It was scary 'cuz the doors were always locked and, it just, would go like this
and bang, shut. 
There was a lot of
things that went on there that shouldn't have. You know?
I live at Jasper House, and I've retired. I used to work for
Catholic Social Services, I used to do the yard work for them. 
I have a life, and I 
enjoy what I do. 
Interviewer: What was it like living at Michener Centre?
Well, it was, it was
tough. I remember this one guy, he was there for
a long, long time. And there's not very 
many people that got along good 
with him 'cuz he had no, 
had no respect for people there. He was
one of the tough guys. He would take your shoe 
off or your slipper and hit you on the head
throw his keys at you and twist your hand back like that. 
He was, you know, he thought I guess
that he was better than anyone else. And if we told
our families what happened, they wouldn't believe us because they would say, 
the people that worked there would say it never happened. So we couldn't
really, really say anything. 
There was nobody that stood up for us when he did those things.
The first, first day that I moved into Michener Centre I was about ten years old
my parents dropped me off and, man, it was so hard
for me to leave my family. All they did
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was give me some other clothes. I couldn't ear my regular clothes. They gave me
jeans and all that, and a shirt, and they would just
drag you and put you in the day room there. We all had to line up to go into the dining room to eat, 
line up to go into the shower and take a shower. Well when you lined up to go take
a shower you had to walk down the hallway, no clothes on
at all, and people could see you. You'd walk down the hallway into the shower
to the shower-room. It was scary 'cuz the doors were always locked and it just 
go like this, and just, bang, they're shut. 
They had a key and would always walk around with the key to lock the dayroom doors,
lock the dorm, dormitories where people would go and sleep, 
and, uh, they would give you stars if you did something good. 
They'd you these X blanks, what you call a blank, if you did something wrong. 
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Some of us were scared to say anything, scared for our lives, you know. 
And I've seen some of the people there 
that they were taken into this little room by themself, no 
clothes, you know, no clothes on, and there was was just a, there was no sink
all there was was just a mattress on the floor, and
there's no bed, no bed at all. And you had, you had no clothes
on, and you could see. They had these thick, thick glass
windows but you still could see people walking around in there, and you would
be locked in there. And if you were going home, 
they would give you, you know, "you can go home," and they would have like a memo, which they
would say when you were going home and how long you were going for. 
But going home, that was the good thing, but then coming back
that was the hardest thing. I couldn't wait until I moved out. 
They didn't tell us anything. All they said was we were going on  a trip and
that was it. And they told my parents that we had to be sterilized 
'cuz they didn't want kinds, they didn't want people having kids
'cuz they had boys on one side and ladies on the other said, but they were
afraid of, you can get mixed up. And, you know, that, to me, 
I would say that we were scarred. 
Yes, I remember going for operation but they said we were just going on their trip and they didn't
say, you know. Then we were all checked and everything and, they
in the medical, clinic room, 
we all stayed in bed and then the next day we were all sterilized, and, different groups.
And Dr. Levan, he did some,
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the surgery 'cuz I remember that and then there was another
doctor that did some too. 
Interviewer: How old were you when you were sterilized, do you know?
I was about sixteen I think, around there. 
Interviewer: Do you remember how old you were when you found out that you had been sterilized?
I don't know how old I was then, but I was asking questions. 
And then my Mum and Dad told me, 
Dad and Mum and told me what happened. They said that, in those days, that's
what the doctors, Dr. Levan and all the doctors suggested, but there was nothing
much I could do. But it's still, it's still, um, 
I feel offense and a little bit disappointed 
that that was done because, you know, they took control of our body
and they did it and they didn't ask us. 
There was a lot of, of things that
went on there that shouldn't have. You know?
You know a lot of people say, 'oh, you gotta forget about the past,'
and I always tell people, no, you can't, 'cuz it's, 
if it's inside you it's like it's burnt inside you. 
People don't know what we went through until they went, 'til they been in there. 
'Cuz they say, 'oh,' you know, 'we know what you went through.' And I always tell
people, no, you don't know what we went through until you've been there. You gotta let it out
and you gotta let people now what went on
so that it doesn't never ever happen again, and we can build
bridges to help people and we can remove barriers
that were in front of us, you know.
I'm so proud of how far, how far we have come. 
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00:07:14,090 --> 00:07:09,090
Society was saying at one time, 'people with disabilities,' 
these are words from them, they said, 'people with disabilities cannot function 
in the community. But we have proven them wrong. And we
can do, we can open more doors, we can educate society, 
we can educate the government officials, we can educate
people that don't know. 
Interviewer: Would you think that you might have gotten married and had a family if they hadn't sterilized you?
I probably would've. Yeah. But 
that would be a big responsibility. But I know, you know, 
a person can handle it with a little bit of guidance.
But a lot of people think people with disabilities can't
handle raising a family on your own and I don't
think that nobody has the right to make that decision.
Interviewer: Do you think you would have been a good dad?
I think so, you know. 
The funny thing was that when I moved out of Michener Centre I said two things:
I wanted to make a difference in people with disabilities' lives.
I said I didn't, I didn't care
how I was gonna do it, but I was gonna do it, I was committed
to do it. I always tell people that,
for people with disabilities, don't be afraid to speak out, 
you know, for your, for your rights because you do have rights.
And I always tell people, you don't label, you don't label people,
you label jars, you label cans. I always tell people that 
you have to look, we have to look at people with disabilities 
for their disabilities. Look at them for who they are. They're a person
first. Their disability
comes second. 
Interviewer: What do you think of the video?
Yeah, I think it's good. Just leave it as it is. 
Interviewer: What did you think was the most important thing you said in that video?
That we all have voices and that we shouldn't be afraid to let people know.
Interviewer: What are you thinking about Kyle? You look like
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you're good? How does it make you feel,
hearing about the stuff Roy went through?
Barb: It's pretty said, no, everything you know
he went through. Knowing I never, like, 
experienced anything like that, but, it's just 
so heartening to hear from other people what they went through. 
Interviewer: Roy, how do you feel about your life now?
Well I feel that it's, uh, I feel better
about my life, that I still got more to accomplish. 
Barb: That's good. 
