The Hay River Missions: St. Peter's and St. Anne's
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THE HAY RIVER MISSIONS: ST. PETER'S AND ST. ANNE'S BY JOAN MATTIE At Hay River, Northwest Territories (figure 1), two excellent examples of mission architecture remain from the period when Anglicans and Roman Catholics were most active in establishing their influence within the Mackenzie River district. St. Peter's Anglican Church, built 1900-09 (figure 2), dates from the middle part of that period, while St. Anne's Roman Catholic Church, built 1938-40 (figure 3 ), dates from near the end of it. The churches' influence was well in place after this time, though there was a shift in concentration, with the Anglicans consolidating their position farther north, above the Arctic Circle. A number of circumstances conspired to isolate the Hay River missions at an increasingly abandoned site, now part of the Dene Indian Reserve across and downstream from the modem town of Hay River (figure 4). Nevertheless, the missions are valued and well cared for by members of the reserve, who are working on plans to incorporate them into an interpretive scheme oriented to both tourists and their own nation. 17:4 SSAC BULLETIN SEAC 97 Figure 1 (above). Northwestern Canada, showing the THE HISTORY OF THE SITE location of Hay River, Northwest Territories. At the turn of the 20th century, Hay River was at the approximate centre of the longest in land water route on the North American continent, some 2,500 miles of connected river and Figure 2 (right). St. Peter's Anglican Church, Hay River lake from Athabasca Landing (about 100 miles north of Edmonton) to the Beaufort Sea. On Indian Reserve, N. W. T., constructed 1900-09. (Hay the south shore of Great Slave Lake, at the mouth of the Hay River, the settlement by that River Dene Band, 1991) name was a stopping place for travellers coming up the Athabasca, Slave and Mackenzie Previous page: A wedding party at Hay River, n.d. River systems. In addition, it had long been a gathering place for summer fishing among (Runyard/N. W. T. Archives, N89-011 /43) Dene tribes in the region, most notably the Slavey. The advantages of the site made it attractive for the establishment of both a Hudson's Bay Company post and a Christian mission. However, the first attempts at these in the late 1860s were not successful, largely because of the seasonal nature of the native occu pation. Yet the seeds of Euro-American culture and religion had been sown. A small group of Slaveys did begin to stay at Hay River, facilitated by their newly-acquired skills in agriculture. In 1893, under leadership of Chief Chantla, the band petitioned for a resident mis sionary. The Anglican church responded by sending young Thomas Jabez Marsh, a recent graduate of Wycliffe College in Toronto. At first Marsh was primarily occupied with basic sur vival, but found time to set up a small school for five local boys. Two years later students from the mission at Fort Resolution were transferred to his care. In the late 1890s others came from as far north as Wrigley and Fort Norman (mid-way between Hay River and the Arctic coast), and as far south as Fort Chipewyan (now in Alberta).1 Mission accommodations during these early years were crude. Some improvement came with the arrival of hundreds of gold-seekers on their way to the Klondike in 1898. Full of high spirits, they gave Marsh a hand with his tasks, including the construction of a new building. Perhaps more importantly, the Klondikers influenced the natives to learn English, countering a widely-held opinion that "in the outside world French was the accepted lan guage of the white man and ... only the degraded and debased spoke English."2 This belief, introduced by Oblate missionaries, was one of many evidences of rivalry between the Roman Catholics and Anglicans in their struggle to gain influence among the na tive population in the North. In many locations they established missions in the same settle I Alfred J. Vale, Historical Sketch of the Origin and Work ments, competing for converts among the same people. In fact, such competition had given of the Hay River Mission, Great Slnve Lake, N. W T rise to the first mission at Hay River. It was established by the Roman Catholics in response (Toronlo: Women's Auxiliary, Anglican Church, c. to stated intentions by the famous Anglican missionary William Carpenter Bompas. He had 1956(, 6. Sec also David A. Harrison, "Hay River, NWT, 1800-1950: A Geographical Sludy ofSilc and wanted to build an orphanage here, close to the newly-opened HBC post, but difficulties in Silualion," Ph.D. lhcsis, Univcrsily of Albena, 1984, tervened and it failed to materialize. Intended to help children made destitute by the epi 139-44. demics sweeping through the Mackenzie Valley in the mid-1860s, it would have matched the 2 Agnes Deans Cameron, 1he New North: An Account of Roman Catholic school and orphanage built during 1863-64 at Fort Providence a relatively a Woman's 1908 l oumey Through CMada to the Arctic, short distance away. 3 rev. cd., cd. David R. Richeson (Saskaloon: Wcslcrn The abandonment of the first Roman Catholic church at Hay River and Marsh's Producer Prairie Books, 1986), 39. Sec also Vale, 23- 24. efforts in the 1890s represented a second chance for the Anglicans in this location. The 3 Sec Raymond Hue I, "Early Oblalc Missions in I he success of those efforts was manifest in Slavey-initiated plans for a proper church building in 4 Ca nadian Norlhwcsl: The Evolulion of a Missionary 190 I, with Marsh promising only to "help" construct it. St. Peter's, a church of considerable Slralcgy," Vie Oblate Life 48, no. 2 (Augusl 1989): 244. vernacular charm, was the result. It still stands, in good condition, on the Hay River Dene 4 Vale, 39. Reserve. 98 SSAC BULLETIN SEAC 17:4 Figure 3 (top left). St. Anne's Roman Catholic Church, Hay River Indian Reserve, N. W. T., constructed 1938·40. (Hay River Dene Band, 1991) Figure 4 (above). The Hay River Indian Reserve, showing the mission sites on either end of the "Old Dene Village,· the newer Hay River Dene Village, and the current town of Hay River. (Nada Putnik, Maquette & Anuri Architects) Figure 5 (bottom left). The Anglican mission at Hay River, about 1925. From left to right: the church, the residential school built in 1916, a log warehouse, and the isolation hospital built in 1917. (National Archives [NA], C-8942) Seven years after it was completed in 1909, the church was joined by a large new residential school (figure 5), built under the direction of Reverend Alfred James Vale (later Canon Vale), Marsh's successor. Possibly the most imposing structure in the Northwest Ter ritories at the time,5 and capable of accommodating over 50 students, it was designed by the Toronto firm ofL.R. Jarvis.6 Since it was within the geographical limits of Treaty No. 8, signed locally in 1900, the school was eligible for federal government grants, which were ap plied both to its construction and to its operation.7 This funding was only one of a number of favourable factors that influenced the 5 Harrison, 164. Anglican mission's development at Hay River as an educational centre for the Diocese of Mackenzie. Also important were the abundant fish stocks at the mouth of the Hay River and 6 Blueprints of the plans are at the Provincial Archives of Alberta, MR200(70, 70a. Another set by Jarvis, in Great Slave Lake, and the relatively good conditions for agriculture. Both enabled a fairly though not followed in the actual building. is held at high degree of self-sufficiency. Hay River's location on the water route north from Athabasca the Anglican Church of Canada Archives, Toronto, Landing (reached by way of wagon trains out of E dmonton) further contributed to its suc M71·4, Box 9. Still another se~ by the Toronto firm of cess, ensuring reliable communication and supply links, and links with other northern com Gordon & Helliwell and dated April1912, is in the private collection of David Harrison, at Hay River. munities as well-the latter important in drawing students from far-flung places. 7 The geographic limits of the treaty extended from the During the heyday of the Anglican mission, roughly from 1900 to 1940, the com south shore of Great Slave Lake into northwest Alber· munity around St. Peter's church and residential school was a bustling, thriving place. Mission ta and northeast British Columbia. Harrison, 140. journals and archival photographs record a considerable amount of river traffic- scows, 8 Air mail commenced on 25 January 1929. The regular· 8 steamboats, tugs and barges, smaller boats, and, later, float planes (figure 5). The large gar ly scheduled airplanes that served as carriers also den was another centre of activity, as was the log warehouse for storing food throughout the brought orders from mail-order houses, as well as long winter months. other freigh~ medical assistance, and passengers. David A Harrison, A History of the Ang/ictur Church, The Roman Catholics re-established a mission in 1900 beyond the adjacent Dene Hay River, Northwest Territories (n.p.: D.A Harrison, village to the north, building first a mission house and then a piece-sur-piece squared log c. 1988), 16. 17:4 SSAC BULLETIN SEAC 99 church (figure 6). In addition, the HBC returned to its property immediately north of St. Peter's in 1901. It had erected a small compound of buildings by 1914 (figure 7), at which time a post office was inaugurated.9 A small eight-bed isolation hospital came in 1917 (run by 10 Figure 6 (right).