National Indigenous Sunday, St David’s, Castlegar
For National Indigenous Sunday, our Lay Reader and Warden Lorraine Deans asked our dear friend and long-time parishioner Lori Collier to tell us her story of growing up as an Indigenous person in Castlegar. In her clear ringing voice, Lori told us her story so well that most of us were moved to tears.
Lori was born in Prince Rupert to a native woman, who suffered from severe alcoholism as a consequence of being a residential school survivor. The mother already had six children in a dysfunctional family and Lori was placed in a series of foster homes shortly after birth.
By the time Lori was two she had been in nine different foster homes, which left her with a real sense of insecurity and fear. When she was fostered by the Colliers, her mom, Norma, helped her put her coat on and poor Lori thought she was being moved again. She was so happy when they returned home from a simple trip to the grocery store that she ran singing all through the house.
As Lori approached school age, the ministry wanted to send her to Jericho School in Vancouver, as she had such poor eyesight and was almost blind. By this time the Colliers had become very fond of her and when she was 4, her Dad, Bert, got a job in Castlegar and the Colliers applied to adopt her so she would always be a very important part of their family.
In those days, Castlegar was very much a white community. Elementary school was hard for Lori as the kids called her “Brownie,” “Blackie,” and even “Nigger.” This was very hurtful, but Lori dealt with it by building an imaginary shield around herself, as she did not want to become bitter.
As the time approached for high school, it was decided that Lori should go to Silver Birch School, as she had some learning difficulties. This was a happy choice and Lori made many friends there. Several years later when Lori was enrolled in a program at Selkirk College this prompted her to write a beautiful essay about friendship, which is included here, as we can all learn a lot from Lori’s wise philosophy.
Lori grew into a young woman with an amazing attitude to life and a good speaking and singing voice, so that she often reads in church and leads the singing when we have services at the retirement home. She has had contact with her birth family as her brother Patrick from the Lower Mainland reached out to her and the Colliers facilitated a trip for Lori to meet them. Sadly her birth mother died on skid row from severe alcohol poisoning in her early fifties.
Lori continues to be a very valued member of St David’s and of the Collier family as can be seen from the letter that her adoptive mom, Norma, wrote to her in 2017.
We were very moved by our friend Lori Collier’s talk to us on National Indigenous Sunday and I was asked to put together an article.
