Yesterday while I was cleaning out some of my belongings…………
…….I came across a Freedom of Information package that I had submitted to the Alberta Government last year in September of 2022. I received this package in May of 2023 and promptly forgot about it.
I had submitted this request as the oposing counsel in a civil matter that was wrapped up in 2022 had shown me quotes from my Alberta Social Service records that were redacted from the documents that I had obtained in August of 2011.
I had forgotten that I received these as they had been sitting on a shelf in my closet, unopened.
Reading through this version sure was eye opening.
It doesn’t say anything much different than what I already knew, but it does officially attach names.
I still can’t believe that I was actually in the first stages of foster care / residential care.
Children’s Aid in Toronto wasn’t able to get any help from the Canadian Armed Forces with contacting my father when we moved to Canadian Forces Base Downsview in Toronto. CAST had to go through the public school system to find my brother and I.
Yeah, this was after our trip from Edmonton to Toronto over the xmas break in December of 1982. We stayed with Richard’s estranged father Arthur Herman Gill in Oshawa. There wasn’t a lot of closeness between Richard and his Father.
Richard’s “work schedule” often had him out of town on training exercises. I’m pretty sure that he was just signing up for as many training exercises as he could as that would get him out of the house. To Richard, raising children was “woman’s work” and not something for a man to waste his time on.
“In a loud and vociferous fashion”…… That’s one thing that Richard could do. He could turn on the drill instructor attitude and bellow his opinions. I remember when I was in grade 7 at Elia Jr. High and the music teacher, Mrs. Donskov, was pushing for me to take up bass guitar as my asthma made it difficult to play any type of wind instrument. She went so far as to load up her Volvo with one of the school guitar amps and one of the bass guitars. When well pulled up to the PMQ on Canadian Forces Base Griesbach, Richard came storming over to us and told Mrs. Donskov to get that shit back in her car and that I was never to think of doing a stupid stunt like this again.
Richard always had a weird relationship with my teachers. He always wanted “more homework” so that I could spend more time learning and studying, but if I ever asked him for help with said homework he’d explode in a rage. When my teachers would call him trying to get me into extracurricular activities or arrange for me to go on trips, Richard would rage out. I feel sorry for any of my teachers that ever had to deal with him.
There’s no way that Richard would have really agreed to this program. Richard had a tendency to just say yes to everything with the hopes that the person asking would soon forget. I know that my opinion may be a little biased, but Rchard was not someone you could count on or depend on.
“A smack across the face or time in their rooms”. Richard was the master of the leather belt on bare ass. He had no problem with open handed smacks to the face or the head. He also saw nothing wrong with kicking either. Sue would grab and pinch, or use the fly swatter. Believe me, the fly swatter from Sue was far preferable to the leather belt from Richard. There were times when he lost control and blood was drawn. Both from the leather belt and from the smacks across the face.
“Robert’s prospects appear poor”. Yeah, they sure as fuck weren’t kidding.
Due to Richard’s and grandma’s superb parenting skills, not only were my brother and I fully feral. But we were at each other’s throats on a non-stop basis. When you have to fight for the slightest bit of affection you become like Hyenas. Even though we grew up in the same military housing on the same military base in Toronto, I don’t think my brother and I saw each other on a regular basis. He was off in his world, and I was off in mine.
Not surprising. Par for the course actually.
“She should be home making supper”. Way to go Richard!
Richard and Misogyny went together like hand in glove.
On numerous occasions Richard would refer to Sue as a “stupid bitch” or a “fucking cunt”.
I will never for the life of me ever understand what Sue saw in Richard and why she stuck around.
She was better than average looking and she was in her very early 20s when she moved in with Richard on CFB Namao.
She could have easily done much better than Richard.
Yeah, I don’t think there was an external source large enough for Richard to focus his anger and his hate.
“Mr. Gill states that his mother is an alcoholic who refuses to seek help or treatment for her condition”. What an asshole.
Richard was just as much of an alcoholic as Grandma was.
Funnything was, Grandma’s alcoholism didn’t deter Richard from asking grandma to come live with us on Canadian Forces Base Summerside. And it didn’t deter him from asking Captain Lynda Tyrell for a compasionate posting in the summer of 1978 so that we could move to Canadian Forces Base Namao so grandma and her husband Andy Anderson could move into the PMQ on base to raise my brother and I.
And no, Richard didn’t see anything wrong with expsoing Scott and I to grandma’s alcoholism from spring 1977 until spring 1981.
Grandma’s alcoholism only became an issue when Richard had some explainging to do with Social Services.
See, my issues had nothing to do with 1-1/2 years of sexual abuse on CFB Namao. Nor did my issues stem from a dysfunctional family. No, my issues were the fault of the school on base and the fault of mr grandmother. Nothing to do with Richard.
Understatment of the Year Award goes to “The Gill family is a rather confused and insular unit”.
This is the same mother that either Richard forgot to tell the CFNIS in 2011 was raising my brother and I from 1977 until 1981 or that the CFNIS asked Richard to forget in 2011. Either way, grandma had a major inpact on my brother and I.
This part was still redacted, but let me unredact this for you ” Mr. Gill appeared concerned about his mother’s drinking, suggesting she was emotionally abusive to both children, especially when inebriated. As well, Mr. Gill suggested that his mother attempts to undermine any closeness between him and his sons by telling them false stories”.
The only stories that grandma used to tell me, I can’t speak for my brother, but grandma always told me not to believe what Richard had said about our mother leaving, that when I was older I would learn what the truth was.
The thing was, grandma was a nice person when she was pissed drunk. She’d take my brother and I over to the base Canex to buy a toy or two. She’d take us to the base groceteria to grab treats. She’d even take us on the military shuttle bus into the city of Edmonton to go buy toys at Army & Navy. It’s when grandma was sobering up or even sober when she was cruel and angry.
Richard was the exact same thing as his mother. Nice guy when he was pissed drunk. Asshole when he was sobering up. Unpredictable when he was sober.
As per court records from PEI, Richard did in fact NOT have legal custody of my brother and I.
Richard, what the fuck was wrong with you?
Beeshive 