8. Residential Schools 1977-81

I was aware of Residential Schools from the time I was young, I think. My grandfather went to the residential school in Lebret in early 1910s. My Mom told a story about him, that he wasn’t there very long and he happened to see his uncle driving by in a buggy, and he called out to him to ‘get him out of there, as he was going to be killed’. My grandfather was small and fair, and he was picked on by the other kids. So, somehow, he didn’t stay, whether his dad came and got him or his uncle got him out. There were several other Métis relatives that attended Lebret from the Lac Pelletier, Swift Current, Ponteix and Val Marie areas.

Jim LaRocque was our family historian, and was recognized by the Métis Nation of Saskatchewan for his historical knowledge. Jim was my mom’s first cousin, but he was raised by his great uncle, so he seemed like a generation older than my mom. And because he lived with that older generation, many of the family stories were passed down to him. So, the way he told the story about residential schools, was that the time was very different then. Time was slow, and nothing happened fast. So, Métis kids were put into the residential schools (although they were primarily intended for First Nations) and taught alongside the First Nations kids. If someone important was coming for a visit, they would send a letter, with a date of their visit. So, the school had plenty of time to prepare for the visit, and they could hide the Métis students, especially those that were fairer skinned.

As a nurse, I worked in 4 different residential schools for short periods of time. Some of the schools had their own nurse or nurse’s aide, so we were called in for specific tasks. We were called in as a group at times, to give immune serum globulin. Hepatitis A would cycle through the residential schools about every 7 years, so we would go in as group and immunize those that didn’t have it. The immunization wasn’t specific to hepatitis, but it was used as a preventative to hopefully stop the disease from spreading. Hepatitis A is different from Hepatitis B and C that you hear about today. Hep A can be spread from person to person by close contact, whereas Hep B and C required blood and/or body fluids (which would involve sex, sharing needles, contact with blood, etc).

The residential schools were institutions and the result was many students were institutionalized by the time they left. The staff were not caring or nurturing, and the discipline was severe. This was passed along to the students, who also became abusers to others. So many were ill-prepared for life, and either a bully or a victim.

The summer that I was placed in Beauval during my University years; I lived in the ‘compound’ of the Beauval Residential School. The town/hamlet of Beauval was on one side of the river, and the residential school was on the other side. The teachers and staff of the school lived in the compound, as well as myself. MSB had a trailer there, so I moved into that trailer for the summer. Many of the teachers had houses, and lived together in this area.

I was only in Beauval from mid-May to August. I had to go into the school to give immunization to the some of the students that were attending the school. I went and gave the kids their immunizations. While there, I was asking the students how it was to live there. The students told me that there were ghosts there, they would hear footsteps on the stairs. Some had seen shoes and the bottom of a brown skirt on the stairs as well (nuns wore brown habits for a period of time). Beauval has a terrible history, with the school burning down in 1927, with 19 boys and one nun perishing in the fire. There is a memoriam in the graveyard that is near the compound. I seen that when I was exploring.

After University, I moved to my husband’s reserve, Gordons. I was assigned as the nurse for the reserve, as the regular nurse was going on maternity leave. Her parting words to me were about the Gordon’s Residential School. She said that people including herself had been talking to the police. There was an administrator, William Starr, that was abusing the boys. She said that everyone knew, but the police needed evidence. She said that I was to be on the lookout for any evidence that I could take to the police.

I didn’t go to the residential school very much. They had a nurse’s aide that looked after the kids, first aid for scrapes and cuts, and doctors appointments for follow-up of various issues. I was worried about sex education, as these kids were away from home, and who was teaching them about that? Particularly when there were outstanding allegations about sexual abuse!

I put together a series that I called ‘Growing Up’. It was about changes in the mind and body while a person moves from the childhood to the adolescent stage and beyond. My father-in-law was on the Advisory Board, and I went to ask their permission, which they granted quickly. I was also responsible for Muskowekwan First Nation, and they had a residential school located in Lestock (the reserve boundary is next to the town of Lestock). I requested permission at Muskowekwan and was given permission there too. So, once a week after school, I was set up in the chapel (ironic, eh?) to talk to the kids. The younger kids were very interested, asked questions, and were involved. Some of the older students seemed bored, sitting at the back of the room and being there only because they had to be. I had a model of a uterus and a kit full of contraceptives. The young boys were especially interested in stuff, and would come to the front, ask questions and touch everything!

Gordons Residential School was run by the Anglican church and it too burnt down in 1929 with no deaths reported. Muskowekwan Residential School was run by the Catholic church and it too burned before 1930. Regardless, the schools were rebuilt and filled to capacity!

I also worked a very little bit in Lebret at the Residential School. It was closed by the government years earlier, and had been taken over by the Tribal Council or one of the local First Nations. I forget why I was in there, but I didn’t find the staff very friendly. And then I taught a University class in one of their back buildings. I avoided the main building. This was the time that Lebret had a good hockey team, so some of my students were hockey players. They didn’t do very well in class, and were not motivated in their learning.

Gordons was the last government-operated Residential School to close in 1996. The government tried for years to hand over the school to the reserve, and my father-in-law opposed taking it over. Thank goodness! There have been many lawsuits, as victims of William Starr and other staff come forward. This left the federal government on the hook to settle the lawsuits. We were living on the reserve in 1996, and I have this image in my mind. When they closed the school, they quickly demolished it. My husband was driving me to work, and he seen a bunch of cars near the clinic, so he pulled in there. A big netting had been placed at a great distance, closing off the area. So, these cars were parked at quite a distance, and people were just sitting in their cars watching. A backhoe was knocking down the bricks. My husband got out and went car to car. When he returned, I asked what the people had said. He said that there was very mixed feelings, some were happy that it was finally going to be gone. Some were sad, as they spent their entire life there, going to school, and eventually working in the kitchen or laundry, etc. Some worked there long enough that they got a federal pension!

There has been much written about Residential Schools, so there is lots of information out there. My husband went there to school for 10 years, his parents both went to school there and his grandmother went to Industrial School in Regina. Three generations. Our children went to the school by the Residence, Day School we called it. I remember one day, my kids came home and they said, “Mom, can we live in Residence with our friends?” I said no, that they had parents and didn’t need to live there.

Our marriage suffered from his school experience, ending in divorce. His parenting skills were very poor and ranged from being extremely permissive to mental abuse, calling names along with significant anger, to harsh discipline. We set a rule not to physically spank our kids, and stuck to that pretty well. The community has also suffered from having the school presence there for 100+ years. There was little of their culture left, and individuals and families have been seeking their cultural roots with Elders and ceremonies in other communities.

Lots of healing work that needs to be done to recover from this phase in life. For all. For the students that attended. For their families and their experiences of intergenerational trauma that falls out of that time. For communities that have lost their way, and forgot their original values and live within chaos and lateral violence.

Layer up some colonialism on top of residential schools and you have a very toxic mix. And it’s tough, healing work is hard, involves pain and vulnerability, and grief, and many other bits. But the end result is absolutely worth it – peace, inner peace and outer peace!!