A life story can’t really be contained in a small booklet, but between the two of them, Albert Antoine and Kurt Christopherson have pulled together a book, and a story, that could inspire others to do the same.

Albert Antoine is a long-time resident of the Nicola Valley and a First Nations member of some renown. His late son Gordon founded the Nicola Valley Institute of Technology, according to Christopherson, and the Antoine family is well-known in the area.

Christopherson was running an NVIT-sponsored Community Adult Literacy Project at Coldwater School when he met Antoine, who expressed a desire to see his story in some kind of material format.

“I’ve told my story several times, but I never see a result,” Antoine told Christopherson. “So I said, ‘We’ll have something to put in your hands when we’re finished,’” Christopherson recalls.

That was last spring. Later, the two men spent many hours together, as Antoine told his story to Christopherson, who wrote down the details as well as he could. The process took some time, said Christopherson. “It was a matter of getting to know each other, and trusting each other.”

Using a grant from NVIT, Christopherson had the story printed and bound, and produced a small number of copies, fulfilling his promise to give Antoine something he could hold in his hands. The booklet is called “Every Day is a Good Day: the Story of Albert Antoine,” and it contains some fascinating and heart-wrenching memories.

“Life at residential school was pretty regimented – kind of like prison in some ways,” Antoine’s book notes. “Albert figures his time there was better than some. He worked hard and minded his own business and didn’t get in much trouble. There were rules, rules, rules. The school was run by the Catholic Church, and religion played a large part in daily affairs. Native languages were forbidden. “Do not speak that language. Only the Devil speaks that language!” However, when opportunities arose, the children did manage to keep their various languages alive. They often used their own language when doing chores – so long as they weren’t caught. Part of the day was spent in school and part was spent doing chores. The school ran a large farm. The older students milked two cows each, there were 36 milk cows in all, and they raised and fed over a hundred pigs. The farm even had its own slaughterhouse. “The good stuff was always sold. We never saw any of it.” They great all their own vegetables. They raised over 500 chickens – though they never got eggs to eat – except at Easter when they all received two!”

Most of the copies have been sent out to First Nations bands in the area, while some were given to NVIT, where they can be seen. Others are at the Merritt library.

The literacy program launched by NVIT has ended, but Christopherson says he’d like to see other people write their life stories.

“If people put together a history of their family, the library would keep a copy for posterity,” Merritt library Deborha Merrick promised. And Christopherson says that while there is currently no grant available to print copies of any new books, if someone puts a story together, a way may be found to put it into a form that can be held in the hand.

Contact NVIT if you’re interested in giving it a try.