Returning Home

A journey to strength a journey towards reconciliation a journey to the land: from residential school to Dakelh Elder Returning Home is Lillian Sam's life story. Born in the late 1930s near Fort St. James British Columbia Lillian attended Lejac Indian Residential School where like so many others she endured harsh treatment isolation and attempts to take away her identity. Returning home to her community of Nak'azdli Whut'en she embraced her keyoh (traditional territory/trapline) and the language and traditions of her people the Carrier people. <br /><br />Lillian's memoir is told through stories poems and photographs. It is an important record of a First Nations community past and present preserving memories for future generations so that they will never be forgotten. Beyond this it tells of Lillian's personal journey through marriage motherhood and intergenerational trauma-as well as the sustaining faith and love that have made her a force in her community.<br /><br />I am learning . . . see? My ancestors I am learning<br />I grasp at new surroundings<br />I learned to walk on new land<br />See? I am learning<br />I feel the changes from the time <br />Of my youth <br />I see between darkness and light