He is a person that Victoria McIntosh tried so hard to exclude from her mind – Father Arthur Masse. The retired priest is now facing the charge of sexually assaulting McIntosh more than 50 years ago, when she was just 10 years old and a student at the Fort Alexander Residential School in Sagkeeng First Nation, in eastern Manitoba. “I remember that smile,” McIntosh said. “In the beginning, he was good. He was gentle in his way, but at the same time he reminded me of a snake – he was just slipping.” McIntosh, 63, talks for the first time about what happened to her more than 50 years ago. He says he is tired of keeping it a secret and living with the shame of what happened. “When I grew up, I just put it away – I left it in my mind. I did not want to think about it. I did not want to think about many other things I saw there, because I felt guilty.” Masse was charged last week with indecent assault on a 10-year-old boy. The RCMP says the abuse occurred between 1968 and 1970. The RCMP did not identify the girl, but McIntosh says it was her. He says he remembers that Masse always waited outside the girl’s bathroom, which is one of the areas of the school where she claims she was attacked. “I thought, ‘Well, if I go to the bathroom when I have to go to the bathroom, I hope he’s not in there.’ Arthur Masse appears here in an undated photo. Masse, now 92, is accused of indecent assault on a 10-year-old girl who was a student at the Fort Alexander boarding school between 1968 and 1970. (Société historique de Saint-Boniface Archives) Another home school survivor, who contacted the RCMP after hearing about the accusation against Masse, claims that she too was attacked by the priest when he took her to the toilet. Since last week’s announcement, the RCMP says others have made new allegations of assault. They did not say how many, nor did they specify which schools the complainants were forced to attend. According to records from the National Center for Truth and Reconciliation, Masse taught at three Manitoba residential schools: Pine Creek from 1960 to 1966, Fort Alexander from 1966 to 1969, and Brandon from 1970 to in 1971. McIntosh says that as a young girl, she did not understand why she was sexually assaulted and thought it had to do with the fact that her perpetrator was a priest. “” What gave you the right? Because… are you talking about God? “This is what I was thinking as a child – he talks about God and I should not say anything,” said Makidos. When she was 12, she moved with her family to Red Lake, Ont., But her time at Fort Alexander Residential School continued to haunt her.
“I would have nightmares about a person, I would see a person and I would wake up,” McIntosh said. “The last memory I had … was of him approaching me.” In her teens, McIntosh says she developed suicidal tendencies and alienated herself from those around her. He developed an eating disorder and began to cut back. Masse is now 92, but his age should not be a factor, says McIntosh. “Someone has to be accountable … Why carry this 10 year old?”

10 years of research

Police arrested Masse at his home in Winnipeg last week after a decade-long investigation. He was released on bail and will appear in court in Powerview, Man. On July 20. The RCMP says allegations of sexual abuse at school were first brought to light in 2010 and a criminal investigation was launched a year later. More than 80 police officers took part in the investigation, speaking to more than 700 people across North America and collecting 75 testimonies of witnesses and victims, the RCMP said. The Fort Alexander Residential School in Sagkeeng First Nation opened in 1905 and closed in 1970. (National Archives of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission) The question may be asked: “Why was all this work charged?” Manitoba RCMP Sgt Paul Manaigre told a news conference last week. “Unfortunately, due to time, many of the victims are unable to participate in the investigation, either for reasons of mental or physical health or because the victim is now dead.” McIntosh says that in addition to telling some members of the family, she kept most of what a secret what happened to her until she was approached by police in 2013. “I had to learn to trust them and tell them, ‘Okay, please do not betray me,’” he said. “Just listen to what I have to say, and that was all I wanted. What was going to happen … all I wanted was to be heard.”

“It only takes 1 person to make the path”

After carrying the burden of her secret for decades, McIntosh says she is finally ready to be ashamed of what happened to her. “What really took the first step for me was my grandchildren, especially my granddaughters,” McIntosh said. “I looked at her too [thought]”I would not know how to react if someone did that to her.” McIntosh is from the Turtle Clan, and she tells a story her grandmother told her, explaining why she is coming up with her story now. “We were looking at this big giant turtle crossing the street and it said in our language, ‘This turtle is doing [the] way… [so] that you no longer need to be afraid – you do not need to be nervous. “We have already experienced the difficult part,” McIntosh said. “It only takes one person to make the path.” Now, as McIntosh talks about her experience at Fort Alexander Residential School, she holds the jacket she wore on her first day close by. But this jacket never went to school with her. She remembers a nun who met her at the entrance when her mother brought her to school. A photo taken at Fort Alexander Residential School in Sagkeeng First Nation. Victoria McIntosh appears to be sitting next to the nun in the photo. (Submitted by Victoria McIntosh) “She told my mom, ‘We’re going to take care of your kids now,’ and I remember her saying, ‘Oh, sauvage,’” McIntosh said. The nun took off McIntosh ‘s jacket and threw it at her mom, who then kept it for years, she said. Only when she returned the jacket did she tell her mother what had happened. “All I said was ‘It’s not your fault’ and all this hostility – of course I was angry with my mom, but she left [away] “right there,” McIntosh said. “I said, ‘I want to meet you again, because this intergenerational trauma is real.’ She hopes the rest of Sagkeeng First Nation can begin to heal, as she and her mom did. “When I look at the home school photo … it looks like a big box with bad secrets. I see that and now it falls.” This is the jacket McIntosh wore on her first day at Fort Alexander Residential School, featured here with her favorite children’s book, The Little Leftover Witch. (Warren Kay / CBC) Support is available to anyone affected by their home school experience or recent reports. A national crisis line has been set up for residential schools in India to provide support to alumni and those affected. People can access emotional and crisis referral services by calling the 24-hour national crisis hotline: 1-866-925-4419.