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Cariboo man recounts abuse suffered at former deaf school in Vancouver

James Sullivan started at the school in Grade One
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Jericho Hill School for the Deaf in Burnaby closed in 1992. (Image 1-23287 Courtesy of the BC Archives)

A 100 Mile House area man abused as a student at the former Jericho Hill Provincial School for the Deaf in Vancouver is ready to share his story publicly.

The school operated from the early 1950s to 1992 and until 1979 also enrolled blind children.

“I do not want to be hiding anymore,” James Sullivan, 60, said in a written in-person interview with Black Press Media.

“I want to stand up. I found my final report from my school. Some teachers said I lacked courage.”

For two weeks Sullivan had been mulling over whether to go to the news with his story.

After spending the night in Williams Lake for a CT scan appointment at Cariboo Memorial Hospital he woke up and decided Friday, Jan. 27 was the day and walked into the Williams Lake Tribune office.

He does not speak, although he makes some vocal sounds. He communicates with a pen and paper, confirmed he knows sign language and does lots of his communication through text messages on his phone.

In the early 1990s he was interviewed about his experience at the school as part of an Ombudsman investigation into the abuse at the school. That interview was conducted by typing on a computer.

An Ombudsman report published in November 1993 noted the investigation found abuse did occur at the school and because the children were deaf they could not communicate and “had few people, except each other, to go tell” about the abuse.

Later in 2004, Sullivan received financial compensation as part of a class-action suit, started by two students in 1997 that grew to 350 people who were sexually abused while attending the school.

Survivors received $3,000 to $60,000, depending on severity of the abuse, Sullivan said, adding he was not permitted to disclose the amount he received.

He started at the school in Grade 1 and his first teacher forced him to attempt oral speaking.

She often becoming angry with his efforts, slapping her hand or a ruler on his desk.

When he was in his teens and would give the wrong answer to a question, his female teacher would yell close to his face and slap his face, he recalled.

“A math teacher watched me from behind. If I got the wrong answer he would slap the back of my head all the time.”

Students lived in the dorms and Sullivan remembers a counsellor for the boys teased him, calling him ‘cross-eyed,’ and laughing at him.

“I witnessed some teachers and dorm staff assault students,” he said.

He described the sexual abuse he experienced, as “minor.”

When asked if his parents knew about the abuse he shrugged.

As an adult Sullivan has worked as a trapper and a rancher in different areas around B.C.

He has lived in 100 Mile House since 1970.

While he insisted he did not want his photograph taken, he wanted to be in the newspaper.

“Many people do not know, my friends too.”



monica.lamb-yorski@wltribune.com

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Monica Lamb-Yorski

About the Author: Monica Lamb-Yorski

A B.C. gal, I was born in Alert Bay, raised in Nelson, graduated from the University of Winnipeg, and wrote my first-ever article for the Prince Rupert Daily News.
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