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On the outside it’s all red brick and white pillars, the kind of sweeping colonial building that should be converted into an inn or day spa.

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But inside, for over 150 years, it was a prison for indigenous children, yanked from their families, punished for speaking their tongue, fed mush and abused physically and sexually.

The three-story building that makes up the residential part of the Mohawk Institute is actually the third that stood on the grounds. The first two were each burnt down in turn by students who wouldn’t bend to the rule of the Anglican Church who ran the “school,” though the education received was poor at best.

Outside, the bright green grounds dappled with the bright light of the June sun amid the young, early-summer leaves creates a picturesque scene. For survivors, the imagery lacks beauty.

“What there is out there is what was out there when I was here, nothing,” said Bud Whiteye, a 70-year-old former student. They had nothing to play with, even less to eat at the notorious institute that came to be known as the “Mush Hole” for the gruel students ate daily, supplemented if they were lucky with a slice or two of bread. He was born in a reserve near Chatham, but was lured into a black car with promises of ice cream. He got the treat but instead of being driven home afterwards, he woke up on the bumpy ride up to the grandiose looking building.