Kuper Island

4.7 (1.1K)
TRUE CRIME
WEEKLY SERIES

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. For the best in true crime from CBC, ad-free, visit apple.co/cbctruecrime.

EPISODE 1

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

32 min
EPISODE 2

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

39 min
EPISODE 3

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

36 min
EPISODE 4

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

44 min
EPISODE 5

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

37 min
EPISODE 6

E6: It Didn't Feel Like Justice

We explore what really happened during a 1990s RCMP task force investigation triggered by the high number of allegations of sexual abuses at the Kuper Island Residential School, and track down a former staff member who witnessed the horrors firsthand. We learn one of the abusers at the school, Brother Glenn Doughty, is still alive. We try to reach him and learn troubling information about his whereabouts. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcastnews/kuper-island-transcripts-listen-1.6622551

37 min
EPISODE 7

E7: Hurt People Hurt People

The children who attended Kuper Island Residential School faced a terrible aftermath trying to process what happened. The abuse they suffered there often coloured their relationships with family and community — with devastating results. Meanwhile, the team learns one of the perpetrators from the school spent his later years being taken care of in relative comfort — all paid for by the Oblates. They demand to know why. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcastnews/kuper-island-transcripts-listen-1.6622551

46 min
EPISODE 8

E8: Every Child Matters

The team tracks down the last person to ever see Richard Thomas alive at Kuper Island Residential School. Donnie Sampson was just 10 years old at the time and has disturbing memories of the day — that include a familiar and problematic name from the past. Host Duncan McCue takes the results of the investigation back to Richard’s sister Belvie who must decide what to do next. In Penelakut, the community rallies around their children — the new generation, the adult survivors still healing, and all the ones who never came home. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcastnews/kuper-island-transcripts-listen-1.6622551

52 min

See All Season 1 (8)

TRAILER

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.

05/09/2022

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Duncan McCue

Host
Belvie Brebber

Guest

4.7

out of 5

1,060 Ratings

Thank You

Dec 20

Wookieefan

Thank you for sharing these stories. I don’t know that enough can ever be done to make up for the horrors inflicted on this and so many First Nations people but it is so important we know and learn. Thank you, again.
Amazing and meaningful podcast!!

Dec 14

Podcastlivinggirly

Incredible. I was teary eyed so many times. I can’t believe the things those children faced. God bless you for shedding a light on this topic. I learned so much.
Thank you

Jun 24

mysaralaughs

Thank you for this. I was aware that there atrocities committed against native, indigenous, First Nations children and families in Canada and the US (where I live). However, I was never submerged in the deep pain and sorrow and lasting sadness and trauma as I was listening to this podcast. I hope this brings about healing to some people involved but I do not believe in closure. Acceptance, maybe, but not closure. I also wish to address the kind and compassionate way in which you, the people involved in the making of this podcast, presented the information and how you told the story. But mostly, how you interacted with the people you interviewed. So very kind and caring. Thank you.
Great podcast

Jun 24

Wpcu member

Thank you for making this podcast. I found myself tearing up in a lot of episodes. What a nightmare for all of these people to live through. Thank you again.

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. For the best in true crime from CBC, ad-free, visit apple.co/cbctruecrime.