The Hard Truth: One Woman’s Story of Survival as Canada marks National Day for Truth and Reconciliation

It’s a story she has shared many times.  

And, every time, it hits just as hard as the first time.  

No surprise, considering Lorraine Chaboyer has lived a hard life. A life, the Métis woman and TIES (The Immigrant Education Society) employee, is bravely sharing on the 5^th annual National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.  

“It was like a fight to survive.”

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A Chaotic Childhood

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Born in the 1960’s in The Pas, Manitoba, Lorraine is the youngest of five children.  

But she didn’t get to know her siblings. Lorraine says they were part of the Sixties Scoop — a time in Canada which saw many Indigenous children removed from their families and placed in foster homes.

Her mom, afraid the same thing would happen to Lorraine, fled their home.

“She didn't want to lose me because she did lose the other children,” Lorraine recounts.

Lorraine, her mom, and her new stepfather moved to Saskatchewan briefly before heading to Brandon, Manitoba.  

She grew up there, except for the summer months when she says she stayed with her granny, back in The Pas.

“She was just almost like my second mom,” she remembers fondly. “I was really close to my grandma.”

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The Troubled Teens

At just 13 years old, Lorraine’s mom and stepdad broke up. She says that’s when things at home really began to break.

“My mom started drinking and she was never home,” she recalls.  

“We just struggled. There would be times where there would be no food in the house. I was scared.”

That same year, Lorraine got her first job — at a bar/restaurant.

“I was sitting in the restaurant one day and there was this really nice lady. Her name was Marge. She knew that my mom was in there all the time, and she offered me a job at 13.”

Lorraine started working and eventually dropped out of school. The next year, she met Brian and at just 15 years old, she became pregnant with their first child.

“I had two (sons) by the time I was 19.”

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The Search for Connection

After the relationship with Brian broke off, Lorraine started searching for a different connection — one with her brothers and sisters.

“All the money that I made waitressing — I would use to pay the phone bill,” she says.

“I was so desperate to find my brothers and sisters.”

She eventually found them. Her bothers had been adopted by non-Indigenous families in the United States, but her one sister had been adopted by a family in Alberta.  

“When I found out that I had a sister here, I packed up my kids, and I brought my mom, and we moved here.”

“I had never been to such a big city in my life. I was amazed at these big, tall buildings. I swore to my mom, I said, ‘You know what? I'm going to work in one of those big buildings one day. I am just going to do it.’"

But, with just an eighth-grade education and no skills, it was an uphill battle. Still, a social worker saw the potential in her and helped Lorraine get started.

First stop — get an education.

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“Unfortunately, I had to start at grade seven. And they told me that it would be it would take me about four years to graduate, to get my grade 12,” she recounts.

“I graduated in two-and-a-half years. I was determined. I studied. I went to school every day. I got my grade 12!”

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Onward and Upwards!

Lorraine had to rely on social services for a while, while she trained for an office job.  

She eventually got clerical work with the Alberta Government; first in Children’s Services, and then with Alberta Health, where she worked for 15 years.

But her passion to become a social worker remained.

“I knew that I had to become a social worker, because I did not want the same thing to happen to other kids, especially within the Indigenous community,” she says. “That was my goal.”

She enrolled at Mount Royal College (now University), but the challenges continued.

“Unfortunately, in my second year, I had to drop out from the program because my kids,” she recounts sadly.

“It was just too much as a single mom. I was going to school, plus working, plus taking care of two teenage sons. It was just too much.”

While caring for her sons and her mom, who was battling cancer, Lorraine continued working for the government and eventually looked into a career in Human Services.

She enrolled at Columbia College, took an accelerated one-year course and graduated!

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Connecting with TIES

Lorraine eventually heard about TIES and connected with what she had heard.  

She felt for the newcomers, many of whom faced their own similar struggles to be accepted into a new culture.

“There's so much racism against Indigenous people. And I felt that growing up. Immigrants go through what we go through — every day.”

“So, it's really a connection of the two cultures.”

That connection has paid off — for both sides.  

Lorraine recently helped lead a program on Indigenous Studies for TIES clients taking the Advanced Childhood Education and Training (ACET2) Program.  

Ultimately, helping 65 TIES clients obtain their certification in childcare!

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She’s also been a healthy 15-year relationship with her partner Mark, whom she says wasn’t scared by her story — but rather, “loved her more” because of her history.

“Never give up. Never give up. And, you know what? Dreams can come true.”

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Additional Information:

The ACET2 clients were so appreciative of Lorraine Chaboyer’s help that they put together a YouTube video of her story of survival.

Watch here: https://youtu.be/4UvyI6V8-sk?feature=shared

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Media RSVP, Interviews & Inquiries:

Tomasia DaSilva

Media and Relationship Strategist

Email: tomasiadasilva@immigrant-education.ca

Phone: 403-291-0002

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