How writing can help heal trauma from Residential Schools
By Renita Bangert
“There is more to writing than just our traditional stories. Writing is healing, one way for us to deal with the anger that is present amongst us.”
— Larry Loyie, Oskiniko, 1933-2016
When Larry Loyie found himself alone and facing the trauma of his younger years in his fifties, he decided to fulfill the dream he had carried with him all his life: to write.
Larry Loyie had been taken away from his Cree culture and upbringing as a child, living at a Residential School until he was 14. The many abuses he suffered at the school weighed heavily on him, and he wanted to find a way to release the pain and anger he felt decades later.
His first written work was a play, Oro Pro Nobis, Pray for Us. Writing it allowed him to seek healing through ceremony. “I wanted to write the ugly things the nuns told us about our parents, the abusive and insulting names we were called,” he reflects in an authors’ note. “My pain prevented me from completing it. In order to get the words down on paper, I attended a Medicine Wheel and turned to the Sweat Lodge for strength.”
As Larry Loyie embarked on his healing journey with writing, he found new community as well. He first met writer, editor, book packager and dramaturge Constance Brissenden as a student in her writing class. They would grow to become co-writers and life partners.
Larry Loyie went on to write nine books, becoming an award-winning author. He used his writing to tell his truths from his time in Residential School, and to share the beauty of his Cree culture. He used his own healing journey to uplift and support Survivors on their own paths, even if their healing looked different to his.
“Sometimes Larry, as a Survivor, was the only person that another Survivor could talk to, could share, could feel, they could open up and tell the truth. Whatever road Survivors take to heal, Larry would wish them strength.”
— Constance Brissenden, ‘Writing is Healing’ 2024 exhibition video
Larry Loyie also shared his learnings widely as a literacy activist and educator. He and Brissenden built an extensive research archive of materials on Residential Schools, Survivor truths and his own written work. Before his passing in 2016, he decided to donate all of his materials to the UBC Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre (IRSHDC), so that his work could continue to educate and inspire others on their own healing journeys. The Loyie-Brissenden Collection is a living archive, inviting visitors to build an ongoing relationship with Larry Loyie and Constance Brissenden.
Of the many messages Larry Loyie shares with those who read his work, his advice on healing from trauma is profound. He encourages telling your truths, no matter how painful. He speaks of the importance of connection to and love of one’s cultural practices. He exemplifies how powerful story-sharing and gathering community around you can be.
“Larry was so generous in….gifting so much of himself through the archive and through his writing for us to all engage with,” says Clea Hargreaves, who is a Research Strategist at the Centre and a project lead for the Loyie-Brissenden Collection. “There is some sort of acceptance that…this worked for me and I offer that real journey of writing as a tool for healing.”
The Larry Loyie: Writing is Healing physical exhibition is open to the public during gallery hours at the IRSHDC Gallery through July 16, 2025. You can access the digital collection anytime online.
Learn more about Larry Loyie’s life and work
Renita Bangert is a writer for the Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre (IRSHDC). This article was published on May 27, 2025. To republish this article, please first obtain permission from IRSHDC via irshdc.info@ubc.ca and then follow our guidelines for attribution.
