blog.MarkDrapak.com
Isolated mind-renewal program, and hideout for an alleged child sexual-abuser; inside a Sask. cult’s religious discipline center.
"Hey Mark...come with me" Warning: The contents of this post include distressing details. It was March 25, 1997. I was a 15-year-old student at Christian Centre Academy where I'd attended since I was 9 in 1991. It was a typical Tuesday school day as I sat at my carrel office in [...]
Killing an Intruder
Early summer mornings for a week, the 3 dogs were barking furiously outside our lodge around 5 or 6 am for no apparent reason. The sun would barely start rising when the dogs would suddenly just start barking like maniacs and not quit. We checked on them to see if maybe [...]
I Learned to Shoot a Tree, and Maybe My Roommate
There was no particular reason for Jim to have his rifle with him on his deck one summer afternoon. And I was not expecting him to ask me if I wanted to try shooting it at the nearby tree. Of course, I had answered "sure!" This was a random moment where [...]
The day they left my prison door open
...I realized my crushing reality; I had nobody. I felt like I was a youth outcast from my church and school community - I was somebody horrible that had to be in a program for bad people. "Are you running away too?" That question haunts me to this very day. Imagine [...]
“911? Help, Strangers Are Trying to Take My Children!”
10 years before strangers came to my home and took me away from my single parent to isolate me to Canaan Land, a previous situation took place involving a sinister stranger from that same church-school. By the time I was born in 1981, Pastor Keith Johnson‘s abusive system was already established and on [...]
Christmas time in Canaan Land
With only a thin quilt and sheet on each of our single beds, the bitter cold of mid-winter nights was a constant companion. Our calorie-limited diet consisted solely of tea after our 6:30 p.m. meal, making the long nights even more challenging to sleep through. Lumberjacking every workday kept us lean [...]
The Teenage Lumberjacks of the 100-Acre Woods of Canaan Land
The land that Canaan Land Big River sat on was just about 125 acres. As far as the eye could see, trees filled the property. The only clearing was where our housing occupied. Aspen, white Spruce, white Birch, Jack Pine, and Balsam Fir trees covered every inch of the forest we lived [...]
The Canoe Terror-Trip
This guy shouldn't have been responsible for a pet rock, let alone children and youth in a church and school. The 100-acre woods of Canaan Land in Big River was a complete disappointment if you expected an actual river. Despite the name, Big River in Saskatchewan was devoid of any rivers. [...]
Part 1/2; Suddenly, Nathan Arrives at Canaan Land
"Hey, do you guys know Nathan Schultz?" It was autumn, 1998. Sunday morning church service had just finished at Saskatoon Christian Centre and the two of us Canaan Land program participants were ready to take the hours-long trip back to Big River. My roommate and I were sitting in the back [...]
Part 2/2; Nathan Slips Away
...continued from Part 1; Suddenly, Nathan arrives at Canaan Land > The first weekend after Nathan Schultz's arrival at Canaan Land, we all travelled in the transport van to Saskatoon for church services. I didn't get that same luxury when I began my Canaan Land sentence, as I wasn't allowed to [...]
Happy 16th Birthday, Kid. And No, You Can’t Contact Your Family Because You’re a Broken Human.
Back in the 80's and 90's when I was just a kid, each May 27th I used to look forward to my birthday with unbridled excitement! It was always a private family affair with my parent and sibling and one close friend. It was a normal yearly occurrence where I looked [...]
The Great Gulag Escapes
"It feels like we're were all 'out of sight, out of mind'," Warden Jim muttered one day, his voice heavy with the weight of his own dull existence. I could see it in his face—the kind of boredom that gnaws at you, the kind that makes you question whether time still [...]
“Mark Drapak Doesn’t Exist, Mr. Wilson”
When I turned 18 in May of 1999, Pastor Johnson finally granted me parole - I mean, graduation - from the program and return home. My parent excitedly attended my grad ceremony there the next month and brought me back home to the rest of my family where I belonged. After [...]
The Kind Strangers
The day before everything changed, Shian Klassen - a man of supposed faith - threatened to strip me of everything I loved. I was fifteen. A child. And he told me that if I didn’t comply, I’d be excommunicated - not just from Christian Centre Church, but from my school, my [...]
The Police Learn of Canaan Land
When I was freed from Canaan Land in 1999, just as I turned 18, I buried it all down deep inside. I tried to act as if the last two plus years hadn’t happened, telling myself that time and distance could erase the memories. I buried the pain beneath layers of [...]