:20.000 --> 00:24:24.999
It was summer, ‘82. Richard
was almost 16 years old.

00:24:25.000 --> 00:24:29.999
He was charged with shoplifting and
was put on probation for six months.

00:24:30.000 --> 00:24:34.999
The following year, Richard was in and out
of shelters and group homes in Edmonton.

00:24:35.000 --> 00:24:39.999
He was found sitting on
a bench at a 711 store,

00:24:40.000 --> 00:24:44.999
having cut his wrist and was
bleeding onto the side walk.

00:24:45.000 --> 00:24:49.999
Richard had lost the will to live.

00:24:50.000 --> 00:24:54.999
I was skipping the rest of the years
because it continues to be the same.

00:24:55.000 --> 00:24:59.999
I want to say to people
involved in my life,

00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:04.999
\"Don’t take this person away.\"
I just can’t take anymore.

00:25:05.000 --> 00:25:09.999
And I took Richard back to Fort Chipewyan.

00:25:10.000 --> 00:25:14.999
And he was always talking about going back to
Fort Chipewyan. So I felt, it was only right to,

00:25:15.000 --> 00:25:19.999
you know, bury him in the Fort Chipewyan,

00:25:20.000 --> 00:25:24.999
uh… in the graveyard in Fort Chipewyan. And he
always wanted to see the family, our family.

00:25:25.000 --> 00:25:29.999
You know, he was always talking about
seeing them, brothers and sisters.

00:25:30.000 --> 00:25:34.999
[music]

00:25:35.000 --> 00:25:39.999
Richard was about to receive
the best attention from

00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:44.999
the social welfare services in all
his time with the department.

00:25:45.000 --> 00:25:49.999
Arrangements were made for his family
members to come to his funeral,

00:25:50.000 --> 00:25:54.999
including all his brothers and sisters,
some of whom he really did not know.

00:25:55.000 --> 00:25:59.999
It was really good see all my family,

00:26:00.000 --> 00:26:04.999
you know, because I haven’t seen them for all that
many years. You know, they could’ve at least brought

00:26:05.000 --> 00:26:09.999
the family together once,
during all the years.

00:26:10.000 --> 00:26:14.999
[music]

00:26:15.000 --> 00:26:19.999
For, you know, family being
separated for so long,

00:26:20.000 --> 00:26:24.999
what a way for other brothers, sisters
see, you know, our younger brother.

00:26:25.000 --> 00:26:33.000
[music]

00:26:40.000 --> 00:26:44.999
Love can be gentle as a lamb,

00:26:45.000 --> 00:26:49.999
a ferocious a lion. It is
something to be welcomed.

00:26:50.000 --> 00:26:54.999
It is something to be afraid of.

00:26:55.000 --> 00:26:59.999
It is good and bad. Yet people live,

00:27:00.000 --> 00:27:04.999
fight, die for this. Somehow
people can cope with it.

00:27:05.000 --> 00:27:09.999
I don’t know,

00:27:10.000 --> 00:27:14.999
I think I would not be happy with it.
Yet I am depressed

00:27:15.000 --> 00:27:19.999
and sad without it. I
love this very strange.

00:27:20.000 --> 00:27:28.000
[sil.]