The Tuesday edition of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings in Prince George carried on where Monday's left off - victim after victim telling their individual stories of sexual and physical assaults, as well as emotional abuse.
It happened in what was supposed to be their home away from home, their school, and all at the hands of people supposed to be their spiritual guides.
Story after story described Lejac and St. Joseph's schools as houses of horror. Even though some students look back on their years there with fondness, the testimony was overwhelmingly negative.
The effects crossed generations and are still being felt today.
Residential schools had been banned by the time she was born, but the mother of Irene Johnny, 33, went to Lejac and that knowledge gave Johnny insight into her mother.
"There was a lot of silence in our house," Johnny said. "I didn't realize how much torment and torture people went through...and I thought my life was rough. I was never taught about patience, love, understanding, just silence."
Johnny doesn't want to pass that on to another generation.
"I'm still carrying that tradition on with my child. I so want to keep things quiet, not bring things up... I did not go to residential school but it made me realize why I am the way I am, and I am deeply appreciative for that perspective from people's stories."
She said she carried a lot of anger and bitterness for being short-changed on the parenting every child is due but she also raged for what her mother had to endure.
On the other end of the age spectrum, Emma Baptiste, who is in her 90s and testified from a wheelchair, sobbed through her recollections. The first time she was raped by one of the Lejac resident priests, she had gone into the bushes to go to the bathroom. She did not realize she had been followed by one of the teachers. The priest waited until she had finished relieving herself, then tackled her and penetrated her, leaving her bleeding and alone to clean herself up and go on with life - a life that included similar episodes.
Baptiste later lost two daughters, one to suicide. She said that the crushing effects of the sexual assaults and other forms of abuse were the reason. She said she did not know how to be a parent, she could barely live and tried suicide herself several times.
Stories such as these have been gathered by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission for years, as it crisscrosses the nation.
