Imagine your child being taken away from you, taught a new language, religion, and in some cases abused.
Today is Orange Shirt Day, a time to honour the Indigenous children who were sent away to residential schools in Canada.
Niagara journalist and co-host of 610 CKTB's One Dish One Mic Karl Dockstader tells CKTB his family has been personally impacted as his grandparents are residential school survivors.
"It was my grandfather who actually went all the way up to Brandon Manitoba. And he hitchhiked back on two different occasions. The second time that he was hitchhiking back from Brandon, Manitoba he actually caught Tuberculosis and it led to lifelong health complications and he ended up dying in his early 50s as a result of the respiratory complications of Tuberculosis ."
Dockstader explains that the impact of the residential school system is still being felt through the generations.
"We're what they call inter-generational residential school survivors, my sister and I, and we are definitely impacted by their stories. The difference is that now my sister and I are resolved to have positive change and to try and undo the legacy of residential schools, but we cannot do that without the help of Canadians."
150-thousand Métis, Inuit, and First Nations children were taken from their families and sent to the schools between the 1860s and the 1990s.
The government issued a formal apology 2008.
Yesterday, the Liberal government introduced legislation to make September 30th a new stat holiday to commemorate the victims and survivors of residential schools.
Creating such a holiday was one of the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
Click here to listen to Karl Dockstader's full interview with Tom McConnell.