The old Moravian residential school building in Nain will be torn down Nov. 14. Norman Anderson says he won’t bother to watch when they tear down the former residential school in Nain that still haunts his memories seven decades later.Anderson, 80, was elated Wednesday, Nov. 9, to hear the dilapidated structure that has served as everything from a radio station to a cottage hospital will finally be no more.
Morning meals consisted of cold porridge, saved only by a dollop of molasses. At night they slept in sealskin sleeping bags on a hard floor.“In the nighttime, when everything was quiet, we used to communicate in our beds, quietly,” he said.Mayor Joe Dicker said Wednesday the church had refused previous requests from residents to demolish the building, but finally had a change of heart.
Although there are few former residents left, Dicker said Wednesday the building won’t be missed by the older people who remember what it represents. Dicker, a residential school survivor, told The Telegram last year it’s a particular eyesore for him. “I see that bloody building all the time,” he said. “I’m looking out my window at it right now, it’s right next to my office. It’s a reminder to people every day.”It has been our privilege to have the trust and support of our East Coast communities for the last 200 years. Our SaltWire team is always watching out for the place we call home.