An 8-part series that tells the stories of four students: three who survived and one who didn’t. They attended one of Canada’s most notorious residential schools – where unsolved deaths, abuse, and lies haunt the community and the survivors to this day. Hosted by Duncan McCue.
Kuper Island Introduces: The Urbariginal
Rudy Kelly’s dad was a great chief of the Tsimshian Nation - a champion of the language, culture, and community. Everyone loved him. But did Rudy? As a kid, he looked up to him. Idolized him. But also feared him. And even hated him. He told Rudy that to succeed, he would have to leave everything behind: his family, friends, and culture. In this six-part series, Rudy's journey brings him back in time, to learn how colonization impacted Indigenous people, from those who lived it. To find out who and what his dad really was, and to discover more about himself - the Urbariginal. More episodes are available at: https://link.chtbl.com/LtVNjcLQ
1/1/1 • 25 minutes, 33 seconds
Kuper Island Introduces: Someone Knows Something | Season 8
Host David Ridgen joins victims' family members as they investigate cold cases, tracking down leads, speaking to suspects and searching for answers. In the highly-anticipated 8th season of Someone Knows Something, award-winning investigator David Ridgen delves into a cold case that has haunted Whitehorse for more than 15 years. Angel Carlick was a vibrant youth worker, nicknamed ‘Happy-Go-Lucky’ by her loved ones. She had plans after graduation to become legal guardian of her brother and work to support struggling youth at her local resource centre. But just days before she was set to graduate in 2007, at age 18, Angel disappeared. Months later, her remains were found in a remote area in the Canadian north. As David works alongside Angel's family, friends, and community, he uncovers details surrounding her death and strives to bring her justice, while honouring the legacy of her late mother, Wendy. More episodes are available at: https://link.chtbl.com/N1Jf7WE3
1/1/1 • 48 minutes, 13 seconds
Kuper Island Introduces: Crime Story
Fraud. Abduction. Murder. Every week, Crime Story host and investigative journalist Kathleen Goldhar goes deep into a tale of true crime with the storyteller who knows it best. From the reporter who exposed Bill Cosby, to the writer who solved one of Australia’s most chilling cold cases — Crime Story guests include: Gilbert King (Bone Valley), Eric Benson (Project Unabomb), Carole Fisher (The Girlfriends), and many more. In this episode, Duncan McCue joins Kathleen to go deeper into the reporting that went into the creation of Kuper Island, the lack of accountability in the way our criminal justice system works, and the importance of honouring the stories that were shared with Duncan for the series. More episodes of Crime Story are available at: https://link.chtbl.com/AJQF9AKR
1/1/1 • 48 minutes
Introducing: Kuper Island
Long after the Kuper Island Residential School was torn down, the survivors are still haunted by what happened there. Investigative reporter Duncan McCue exposes buried police investigations, confronts perpetrators of abuse and witnesses a community trying to rebuild — literally on top of the old school’s ruins and the unmarked graves of Indigenous children. Episodes release Tuesdays, starting May 17.
• 2 minutes, 54 seconds
E4: What happened to Richard?
Richard Thomas was smart, kind and well-loved. He was having no problems in school and he wanted to go further in education. Then inexplicably, days before his graduation, he’s found dead in the Kuper Island school gym. His death was ruled a suicide — with no further questions as to why. We piece together a portrait of the teenager through his own writings, and find an old coroner’s report that raises more questions than answers about how Thomas died.
For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcastnews/kuper-island-transcripts-listen-1.6622551
• 44 minutes, 17 seconds
E8: Every Child Matters
The team tracks down the last person to ever see Richard Thomas alive at Kuper Island Residential School. Donnie Sampson was just 10 years old at the time and has disturbing memories of the day — that include a familiar and problematic name from the past.
Host Duncan McCue takes the results of the investigation back to Richard’s sister Belvie who must decide what to do next. In Penelakut, the community rallies around their children — the new generation, the adult survivors still healing, and all the ones who never came home.
For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcastnews/kuper-island-transcripts-listen-1.6622551
• 52 minutes, 1 second
E7: Hurt People Hurt People
The children who attended Kuper Island Residential School faced a terrible aftermath trying to process what happened. The abuse they suffered there often coloured their relationships with family and community — with devastating results.
Meanwhile, the team learns one of the perpetrators from the school spent his later years being taken care of in relative comfort — all paid for by the Oblates. They demand to know why.
For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcastnews/kuper-island-transcripts-listen-1.6622551
• 45 minutes, 53 seconds
E3: Sink or Swim
Survivor Belvie Brebber tells us about her five years at Kuper Island Residential School, a time filled with fear, cruelty and sexual violence. Belvie makes it out alive, but her younger brother Richard Thomas does not. She describes a terrible phone call that shattered her family forever, and why she never believed the school's story that her beloved brother died by suicide.
For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcastnews/kuper-island-transcripts-listen-1.6622551
• 35 minutes, 57 seconds
E5: Feeding the Dead
An archaeologist uses the stories of survivors and a ground-penetrating radar machine to pinpoint where children who died at the Kuper Island school were buried, sometimes in places where no one ever wanted them to be found. And we explore how the Hul'qumi'num people honour their ancestral dead, and why this work is important when it comes to unsettled spirits and unmarked graves.
For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcastnews/kuper-island-transcripts-listen-1.6622551
• 36 minutes, 48 seconds
E2: Nights on the Boys’ Side
What was it like to be a student at one of the most notorious residential schools in Canada? Survivors James and Tony Charlie share their own account of recurring sexual abuse at the hands of their teachers, starting with a fateful trip to Montreal's Expo '67. Their stories speak to how abuse rotted all facets of school life — and how at Kuper Island, no child was spared.
To find transcriptions for episodes of Kuper Island, please click here: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcastnews/kuper-island-transcripts-listen-1.6622551
• 39 minutes, 19 seconds
E1: A School They Called Alcatraz
Duncan McCue travels to Penelakut, an island off the coast of B.C., and the site of the Kuper Island Residential School. The community has torn down the reviled building, but the dark memories of what happened at the nearly-century old institution linger. Survivors James and Tony Charlie give a tour of their old school grounds, and we look into the mystery of what happened to one boy, Richard Thomas, who did not make it out alive.
For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcastnews/kuper-island-transcripts-listen-1.6622551
• 31 minutes, 53 seconds
Kuper Island Introduces: Helluva Story
Helluva Story is an intimate and illuminating weekly half-hour featuring the best in audio documentary. Listen along with host Duncan McCue as he explores the beauty and messiness of real life with storytellers and their subjects. More episodes are available at: https://link.chtbl.com/-JH561Nv
• 27 minutes, 50 seconds
E6: It Didn't Feel Like Justice
We explore what really happened during a 1990s RCMP task force investigation triggered by the high number of allegations of sexual abuses at the Kuper Island Residential School, and track down a former staff member who witnessed the horrors firsthand. We learn one of the abusers at the school, Brother Glenn Doughty, is still alive. We try to reach him and learn troubling information about his whereabouts.
For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcastnews/kuper-island-transcripts-listen-1.6622551