Daughters, mothers reunited after 30 years

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It took 30 years, but Marie Watchmaker's dream finally came true.

At the Thunderchild Powwow in Saskatchewan, Watchmaker and her four daughters were reunited for the first time since they were taken from her as children.

"The Creator answered all my prayers," Watchmaker said. "Today I'm happy."

For Sharon Cannon, Watchmaker's oldest daughter, it was an exhilarating moment. Now living in Calgary, she had initiated contact with her mother last year, having tried for years to find her. She introduced her youngest sister, Rosemarie Christie, also from Calgary, to their mother in July when she came to the city from her home on the Kehewin Reserve near Bonnyville.

But for Darlene Paddy-Cannon and Sandra Moran, who spent several days on the road travelling from their homes in Ontario, it was a meeting tinged with fear and apprehension.

"I never knew what to expect," Darlene admitted. "I remember when I was little that she really loved us, but when you never hear anything positive over so many years..."

The four girls were taken when they were very young by their white father to his home town in Ontario when he and Watchmaker's relationship failed early in the 1960s.

His plan to have his mother raise the children was thwarted when she died within six months of the children's arrival in Maynooth, a small town about 130 kilometres north of Peterborough. The girls were separated and most were sent to live with relatives in the community.

Sharon, a sickly child, was placed with the parish priest. Following open-heart surgery when she was about six years old, she went to live at a convent. She remembers being shuffled from home to home on spring, summer and Christmas vacations. She lost contact with her father, not even recognizing him on the street, and she only saw her sisters at school.

The girls were the only Natives in the community and Sharon's dark features often make her the brunt of discriminatory remarks.

"Even though we lived there, we always felt like we didn't belong...We were looked down upon, people called us names," she told Windspeaker. "If they didn't ask (if I was Native), I wouldn't tell them.

Throughout her unhappy childhood, Sharon held on to one dream - to find her Mom.

"The one life-long goal I had was to find my mother. I was constantly searching."

Finally, when the convent closed, Sharon joined two of her sisters at an aunt and uncles home. Darlene and Rosemarie were the two sisters to stay together after their grandmother died. According to Rosemarie, the girls weren't supposed to talk to Sandra, who was at another aunt and uncle's home in the same town.

"We were supposed to be their kids."

While most of the girls, like Sharon, secretary harbored hopes of finding their mother, they were also scared of what might come out of such a meeting.

"I thought about meeting her when I was younger because I really missed her," Darlene said. "(But) when I'd think about it, I couldn't sleep and I'd cry. I was scared, not really ready."

"I kind of felt like she left me there (in Ontario)," Rosemarie said. "We were told by my dad's family that she didn't want us, but now I know that she tried to find us and couldn't.

In fact, Watchmaker said she searched frantically for her children after their father left. She went to the RCMP in town to explain what happened and wrote letters to the girl's father in Ontario. But the letters were never answered and the police couldn't - or wouldn't - help.

"I felt lost and didn't know who to turn to," she said. I started drinking after the kids were taken away. I went to the bottle to try and drown my sorrow."

That's how Sharon first found her. She had gone to Indian Affairs with all the information she had - her mother's maiden name, the name of their home reserve (Thunderchild) and a treaty number. After several months, department officials got back to her with the news that they had found her brother - a half-brother she hadn't known existed! After a littl more searching, they told Sharon her mother was living on the Kehewin Reserve near Bonnyville.

While making a move to Calgary from Ontario, Sharon stopped in Kehewin to see her mother. She now remembers the meeting as stressful and anxiety-filled. Because of her mother's drinking, Sharon dropped all contact with her at that time.

The relationship resumed 10 years later, in about 1990, when Watchmaker phoned Sharon. Regular phone calls and letters between the two followed and finally, at last year's Thunderchild Powwow, Sharon met her mother and "the bonds grew stronger."

In the 10 years the two were out of touch, Watchmaker quit drinking and smoking and tried to get her life on track. She prayed often to be reunited with her daughters.

"I turned my life around so that the Creator would see how much I wanted (my girls) and loved them."

The women, now aged 30 to 34, are all at different stages of acceptance. While Sandra is happy to have met her mother, she's unsure of what the future will hold. Rosemarie and Darlene both plan to keep in touch with their new-found parent and Darlene is even considering making an annual visit from her home in Peterborough. Sharon is working on forming relationships with her extended family.

"I'm meeting new people every day, lots of relatives and keeping in touch with those I do meet," she said.

"It's nice to come home."

Watchmaker, too, is glad her children have come home.

"I feel great. It's been a long time. "I've been hurt too long. This is my happiest day."