Q&A: Duncan McCue on the Kuper Island residential school podcast
'There was a duty of care I felt very strongly throughout the whole process'
CBC Podcasts' Kuper Island tells the stories of four children who were forced to attend one of Canada's most notorious residential schools. The stories can be graphic, heartbreaking and sometimes deal with physical and sexual assault.
As the island community about 50 kilometres from Vancouver grappled with the discovery of unmarked graves in the summer of 2021, the podcast team, including host Duncan McCue and producers Martha Troian and Jodie Martinson, were there as the Penelakut Tribe tried to figure out how to properly honour the children taken from them.
The eight-episode podcast debuted May 12. It can be found on the CBC Listen app and all podcast streaming services.
McCue is an Anishnaabe journalist and a member of the Chippewas of Georgina Island First Nation, and hosts CBC Radio's Helluva Story.
Oscar Baker III with CBC Indigenous spoke with McCue about making the podcast, about sharing survivors' stories with care and responsibility, and about the lingering effects of the residential school system on Indigenous families.
The following has been edited for length and clarity.
Q: Kuper Island deals with some hard-to-hear realities. Why did you think it was time for people across the country to hear this truth?
A: Last summer, right across Turtle Island, feelings were very raw about residential schools because the unmarked graves brought up so many memories that began to resurface again.
Many of us haven't heard those family histories. We're aware of it; we know there are reasons for the pain and the trauma that roots back to the residential schools, but we don't know the details. We don't know the history as spoken by our own family members.
So I was aware that for many Indigenous listeners this is going to be vocalizing something that has been silent in our very own communities.
Q: Given Indigenous people's connection to these forms of colonial violence and hearing these stories, how do we unpack that at the end of the day? How do we unpack that weight?
A: There was a duty of care I felt very strongly throughout the whole process of making this podcast. When you listen to survivors, you begin to realize the longstanding effects it's had on them and how it began affecting our families inter-generationally.
It may seem facile, but just making sure that we were well rested throughout the whole podcast was really important because we were feeling the weight or the responsibility of telling this story and the awful things we were hearing about sexual abuse, the deaths — particularly of Richard Thomas at the Kuper Island school — so we made sure to check in and vocalize what we were experiencing.
Q: Do you find that you get asked a lot of questions about reconciliation, especially around Sept. 30 [the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation]? What's your first response when you're asked "how do I reconcile?"
A: I don't have all the answers. I have some opinions and I'm happy when people ask. But I do hope, particularly organizations, understand that they have a responsibility to do this work themselves and not just a week before National Truth and Reconciliation Day. This should be a 365-day commitment.
Indigenous youth need to have the opportunities that our ancestors imagined they would have when signing the treaties and contemplating co-existing with settlers in this country.
I hope the Kuper Island podcast is just a stepping stone to more learning for people.
A national Indian Residential School Crisis Line has been set up to provide support for former students and those affected. People can access emotional and crisis referral services by calling the 24-hour national crisis line: 1-866-925-4419.
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