Kuper Island
CBC
An 8-part series that tells the stories of four students: three who survived and one who didn’t. They attended one of Canada’s most notorious residential schools – where unsolved deaths, abuse, and lies haunt the community and the survivors to this day. Hosted by Duncan McCue. For the best in true crime from CBC, ad-free, visit apple.co/cbctruecrime.
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Top 10 Kuper Island Episodes
Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Kuper Island episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Kuper Island for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Kuper Island episode by adding your comments to the episode page.
E1: A School They Called Alcatraz
Kuper Island
05/16/22 • 31 min
Duncan McCue travels to Penelakut, an island off the coast of B.C., and the site of the Kuper Island Residential School. The community has torn down the reviled building, but the dark memories of what happened at the nearly-century old institution linger. Survivors James and Tony Charlie give a tour of their old school grounds, and we look into the mystery of what happened to one boy, Richard Thomas, who did not make it out alive. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcastnews/kuper-island-transcripts-listen-1.6622551
2 Listeners
Kuper Island Introduces: The Urbariginal
Kuper Island
06/01/23 • 25 min
1 Listener
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E4: What happened to Richard?
Kuper Island
06/06/22 • 44 min
Richard Thomas was smart, kind and well-loved. He was having no problems in school and he wanted to go further in education. Then inexplicably, days before his graduation, he’s found dead in the Kuper Island school gym. His death was ruled a suicide — with no further questions as to why. We piece together a portrait of the teenager through his own writings, and find an old coroner’s report that raises more questions than answers about how Thomas died. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcastnews/kuper-island-transcripts-listen-1.6622551
1 Listener
E3: Sink or Swim
Kuper Island
05/30/22 • 35 min
Survivor Belvie Brebber tells us about her five years at Kuper Island Residential School, a time filled with fear, cruelty and sexual violence. Belvie makes it out alive, but her younger brother Richard Thomas does not. She describes a terrible phone call that shattered her family forever, and why she never believed the school's story that her beloved brother died by suicide. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcastnews/kuper-island-transcripts-listen-1.6622551
1 Listener
E2: Nights on the Boys’ Side
Kuper Island
05/23/22 • 39 min
What was it like to be a student at one of the most notorious residential schools in Canada? Survivors James and Tony Charlie share their own account of recurring sexual abuse at the hands of their teachers, starting with a fateful trip to Montreal's Expo '67. Their stories speak to how abuse rotted all facets of school life — and how at Kuper Island, no child was spared. To find transcriptions for episodes of Kuper Island, please click here: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcastnews/kuper-island-transcripts-listen-1.6622551
1 Listener
E5: Feeding the Dead
Kuper Island
06/13/22 • 36 min
An archaeologist uses the stories of survivors and a ground-penetrating radar machine to pinpoint where children who died at the Kuper Island school were buried, sometimes in places where no one ever wanted them to be found. And we explore how the Hul'qumi'num people honour their ancestral dead, and why this work is important when it comes to unsettled spirits and unmarked graves. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcastnews/kuper-island-transcripts-listen-1.6622551
E7: Hurt People Hurt People
Kuper Island
06/27/22 • 45 min
The children who attended Kuper Island Residential School faced a terrible aftermath trying to process what happened. The abuse they suffered there often coloured their relationships with family and community — with devastating results. Meanwhile, the team learns one of the perpetrators from the school spent his later years being taken care of in relative comfort — all paid for by the Oblates. They demand to know why. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcastnews/kuper-island-transcripts-listen-1.6622551
E8: Every Child Matters
Kuper Island
07/04/22 • 52 min
The team tracks down the last person to ever see Richard Thomas alive at Kuper Island Residential School. Donnie Sampson was just 10 years old at the time and has disturbing memories of the day — that include a familiar and problematic name from the past. Host Duncan McCue takes the results of the investigation back to Richard’s sister Belvie who must decide what to do next. In Penelakut, the community rallies around their children — the new generation, the adult survivors still healing, and all the ones who never came home. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcastnews/kuper-island-transcripts-listen-1.6622551
06/21/24 • 52 min
Today we have a special bonus episode for you from our sibling show Unreserved, a fearless space for Indigenous voices. Host Rosanna Deerchild is ready to Indigenize your summer with a tastemaker’s guide to the best books, movies, podcasts and more.
More episodes of Unreserved are available at: https://link.chtbl.com/mytJJc-H
09/25/23 • 48 min
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FAQ
How many episodes does Kuper Island have?
Kuper Island currently has 15 episodes available.
What topics does Kuper Island cover?
The podcast is about True Crime and Podcasts.
What is the most popular episode on Kuper Island?
The episode title 'E1: A School They Called Alcatraz' is the most popular.
What is the average episode length on Kuper Island?
The average episode length on Kuper Island is 38 minutes.
How often are episodes of Kuper Island released?
Episodes of Kuper Island are typically released every 7 days, 20 hours.
When was the first episode of Kuper Island?
The first episode of Kuper Island was released on May 9, 2022.
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