of first-hand accounts from the children of Sons of Freedom Doukhobors that were forcibly removed from their families and confined at the New Denver School. Approximately 200 children were interned at the school between 1953 and 1959.
Laura Konkin-Powell recalls the fateful August day in 1954 when a salesman drove into her yard. She had been playing down a hill and unaware of any visitors, headed home a little too soon.
As she reached the top of the hill, the salesman spotted her. He didn鈥檛 approach her, he just drove away. However, it was only a matter of minutes before police officers arrived at her Brilliant home and Laura鈥檚 season of hiding was over.
鈥淭hey dug through absolutely everything in the house, and they took me away from my parents,鈥� said Laura, who was eight years old at the time.
鈥淚 really don鈥檛 want to remember it, but I would like to get it off of my chest and then forget about it,鈥� says the 77-year-old as she begins to recount her experiences at the New Denver School to the Castlegar News.
鈥淚t is very, very hard.鈥�
Like many other Sons of Freedom Doukhobor children, Laura has traumatic memories from the time she spent living at the school, and the months leading up to her confinement.
Government authorities searched for Sons of Freedom children throughout the 1950s in order to remove them from their homes and place them into government care, primarily because their parents refused to enrol them in school.
Laura agreed to share parts of her story with the Castlegar News in hopes that people would better understand the sufferings of the 200 children that were ripped away from their families and held at the New Denver School between 1953 and 1959.
Laura managed to evade capture several times before that August day, but the hiding itself was traumatic.
鈥淲e were in the hay 鈥� and they were searching with a pitchfork,鈥� recalls Laura.
鈥淗ow can you be searching for kids with a pitchfork like that? They could have damaged or hurt a kid by doing that. We were just lucky we never got hit with the pitchfork.鈥�
The terror of pitchfork searches is a common memory among the New Denver survivors.
Laura and one of her sisters were taken together, but a third, older sister was away from home that day and escaped.
She says she didn鈥檛 understand why she was being taken away.
After the police collected Laura and her sister, they went to Thrums and gathered three of her cousins as well.
The police took the children to the Nelson courthouse, then after a few hours they were all transported to New Denver.
Life at the school
When Laura first arrived, she was allowed to have a few close visits with her family. But it wasn鈥檛 long before a fence that served as a divider between children and parents was erected. From then on, visits became stolen touches through chain link.
Laura knew very little English when she arrived at the school. That was a big problem because she says she was 鈥渟trapped鈥� every time she spoke in Russian.
She remembers one night when all of the children at the school got the strap because they had gathered together on their knees to pray in Russian.
She still has vivid memories of one particular matron and the cruelty she inflicted.
鈥淪ome children were five or six years old when they took them away, so they cried at night because they wanted their parents. They would get the strap for crying,鈥� said Laura.
鈥淪he would beat on these kids and there was nothing we could do about it.鈥�
She also remembers that on top of their usual chores, the older girls were required to prepare food for the matrons.
The same matron required precise preparations including the cutting and placement of food.
鈥淓verything had to be done exactly as she said, or you were in big trouble.鈥�
At the age of 12, Laura made her one and only escape attempt with a friend. The pair walked through a mountainous area and decided they were far enough away that they could make their way to the road.
鈥淲e made a mistake 鈥� we came out just around the corner from a roadblock where the cops were waiting for us,鈥� said Laura.
Her punishment was that her parents were not allowed to visit her during the next scheduled visitation day. Since visits were every other week, she didn鈥檛 see her parents for almost a month.
Laura says that even though one of the main purposes of putting the children in New Denver was to ensure they were being educated, her schooling was not very effective.
鈥淢y education was absolutely nil when I came out of New Denver,鈥� says Laura. 鈥淚 learned absolutely nothing while I was there.鈥�
Education about the basics of puberty and growing up was also lacking.
When Laura鈥檚 first menstrual cycle arrived, she was terrified.
鈥淚 had no clue what was happening to me. It was the scariest part of all about growing up. No one told you that was going to happen to you.鈥�
Laura spent five years in New Denver. She entered as a child and left as a teenager.
She was released in 1959 when the school closed after Sons of Freedom parents signed an agreement with government officials promising to send the children to school.
Life after the school
鈥淭hat was the happiest day for all of the kids,鈥� says Laura.
鈥淭he reunion was wonderful, absolutely wonderful, when we got home. All the parents and all the relatives were there.鈥�
Laura鈥檚 older sister was there waiting for her. During the intervening years she had married, and the wedding was just one of the things Laura had missed out on during those five years.
Laura moved back in with her family who lived with several other families in one of the Doukhobor village houses in Brilliant.
She went on to attend a local school for two years, but quit at age 15.
鈥淚 was too old to be with the little kids,鈥� she said.
Years later as an adult, Laura returned to learning and advanced her education. But family life and the need to work kept her from earning a high school diploma.
Laura has been supported for the last 40 years by her partner Mickey Nazarov. He has been on a letter-writing campaign for many years, penning letters to various provincial government departments at least once a month pleading for an apology and compensation for the New Denver survivors.
Without much formal education, Laura says she doesn鈥檛 have the confidence to write the letters herself, so Mickey writes them for her.
Occasionally Laura and Mickey like to visit the Nakusp Hot Springs, but the trip from Castlegar leads through New Denver and the journey brings back terrible memories for Laura.
鈥淎s we pass that fence, I can just see her tensing up,鈥� says Mickey.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 even like talking about it, I feel really upset afterwards,鈥� adds Laura. 鈥淓very time I pass that place, my knuckles are going white. Just seeing that place reminds me of all the awful things that happened there.鈥�
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