A resident of the Boyle Street/McCauley area sent me their copy of the booklet Indigenous McCauley, written by Marilyn Dumont and edited by Paula E. Kirman. I was truly impressed about this history and contemporary overview of First nations and Métis life in the McCauley neighbourhood in Edmonton. It was an excellent insight of this topic with a hopeful ending entitled “The Future.”

However, I am truly concerned about the mention of the experience of Alex Lameman (Cardinal) back in the 1960s as a resident of Atonement Home, and his negative reflection (referring to it as a “prison” and stating that “it was a worse ‘hellhole’”).

As a former boarder at the Atonement Home in the 1940s, I was welcomed there during the World War II era with my father serving in the Canadian Army overseas when my mother was in poor health and unable to handle two hyper boys ages five and seven. I, being the youngest, was placed in the Atonement Home in 1940-45.

Although I was very lonesome, I survived through the kindness of the Franciscan Sisters’ tender, loving care. I still have cards from my sixth birthday and fond memories of my First Communion day. Memories of Sister Clare-Marie asking us boys to accompany her to collect food for the orphans and boarders from the factories on 97 Street and teaching us to be gentlemen by walking on the outside of the sidewalk. Each of us had special jobs in maintaining the residence. I had the responsibility of the stairwells. There were no elevators at the home. We attended school outside at Sacred Heart or St. Michael’s, now named Mother Teresa School. It was no prison, but a home to us all.

One of the other experiences that I remember were the many times that the City Police arrived with five or six kids seeking refuge for them from a domestic situation at 11 p.m. The sisters opened their hearts to accommodate them and asked us to double up for the night to provide a place for them – just what we would do at our own homes to provide for others.

I could go on and on. Sure, no institution is perfect, but all was done to serve us during these times. The Atonement Home truly played an important role of service to its inhabitants and should be a proud landmark in the Boyle Street/McCauley area.