St Philip's Residential School
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St Philip’s Residential School (Kamsack, Saskatchewan) St. Philip’s Residential School was attached to the Fort Pelly Mission and was attended by students from the Cote and Keesekoose Reservations. Father Jules Decorby worked in First Nations communities of the region starting in 1880. The Fort Pelly Mission’s Codex Historicus describes its origins thusly: “This Mission of Saint Philip, formerly called the Fort Pelly Mission (because of the Hudson Bay Company’s Fort) was founded in 1895 by the Rev. Father Jules Decorby, O.M.I., but was visited long before, as far back 1878, by said Father, already a great missionary in Saskatchewan. … During a long, sixteen-year ministry (1895-1911), he gave a strong impetus to the new mission by building a chapel, a school, a store, all sorts of buildings…” (translated from the French). 1902 saw Father Decorby’s relocation of the mission to the midpoint between Fort Pelly and Kamsack. In 1901, the Oblates presented a request to the Indian commissioner for Manitoba and the Northwest Territories to open a residential school near the Keesekoose Reservation. The first boarding school was built there with logs daubed with mortar. It had two stories and measured 45 by 40 feet. Two years later, grants started to arrive from the Canadian government, which provided the institution with a more adequate budget. Initially, teaching was done by lay people: Miss Ouimet, Miss Bédard, and also Miss Ouimet’s replacement Loulou Atwater. In 1905, 5 Sisters of Saint Andrew (Sisters of the Cross) took over teaching. In 1906, the mission began to be called the St Philip Neri Mission and became the region’s post office. In 1908, the Sisters of the Cross left the mission. In 1909, Archbishop Langevin called on the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, who accepted the responsibility of teaching in Fort Pelley’s school in 1910. They only stayed for three years, leaving the mission in 1913. Between 1913 and 1928, the mission ran a day school with teaching provided by lay people approved by the Oblates (L1051 .M27R 31-33). In 1913, nineteen students were attending. The Oblates believed it would be easy to maintain the school with a minimum of 30 or 35 students. In 1928, the day school was closed in favour of a new residential school. Its construction had begun the year before. On March 9th, the Missionary Oblates returned to St Philip and the school opened its doors to 45 students on the 16th of April. School records from 1945 indicate the following: the school’s students came from Anishinaabe families (referred to as Ojibwé, Ojibwa, Saulteux, Sauteux, or Saulteaux in related archival documents); the total number of boarders was 34 boys and 43 girls; the Missionary Oblate Sisters were assisted in the kitchen by an Indigenous girl; the Oblates had a farm, of which a half section belonged to them and a half section belonged to the government, and they relied on the aid of a lay farmer-instructor and two Indigenous farmers. In 1961, the building of a new residential school began, which was inaugurated on May 16th, 1962. According the 1966-1967 report from the Oblates, there was a total of 345 Indigenous students in grades 1 through 8, at the Pelly Indian agency, of which 95 were boarders and 207 were day pupils at St Philip’s, 28 were day pupils at Whitesand, and approximately 20 were day pupils at Key school. June of 1969 saw the closure of St Philip’s Residential School, which was run by the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate. The principals of the school from 1925 to 1969, the period when the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate ran the school, were Conrad Brouillet (1925-1934), Alphonse Paradis (1935-1942), Paul-Émile Tétrault (1942-1947), Adéodat Ruest (1947-1953), Jean Lambert (1953-1955), Raymond Beauregard (1955-1957), Léonard Charron (1957-1963) and Edmond Turenne (1963- 1969) Photographs Cemetery Photograph of Fathers D.E. Tétrault and Paul Bousquet in the cemetery located behind St Philip Church, Saskatchewan, ca. 1945. Fonds Oblats de Marie-Immaculée Province oblate du Manitoba / Délégation Cemetery Cemetery. Fonds Oblats de Marie-Immaculée Province oblate du Manitoba / Délégation Interior of St Philip Church, Saskatchewan Interior of St Philip Church in the 1940’s. Fonds Oblats de Marie-Immaculée Province oblate du Manitoba / Délégation Church, Presbytery, and Skating Rink Photograph of the church, presbytery, and a “skating rink” one winter in St Philip, around 1940. Fonds Oblats de Marie-Immaculée Province oblate du Manitoba / Délégation Aerial View of St Philip Church and Presbytery Aerial View of St Philip Church and presbytery, Saskatchewan, in 1946 Fonds Oblats de Marie-Immaculée Province oblate du Manitoba / Délégation Georges Jeannotte, O.M.I., with a Group of Children at St Philip’s Georges Jeannotte, O.M.I., with a group of children at St Philip’s, Saskatchewan, 1946 Fonds Oblats de Marie-Immaculée Province oblate du Manitoba / Délégation Seminarian Gérard Paris with a Group of Children at St Philip’s, Saskatchewan. Seminarian Gérard Paris with a group of children at St Philip’s, Saskatchewan, in 1946. Fonds Oblats de Marie-Immaculée Province oblate du Manitoba / Délégation Group of Children at St Philip’s Celebrating their First Communion Group of children at St Philip’s celebrating their First Communion in 1946. Fonds Oblats de Marie-Immaculée Province oblate du Manitoba / Délégation Brother Édouard Perron with a Group of Children at St Philip’s, Saskatchewan Brother Édouard Perron with a group of children at St Philip’s, Saskatchewan, circa 1946. Fonds Oblats de Marie-Immaculée Province oblate du Manitoba / Délégation Fathers Paul Bousquet and André Fortier with a Group of First Nations People at Saint Philip’s, Saskatchewan Fathers Paul Bousquet and André Fortier with a group of First Nations people at Saint Philip’s, Saskatchewan, circa 1945. Fonds Oblats de Marie-Immaculée Province oblate du Manitoba / Délégation Group of Oblates by a Saw Mill From right to left: Fathers Omer Robidoux, unidentified, unidentified, Paul-Émile Tétrault, and Georges Jeannotte. They are pictures behind a saw mill at St Philip’s Saskatchewan in the 1940’s Fonds Oblats de Marie-Immaculée Province oblate du Manitoba / Délégation Group of First Nations Children Drinking Tea Group of First Nations children drinking tea, sitting outside at St Philip’s Residential School in Saskatchewan on the 8th of June, 1948. Fonds Oblats de Marie-Immaculée Province oblate du Manitoba / Délégation Group of Boys Group of boys at St Philip’s Residential School in Saskatchewan, circa 1945. Fonds Oblats de Marie-Immaculée Province oblate du Manitoba / Délégation Children Dressed as “Traditional Indians” Group of First Nations children dressed as “traditional Indians”, wearing feather headdresses made of paper in a St Philip’s Residential School classroom. Saskatchewan, May 1960. Fonds Oblats de Marie-Immaculée Province oblate du Manitoba / Délégation Boys Playing in the School Yard Group of boys playing in the school yard at St Philip’s Residential School in Saskatchewan, circa 1950. Fonds Oblats de Marie-Immaculée Province oblate du Manitoba / Délégation Boys Riding a Horse-Drawn Sleigh Group of First Nations boys riding in a horse-drawn sleigh at St Philp’s, Saskatchewan, circa 1945. Fonds Oblats de Marie-Immaculée Province oblate du Manitoba / Délégation Three Girls in Uniform Three young First Nations girls in uniform, photographed outside at St Philip’s Residential School in Saskatchewan, circa 1945. Fonds Oblats de Marie-Immaculée Province oblate du Manitoba / Délégation Hockey Team with Father Paul-Émile Tétrault, O.M.I. The St Philip’s Residential School Hockey team, photographed with Father Père Paul-Émile Tétrault, O.M.I., circa 1945. Fonds Oblats de Marie-Immaculée Province oblate du Manitoba / Délégation Young Girls Wearing Costumes Group of young First Nations girls wearing costumes, probably for a play, at St Philip’s Residential School during the 1930’s. Fonds Oblats de Marie-Immaculée Province oblate du Manitoba / Délégation St Philip’s Residential School after the Expansion St Philip’s Residential School after the expansion. Fonds Oblats de Marie-Immaculée Province oblate du Manitoba / Délégation New St Philip’s Residential School, Under Construction in 1946 New St Philip’s Residential School, under construction in 1946. Fonds Oblats de Marie-Immaculée Province oblate du Manitoba / Délégation Construction Site on Residential School Grounds A construction site on St Philip’s Residential School grounds in Saskatchewan. The first person pictured on the left is Brother J. B. Lacasse, O.M.I. Fonds Oblats de Marie-Immaculée Province oblate du Manitoba / Délégation Children in Front of the First St Philip Residential School First Nations children in front of the first St Philip’s Residential School in Saskatchewan, sometime during the 1930’s. Fonds Oblats de Marie-Immaculée Province oblate du Manitoba / Délégation Boys Writing on a Blackboard in Class First Nations boys learning to write, practicing on a blackboard in class at St Philip’s Residential School in Saskatchewan, in 1960. Fonds Oblats de Marie-Immaculée Province oblate du Manitoba / Délégation Father André Florentin, O.M.I. with a Group of First Nations Cadets Father André Florentin, O.M.I. with a group of First Nations Cadets at St Philip’s in Saskatchewan in 1945. Fonds Oblats de Marie-Immaculée Province oblate du Manitoba / Délégation Young Captain of the Hockey Team, Ready to Play The young First Nations captain of the St Philip’s Residential School hockey team, on the ice and ready to play, circa 1950. Fonds Oblats de Marie-Immaculée Province oblate du Manitoba / Délégation Girls Eating Ice Cream First Nations girls on the back of a truck eating ice cream, St Philip’s Residential School, Saskatchewan, on October 9th, 1943.