#survivor-testimony

#survivor-testimony

For six years, starting in 2007, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission travelled throughout the country, hearing testimonies from over 6,500 people who'd endured Canada's residential school system. Six thousand and five hundred people, believing in the mandate of the commission, courageously testified, thinking that, finally, they would be heard and amends would be made. It's difficult to imagine what that must have been like-reliving the abuses and indignities of what can only be described as internment facilities following a mandate of indoctrination set by the state and implemented by the Church.

"Since it's already being reported - Yes I left the Oversight briefing with Epstein victims early. As a recent survivor (not 2 years in), I had a very difficult time listening to their stories. Full blown panic attack. Sweating. Hyperventilating. Shaking. I can't breathe. I feel the immense pain of how hard all victims are fighting for themselves because we know absolutely no one will fight for us." She concluded: "GOD BLESS ALL SURVIVORS."

"There's nothing but hatred and contempt. There can't be forgiveness for such an act of evil. I really, truly don't believe that. I think forgiveness is something that you earn. Forgiveness is something that you would be genuinely sorry for what's happened. "I believe if he hadn't have killed himself, he'd have gone on to do it again. And I looked at that man in the face before he detonated that bomb and there was no hesitation."

Disaster at Sea: The Piper Alpha Story copes with the challenge superbly, leaning heavily on survivor testimony 61 men escaped from the rig and combining it with a simple 2D diagram of the platform's layout to give us the fullest picture possible. It doesn't have the special-effects budget that would be required to simulate the ferocity of the fire or the intensity of the thick, black smoke possibly no amount of pyrotechnics or CGI would be able to do that anyway

"And this guy came in the middle of the door, and pointed his gun at me. He started shooting around me. I put my hands up and said, 'I'm a cleaning lady. I'm a cleaning lady.' But I realized - he comes with a machine gun. He's not going to know who I am. He's going to shoot, no matter what."