Taken from her family at 4, she endured a system built to erase her. But they couldn’t break her spirit. She lived to 100–a century of strength, survival, and defiance.
BREHVE MABEL is the powerful true story of an Indian child taken from her family and sent to Brandon Indian Residential School in attempt to “take the savage out of her. Her experience, and the trauma it caused, would ripple through generations —but so would her resiliance.
Told through the voices of Mabel Alita Anthony, her daughter Trudyanne, and granddaughter Tanya,this three generational memoir reveals both the depth of inherited pain and the strength passed down from mother to daughter. Each faced life as a single mother, navigating hardship, fear and predatory men, yet each learned to focus on the good, find the joy in even the smallest moments, and keep walking forward.
From Mabel’s 15 years in the residential school system to her remarkable journey to 100 years of age, BREHVE MABEL is a testament to survival, perseverance, and the enduring light that can shine even in the darkest of places.