Glen George Sinclair is my full name.
I live down by the Muttart Conservatory, in a condo right now. 
I've lived there for over ten years now. I am very happy to have my own place.
Well, whatever, you know, whatever you see here
about the sterilization issue, anything about what, what it says here
in the binder, about what happened back then is all here.
I was put in the Sisters of Atonement Home to begin with
and, from there, when I reached the age of seven,
I was, uh, sent to the, uh, PDS,
the Provincial Training School. 
I felt kinda like, um, I was just gonna be there
and live like, live my life, like a zombie, like, you know
'lock him up, throw the key away,' like I didn't really add any
purpose in life. 
You're commanded to do things, they yell at you, 'do this, do that, and you can't 
do this or you can't do that!' You felt like you're being ordered around like a dog, 
like an animal in a cage sort of thing, you know. 
You didn't feel human at all. You just
feel as if you, as if you exist, you know. 
Like you feel nothing, like there' s no hope. 
Interviewer: 'Did you know you were sterilized?'
I thought at the time, and of course we all did, and we didn't ask questions,
when I was in the institution. I thought it was that, that we were having our
appendix out, so I never really, you know, being that age, you never ask these questions or anything 
because the staff would, would tell you 'it's none of your
business' sort of thing, you know, and wouldn't tell you what it's for,
why you have this operation. 
I was marched up to the, um, 
main building and they had a board there, something like this,
a table there, and a few people there asking questions about me, and
to me of course, just to see what kind of a
person I am and what I say. And, 
um, I think it was about a five-minute discussion,
and then they sent me home.
I looked into the matter a little bit, you know,
and uh, found out, yes, I was sterilized.
But really I didn't do, at the time, I didn't do anything about it.
I really didn't do anything about it, or said anything, because, or made any issue at the time. 
Interviewer: 'Would you have liked to have had children?'
I would've, yes, I would. 
I would like to just live, live a normal life like anybody else, you know. 
But now it's been taken away from me, so.
This is, um, pictures of the, um, Michener Centre
and, um, of course this is of the main building,
this is where they took you and asked you all these questions, and, um, 
those five-minute sessions they had there before you got sterilized. 
This is the building I went to. 
Of course it burnt down. It was struck by lightning. It was a God-sent. 
Yeah, I felt pretty good when that happened. 
This is where they sent us to get sterilized. 
And this is the school where we got our training. 
And I went to, uh, let's see, I went far as level,
they call them levels, not grades, but we took different grades. 
And I went to level eight, that's as far I've gotten in school, and actually
that was about grade seven, that's when I got, when I got
no further. That was my education. 
This is what some of the buildings looked like. Obviously, you can see a fence right behind
that's quite high, you know, just in case you want, you try and
want to escape you can't, because of the fence, would keep you there, you know. 
They were very strict about that. 
Interviewer: 'What would happen to somebody if they ran away and got caught?'
They would put you in a place what they called the 'quiet room.' 
And you'd be there for about a month, they'd keep you there for about a month. 
And sometimes in other circumstances you would get what they call the 'strap,'
And get your bottom and back black and blue with the strap,
I think about 20 lashes with the strap. 
So that's why I was kinda scared never to step out of line. I was being, 
I had to be very careful, and watch, mind my 'P's and 'Q's.
Now this is where we went to, uh, where we went camping again, and we'd stay
about a week out at the Gull Lake, at this place here. 
Yeah, back in my day this is what it looked like. 
Back then, uh, we had, we slept in bunk-beds. Swimming, we went swimming and
we went for walks and stuff like that. These are the things they has us do and
we had a little more freedom, more or less, is what I'd say. 
This is a picture of me back in my farm days. I was staying at a place called 'Willowville' at the time.
Yeah, a little more freedom there. But, of course, you had to go
and do your chores and everything and what you're assigned to do, you had to go and do. 
Now I guess that's the only picture you're gonna see of me, uh, 
milking a cow. We learned things like milking cows, animal
husbandry, and looking after different things, wildlife and stuff. They had what they
called 'farm classes' back then and they taught you all these different things about different kinds of, uh, 
different kinds of greeneries, and, it was quite educational. 
But it was not for me. 
This is me when I was about, uh, let's see, I was ten-years-old 
in this picture. And this one here, I believe, I think I was around about 18
or 17 years of age in this picture. 
Who are they to play God and kinda judge us for 
what we are, you know. We all, we're all humans on this earth and we
all have our place in what we say and what we do, you know,
and have our freedoms. Being in an institution you're just
you're nothing, you feel totally lost. 
Well you think you've have your appendix out, and, whatever, but you're never asked what for, what
the operation was really for, you know, because it was none of your business to ask.  
The staff, you know, 'mind your own business!'
So I had to shut up. 
You know, and just, whatever the rules, what they told us to do and everything. 
If you don't, you get a B or whatever. 
Showing those pictures, you know, that speak volumes, you know, what is was like up there, 
what you had to go through. Maybe we can, probably, cut back on the
latter, or something. 
'He's got some powerful parts in there.'
Interviewer: 'Are you happy with what's in there so far, Glen?'
Oh yeah. I have no qualms about it. 
