Page 72 - 1st Anthology 2011

George Victor Onespot

I was born May 17, 1945. I was raised by my auntie and uncle, and at that time they were
my parents. They tried to legally adopt me. Their names were Willy Little Bear and Juliet
Poor Eagle. My uncle told me, Archie Manywounds. Dr. Murray also tried to adopt me at
the time he couldn’t quite go through with it. My grandmother was a Stoney from
Duffield. You know where that is, by Edmonton. That’s where she’s originally from, I
didn’t know that. I found these out in years to come.

My foster parents Willy Little Bear and Juliet Poor Eagle passed away. My grandmother
died, my mom died 1965 and my dad died 1989. After Willy Little Bear died there is no
more Little Bear on the reserve now. I have a grandson named Walking Blue Bear. They
were special to me because they taught me a lot and yet I like the pow wows.

May Bigcrow’s sister from Morley told us where they came from. She was a Simeon
before but she was married to someone else on the reserve. My uncle Willy Little Bear
and Juliet Poor Eagle raised me since I was born. My mother Olive Onespot gave me to
them. I was born at the boarding school and gave me to my parents at the time. For years
I thought they were my real parents. I was raised the old way.

My sister was older than me by two years. Her name is Loraine and she married in Enoch,
and we were raised as Little Bear. We went to school up until high school. The recording
of that wasn’t there; Jim Big Plume on the Tsuut’ina reserve has the record of it. So that’s
how I found out my date of birth too, I thought my birthday was May 24, here it’s May
th
17 . I got baptized on the 24th of May and I got all those papers.

My daughters found it and that’s how I found out my birthday and I always joked that I
celebrated fifty years the wrong birthday, a week later. I go back now, I got two birthdays
but I joke around with my kids. No, no, no but I tell them I was born a week earlier.

I went to school when I was six. I couldn’t speak the English language very good. My
sister taught me the language. I used to walk three quarters of a mile to school and then
when I went to school the teacher picked on me. I don’t know why.

The Tsuut’ina school was called the Sarcee Junction. I went to day school. The school I
went to was by the old Sarcee hall, Bullhead Hall we called it. It burnt down years ago.
The school was behind it. Now they play baseball there. Behind it there’s a dump.

I was born in residential school, down by where the Anglican Church, behind there is
where the school was. I remember being told about that school. That they were treated
wrong there and that they were forced to stay there, things like that. My parents told me
lots of stories about that place. They just called it Sarcee School you know. Today I don’t
know what it is but all I know is they turned it into Sarcee Junction.

The teacher broke my shoulder blade with a yard stick, my mom had to grab her like this.
She told her if you ever touch my son again you’re going to be sorry. The next day I was in

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