Skip to main content

You make this possible. Support our independent, nonprofit newsroom today.

Give Now

The Boarding School At The Top Of The World

Untitled
Enlarge Icon

Margaret grew up in the arctic regions of Northern Canada. Her childhood was happy. She played with caribou hide balls and snacked on dried beluga whale skin. Her family slept together in a one room tent, surrounded by icebergs and kept warm with polar bear fur blankets.

At night, her sister would read her stories in a foreign tongue. The sister had picked up English in a Christian boarding school. Margaret wanted to learn to speak this way, too. So she signed up for school. Unfortunately, she didn't realize she was agreeing to be torn from her family and her culture and to spend her days doing unending chores at an isolated boarding school.

She had to let her parents know. But how? Listen to find out.

Full list of stories from KUOW Presents, May 29:

Why you can trust KUOW