How Could You? Hall of Shame-Canada-Freda Ens case

This will be an archive of heinous actions by those involved in child welfare, foster care and adoption. We forewarn you that these are deeply disturbing stories that may involve sex abuse, murder, kidnapping and other horrendous actions.

From Old Massett Village, Canada, “Freda Ens says she was a baby when her birth mother sold her for a bottle of beer.

The buyer was an unrelated man she would later call “Grandfather.” Her earliest memories include being sexually molested by a number of men in his extended family.

“I don’t ever remember being able to say, ‘No, you can’t do that,’ or, ‘No, I don’t have to do that,”‘ recalled Ens, 59, who grew up in B.C.’s Old Massett Village, a Haida community.

“I would wake up and it would be dark and I wouldn’t know who it was … It could have been an uncle … it could have been another cousin.

“The one I knew was my dad, who went to jail, and then my grandfather.”

Child sexual abuse is a disturbing reality in many of Canada’s First Nations, Metis and Inuit communities, research is beginning to show.

Extensive interviews with social scientists, indigenous leaders and victims undertaken over the past few months by The Canadian Press show that the prevalence of sexual abuse in some communities is shockingly high. And only now are prominent indigenous leaders speaking out publicly for the first time about the need for communities to take a hard look.

It’s a painful legacy connected to almost 120 years of government-sponsored, church-run residential schools, where aboriginal leaders say many native children were physically and sexually molested by clergy and other staff.”

Sold for a bottle of beer: Sexual abuse haunts children — and adults — in indigenous communities
[National Post 11/6/16 by Kristy Kirkup and Sheryl Ubelacker, The Canadian Press]

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