Drawer 49, New Denver, BC

In 1954, at the behest of the British Columbia government, Elizabeth Hlookoff was apprehended by the RCMP for habitual truancy. She had never been to school.

Her parents were members of a sect of Doukhobors called the Sons of Freedom (Freedomites), who refused to send their children to school. The Freedomites, who were pacifists, believed that public schools taught militarism.

The BC government wanted to eradicate this troublesome sect. As with First Nations children, the government believed that apprehending these children and placing them in residential schools would “civilize” them. But the majority of British Columbians don’t know about this. It is their history.

Told from a child’s perspective, Drawer 49 is a series of short stories chronicling Elizabeth’s apprehension, incarceration, and experiences at the New Denver, BC, residential school, where she was confined between the ages of seven and eleven.