10 episodes
Kuper Island CBC True Crime
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- True Crime
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4.9 • 1.2K Ratings
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An 8-part series that tells the stories of four students: three who survived and one who didn’t. They attended one of Canada’s most notorious residential schools – where unsolved deaths, abuse, and lies haunt the community and the survivors to this day. Hosted by Duncan McCue.
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Introducing: Kuper Island
Long after the Kuper Island Residential School was torn down, the survivors are still haunted by what happened there. Investigative reporter Duncan McCue exposes buried police investigations, confronts perpetrators of abuse and witnesses a community trying to rebuild — literally on top of the old school’s ruins and the unmarked graves of Indigenous children. Episodes release Tuesdays, starting May 17.
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E1: A School They Called Alcatraz
Duncan McCue travels to Penelakut, an island off the coast of B.C., and the site of the Kuper Island Residential School. The community has torn down the reviled building, but the dark memories of what happened at the nearly-century old institution linger. Survivors James and Tony Charlie give a tour of their old school grounds, and we look into the mystery of what happened to one boy, Richard Thomas, who did not make it out alive.
For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcastnews/kuper-island-transcripts-listen-1.6622551 -
E2: Nights on the Boys’ Side
What was it like to be a student at one of the most notorious residential schools in Canada? Survivors James and Tony Charlie share their own account of recurring sexual abuse at the hands of their teachers, starting with a fateful trip to Montreal's Expo '67. Their stories speak to how abuse rotted all facets of school life — and how at Kuper Island, no child was spared.
To find transcriptions for episodes of Kuper Island, please click here: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcastnews/kuper-island-transcripts-listen-1.6622551 -
E3: Sink or Swim
Survivor Belvie Brebber tells us about her five years at Kuper Island Residential School, a time filled with fear, cruelty and sexual violence. Belvie makes it out alive, but her younger brother Richard Thomas does not. She describes a terrible phone call that shattered her family forever, and why she never believed the school's story that her beloved brother died by suicide.
For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcastnews/kuper-island-transcripts-listen-1.6622551 -
E4: What happened to Richard?
Richard Thomas was smart, kind and well-loved. He was having no problems in school and he wanted to go further in education. Then inexplicably, days before his graduation, he’s found dead in the Kuper Island school gym. His death was ruled a suicide — with no further questions as to why. We piece together a portrait of the teenager through his own writings, and find an old coroner’s report that raises more questions than answers about how Thomas died.
For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcastnews/kuper-island-transcripts-listen-1.6622551 -
E5: Feeding the Dead
An archaeologist uses the stories of survivors and a ground-penetrating radar machine to pinpoint where children who died at the Kuper Island school were buried, sometimes in places where no one ever wanted them to be found. And we explore how the Hul'qumi'num people honour their ancestral dead, and why this work is important when it comes to unsettled spirits and unmarked graves.
For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcastnews/kuper-island-transcripts-listen-1.6622551
Customer Reviews
A must listen to Podcast
Thank you to everyone who worked to produce this series, especially the victims. I enhanced my journey by taking a trip. We spent 2 nights at Chemainus and we went on the ferry to Thetis for the day as it is the closest we could get to the private island of Penelakut. We made a silent trip of prayer and reflection and as the ferry approached the island we could see the landscape, only able to imagine where the longhouse is, and was the government wharf the same as when the girls were pushed into swimming. The shoreline of Thetis makes me think of the suffering of the children who tried desperately to flee. The suffering of parents and family members who recall seeing the children’s faces for the last time.
I am aware of the history now and I will never forget and I will encourage all to listen.
Haunting
This was an emotionally difficult listen, but a necessary one. Every Canadian should know of the horrors our native communities experienced at the hands of the Canadian Government and the Catholic Church. We need to understand what they experienced, and how these atrocities have shaped the relationship between the government and the people they wronged. This is also from the perspective of the survivors which makes the stories more poignant and truly believable, despite the unbelievable lack of empathy for the children affected. 100% recommend, fantastic but emotional listen.
Haunting and Powerful
Important insights into the horrors experienced by such vulnerable little children; covered with heartbreaking detail by a very talented team.
Thank you for sharing your stories with the world. This is not the far past, the pain lives on.
Sending peace and power to all who were effected by these evils.