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.

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.

I am learning . . . see? My ancestors I am learning
I grasp at new surroundings
I learned to walk on new land
See? I am learning
I feel the changes from the time
Of my youth
I see between darkness and light