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Ontario History
“The New Generation” Cooperative Education at the Day School on Dalles 38C Indian Reserve, 1890-1910 Brittany Luby and Kathryn Labelle
Women and Education Article abstract Volume 107, Number 1, Spring 2015 Modern research into Aboriginal education focuses on the de-culturation, physical, and emotional abuse that Indigenous students experienced at school. URI: https://id.erudit.org/iderudit/1050680ar This focus results, in part, from an emphasis on sources written by settlers, DOI: https://doi.org/10.7202/1050680ar which detail little of the lived experience of Indigenous students. Using a series of interviews conducted in Kenora, Ontario, with the Anishinabek woman See table of contents Matilda (Ogimaamaashiik) Martin of Dalles 38C Indian Reserve, this paper examines that lived experience and concludes that Aboriginal education was more collaborative than has been described, particularly before the enforcement of aggressive civilization. This collaboration, however, occurred Publisher(s) in the context of ongoing colonial incursions in to Aboriginal land and life, The Ontario Historical Society which gradually edged out Aboriginal forms of education.
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Cite this article Luby, B. & Labelle, K. (2015). “The New Generation”: Cooperative Education at the Day School on Dalles 38C Indian Reserve, 1890-1910. Ontario History, 107(1), 88–110. https://doi.org/10.7202/1050680ar
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This article is disseminated and preserved by Érudit. Érudit is a non-profit inter-university consortium of the Université de Montréal, Université Laval, and the Université du Québec à Montréal. Its mission is to promote and disseminate research. https://www.erudit.org/en/ 88 ONTARIO HISTORY “The New Generation” Cooperative Education at the Day School on Dalles 38C Indian Reserve, 1890-19101
by Brittany Luby and Kathryn Labelle Original Interviews by George Beatty (1972) Original Transcriptions by Dorothy Lavergne McLay (1987)
Introduction: From One Generation to the Next he written history of ‘Indigenous’2 Kenora, Ontario, with Matilda (Ogi- Teducation is lopsided. Most sources maamaashiik) Martin of Dalles 38C In- were produced by settlers,3 with govern- dian Reserve. ment documents, Indian agent reports In 1972, as the hot summer sun beat and church records forming the bulk against the brick of Pinecrest Nursing of written records. Yet, there has been a Home, Ogimaamaashiik’s interview took concerted effort to incorporate accounts place. Inside the nursing home, a spider emphasizing Indigenous perspectives dangled from an underused chair in the and experiences. Often these sources are lobby. Further down the hall, in a room not obvious, coming to light as a result whose number has been forgotten, sat an of family or community ties and strict Anishinabek enthusiast named George research protocols. One example of this Beatty with a tape recorder.4 He faced a is a series of interviews conducted in toothless elder in a floral patterned dress,
1 This article has benefitted from the helpful insight of several people and organizations. The authors would like to thank the peer-reviewers of Ontario History for their careful reading and encouragement; Eva Prkachin for asking critical questions and identifying comma splices; and, the Lake of the Woods Dis- trict Museum for providing images that help to bring Matilda and her family to life. 2 This article employs the term “Indigenous” to represent the First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples of Canada, while recognizing that it is often viewed as synonymous with alternative labels such as Aborigi- nal and Native. 3 This article uses the term “settler” to describe non-Indigenous actors who are often described as Euro-Canadians or colonizers. 4 George Beatty was a journalist for the Daily Miner and News who interviewed Ogiimaamaashiik to
Ontario History / Volume CVII, No. 1 / Spring 2015
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polyester—which doesn’t need to be pressed—who called Abstract herself Matilda Mar- Modern research into Aboriginal education focuses on the de-culturation, tin. Years before, as a physical, and emotional abuse that Indigenous students experienced at school. This focus results, in part, from an emphasis on sources written by set- child growing up on tlers, which detail little of the lived experience of Indigenous students. Using Dalles 38C Indian Re- a series of interviews conducted in Kenora, Ontario, with the Anishinabek serve, she was known woman Matilda (Ogimaamaashiik) Martin of Dalles 38C Indian Re- as , serve, this paper examines that lived experience and concludes that Aborigi- Ogimaamaashiik nal education was more collaborative than has been described, particularly “A Proud Beautiful before the enforcement of aggressive civilization. This collaboration, how- Bird in Flight.” George ever, occurred in the context of ongoing colonial incursions in to Aboriginal pressed down on the land and life, which gradually edged out Aboriginal forms of education.
button etched with the Résumé: La recherche récente sur l’éducation aborigène s’intéresse surtout à ‘record’ symbol. Matil- la déculturation et aux sévices physiques et psychologiques subis par les élèves da breathed deeply and autochtones à l’école. Cette orientation s’explique en partie par l’utilisation began to speak in her de sources écrites par des colons, qui donnent peu de détails sur le vécu réel des élèves indigènes. Cet article, basé sur des entrevues tenues à Kenora, broken English. Later, Ontario, avec une femme anishinabek, Matilda (Ogimaamaashiik) Mar- Matilda’s niece, Dor- tin, de la Réserve Dalles 38C, examine cette expérience vécue et arrive à othy Lavergne McLay, la conclusion que l’éducation aborigène était bien plus collabortive qu’on ne le pense généralement, surtout avant l’introduction d’une politique would diligently tran- d’assimilation agressive. Cependant, cette collaboration doit être emvisagée scribe the recordings al- dans le contexte de la pénétration coloniale dans les terres et dans la vie des lowing for greater access Aborigènes, qui peu à peu a exclu les formes aborigènes d’éducation. and preservation.5 Two decades passed before these documents came into the lan (Ogemah) Luby. It was through these possession of Matilda’s great-great grand- written words that Luby came to know daughter, Brittany Luby, one of the au- the woman her family called, “Grandma, thors of this article, through her father Al- Great-Grandma Martin.”6 Subsequently
produce a series of articles on Anishinabek life in the Kenora area. He worked with a female assistant who is believed to be Jillian Torrie. Dorothy Lavergne McLay explains, “George Beatty did the question and an- swer manuscripts. When I found [out that] they were in existence—I found [out] when he was still living. And, I contacted him: ‘I heard you have this information.’ And, I asked ‘Is it free for everyone? Will you let me have it?’ He said [that] it was free for everyone. So, I made copies for everyone. For different people. Family” (Dorothy Lavergne McLay, telephone interview by Brittany Luby, Toronto, 2 October 2011). 5 Dorothy Lavergne McLay is Ogiimaamaashiik Martin’s niece, the daughter of Ogiimaamaashiik’s half-brother. She is an Anishinabek woman from Dalles 38C (Ochiichagwe’babigo’ining). After a long teaching career, McLay has retired in Kenora. 6 Allan (Ogemah) Luby of the Caribou (atik) clan was born and raised in Kenora. Allan acted as Councillor for Dalles 38C (Ochiichagwe’babigo’ining) for a total of ten years. He was re-elected to council six times after launching his political career in 1988. Allan also acted as chief for two terms. He now func- tions as a community advisor, having focused his energies in local development as executive director for Bimose Tribal Council (www.bimose.ca).
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she entrusted her friend and colleague Anishinabek Education Kathryn Labelle with these precious Narratives: An Alternative to documents for research purposes. Their analysis, provided here, is an attempt to “Aggressive Civilization” decipher these sources in order to better gimaamaashiik’s memoirs provide understand Matilda (Ogimaamaashiik) Oan interesting opportunity to ex- Martin’s world. More specifically, Luby plore Anishinabek educational goals and Labelle believe that these documents at the day school on Dalles 38C Indian deliver an important window into the Reserve, located across the Ontario bor- history of education on Dalles 38C In- der approximately 225 kilometres east of dian Reserve, in present-day Ontario, Winnipeg, Manitoba, at the turn of the and early cooperative education models twentieth century. Ogimaamaashiik at- within Indigenous communities. Indeed, tended day school at the same time that the broader narratives of colonialism and federally-employed Indian agents were resistance were being played out in the establishing an educational policy known field of education during Ogimaamaashi- as “aggressive civilization.” The principal ik’s youth. Re-imagined through a child’s feature of this educational policy was the eyes, re-imagined again through the eyes residential school.7 The residential school of the adult that child grew into, re-im- system separated Indigenous children agined yet again through the interviewer, from their families and communities.8 translator, and finally through scholars, Removed from the supposedly “insalu- Ogimaamaashiik’s interviews allow read- brious influences of home,” Indigenous ers to better see the decline of Indig- children were boarded and taught in fed- enous-settler partnerships through the erally-funded facilities.9 Once there, they schoolhouse. were to “acquire the habits and tastes…of
7 Nicholas Flood Davin qtd. in We Were Taught Differently,edited by Lori Nelson (Kenora, ON: Lake of the Woods District Museum) in association with NeChee Friendship Centre and Lake of the Woods Ojibway Cultural Centre. Published in conjunction with the exhibition We Were Taught Differ- ently (2008), shown at the Lake of the Woods District Museum, 4. 8 In 1920, Duncan Campbell Scott, Deputy Superintendent of Indian Affairs, required that Indig- enous children from seven to fifteen years-old attend residential school. Should parents withhold their children from federal agents, penalties like jail-time could be enforced by the state. This change in federal legislation resulted in the forcible separation of many Indigenous youth from their families. It is important to note, however, that in some instances, families still voluntarily handed over their children in hopes that they would achieve a quality Western education. On Dalles 38C Indian Reserve, the vast majority of separations before 1950 were forced because a precedent for cooperative education had been established on-site with Kipling’s day school. For more information on changing attendance policies, please see “Re- search Timeline,” We Are the Children,
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civilized peoples” under the tutelage of Delving deeper into the implemen- Christian administrators.10 tation and personal experiences of par- In 1996, historian J.R. Miller pro- ticipants of residential schools, scholar vided the first comprehensive account of Hope MacLean has outlined that “rev- Canada’s residential school system.11 He elations of abuse and incompetence in unveiled records of violent and sexual as- residential schools make the early history saults, introducing the “misfits, perverts, of Aboriginal education seem like an and sadists” who claimed guardianship unmitigated experience of horror.” Ma- over their pupils.12 Settler-written histo- cLean responded to preoccupations with ries had long glossed over the violence the failure of federally-funded learning engendered in Indigenous education— facilities by asking, “… was it always so?”15 physical, emotional, and sexual violence Her research suggests that there was a that reinforced the broader violence of moment when Indigenous education Indigenous disempowerment in Canada. could have developed along cooperative, But, Miller revealed federal failure on a rather than coercive, lines. An outlier in massive scale to meaningfully educate the historical narrative of Indigenous Indigenous children. Shortly thereafter, education, MacLean based her analysis John S. Milloy published A National upon experimental Methodist schools in Crime: The Canadian Government and Upper Canada (now Southern Ontario). the Residential School System, 1879 to Ogimaamaashiik’s memoirs encourage us 1986. Milloy’s title aptly captures his to ask the same questions in Anishinabek condemnation of the residential school territories north of Georgian Bay. Her system, articulating a story of cultural testimony allows us to consider educa- genocide.13 Combined, Miller and Mil- tional possibilities at Dalles 38C Indian loy set the critical tone of Indigenous Reserve prior to the establishment of the education scholarship for the following local residential schools of St. Mary’s In- decades.14 dian Residential School (1897) and Ce-
10 Sir Hector Langevin qtd. in We Were Taught Differently,4. 11 J.R. Miller, Shingwauk’s Vision: A History of Native Residential Schools (Toronto, ON: University of Toronto Press, 1996). 12 Brian Maracle, Review of J.R. Miller’s Shingwauk’s Vision: A History of Native Residential Schools, in Quill & Quire,
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cilia Jeffrey Residential School (1902). and St. Mary’s Indian Residential School A pivotal moment in both local and (Catholic).17 Ogimaamaashiik’s personal national Native-Newcomer relations, reflections provide an alternative to set- Ogimaamaashiik’s student experience tler-dominated studies that are heavily demonstrates her community’s vision invested in creating the appearance that for Anishinabek education—one that settler efforts to “civilize” Indigenous hinged on cooperative knowledge build- children were working and worthwhile ing rather than the aggressive policies of and that Euro-colonial ways of educat- assimilation that were eventually imple- ing, and living would inevitably dominate mented by the Canadian government. and wash out the ways of Indigenous life. As seen through Ogimaamaashiik’s From the 1890s to approximately 1906, life story, the Anishinabek vision gave a federally-funded day school opened its way within one generation to rigid West- doors to Anishinabek youth. Under the ern traditions and residential schools; its tutelage of John Kipling Senior, a mixed- implementation was not a foregone con- blood lay missionary, Ogimaamaashiik clusion when Ogimaamaashiik’s grandfa- and her peers learned English in a co- ther, Chief Katiwasung, agreed to Treaty operative environment. While it is criti- #3 in 1873.16 Historians writing on edu- cal to maintain sight of how the Crown cation in the Treaty #3 District in north- failed (and still fails) to uphold its treaty western Ontario and southeastern Mani- education promise, Ogimaamaashiik’s toba, much like Miller and Milloy, have school memories allow us to imagine associated Indigenous education with how that treaty promise may have been bureaucratic and, ultimately, physical and conceived by its Indigenous signatories sexual violence. Published texts predomi- and complicates the common contem- nantly discuss administrative practices porary claim that the Crown’s educa- and student experience at Cecilia Jeffrey tion promise failed definitively in the Indian Residential School (Presbyterian) Treaty #3 District.18 Ogimaamaashiik’s 16 For further information about the differing interpretations of Treaty #3 held by Anishinabek treaty signatories and crown agents, please see Brittany Luby, “’The Department is going back on these Promises’: An examination of Anishina[bek] and Crown Understandings of Treaty” Canadian Journal of Native Studies, 30:2 (2010), 203-228. 17 Victoria Freeman, Distant Relations: How My Ancestors Colonized North America (McClelland & Stewart, 2002); Freeman, “Voices of the Parents: The Shoal Lake Anishinabe and Cecilia Jeffrey Indian Residential School, 1902 – 1929,” in Jill Oakes, ed., Native Voices in Research (Winnipeg: Native Studies Press, University of Manitoba, 2003); We Were Taught Differently; Residential Schools: The Red Lake Story (Red Lake: Red Lake Heritage Centre), published in conjunction with the exhibition Residential Schools: The Red Lake Story(2006), shown at the Virtual Museum OH spring 2015.indd 92 15/03/2015 3:33:16 PM co-operative education on dalles 38c 93 school memories reveal that Indigenous digenous histories. Many First Nation ways of knowing could and did compli- communities record their history orally ment Western instructional methods in rather than through literary tradition.19 the classroom. Without her example, we In turn, the process of transcribing in- risk obscuring an educational “middle terviews requires specific protocols. This ground” where children and educators was one of the greatest challenges in alike brought their cultural baggage into terms of working with Ogimaamaashiik’s the classroom and unpacked it (albeit on oral testimony as the ability to decipher unequal terms) to learn together. the data in a respectful and ethical way remained a major preoccupation. Ulti- Finding Ogimaamaashiik’s mately questions concerning translation, Voice: Sources and interpretation and presentation became the focus. In the original transcript, Ogi- Methodology maamaashiik’s words are presented as Ogimaamaashiik’s oral testimony makes prosaic blocks. Periods and commas are a significant contribution to the litera- used; indentation is not. Large blocks ture on Indigenous education by giving a of text are separated by headers: “Inter- firsthand account of the lived experience viewer” and Beatty’s questions. McLay’s at Dalles 38C Reserve Day School. Al- paragraphing subsumes Ogimaamaashi- though oral testimonies have been recog- ik’s thick Anishinaabe accent and the nized as legitimate and useful historical cadence of her speech. Pauses and em- sources in general, they are particularly phases in the spoken word did not trans- beneficial in terms of understanding In- late onto paper; therefore it was hard to uploads/2011/11/We-Have-Kept-Our-Part-Of-The-Treaty-Booklet.pdf> (accessed 14 November 2014). 19 This is not to downplay Anishinabek forms of writing in the Treaty #3 District. Archeologist Grace Rajnovich has studied regional pictographs as a form of “picture writing” rather than “rock art.” For more information on “picture writing,” please see Grace, Rajnovich, Reading Rock Art: Interpreting the Indian Rock Paintings of the Canadian Shield (Toronto: Dundurn, 2002). Birch bark scrolls also existed in the Treaty #3 District. Birch bark scrolls were etched with picture symbols and used as teaching devices. To learn more about this form of Anishinabek writing please see Selwyn Dewdney, The Sacred Scrolls of the Southern Ojibway (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1975). See also Joan M. Vastokas, “Ojibwa Pic- tograph: The Origin of Writing and the Rise of Social Complexity,”Ontario Archaeology 75 (2003), 3-16. As indicated, however, oral testimony was the dominant form of history-keeping in the Treaty #3 District. For more on the methodology of oral history and its importance to Indigenous history see: Sophie Mc- Call, “Amplified Voices: Rebecca Belmore’s Reinvention of Recording Technologies in the Transmission of Aboriginal Oral Traditions,” in Renee Hulan and Renate Eigenbrod, eds., Aboriginal Oral Traditions: Theory, Practice and Ethics (Halifax: Fernwood, 2008), 99-112; Lenora Ledwon, “Native American Life Stories and ‘Authorship’: Legal and Ethical Issues,” American Indian Quarterly, 21:4 (1997), 579-93; Julie Cruikshank, “Oral Tradition and Oral History,” Canadian Historical Review, 75:3 (1994),403-418; Drew Mildon, “A Bad Connection: First Nations Oral Histories in the Canadian Courts,” in Hulan and Eigen- brod, eds. Aboriginal Oral Traditions, 79-98; Jennifer S.H. Brown, “Doing Aboriginal History: A View from Winnipeg,” Canadian Historical Review, 84:4 (2003), 33-44; Steven High, Oral History at the Cross- roads: Sharing Life Stories of Survival and Displacement (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2014). OH spring 2015.indd 93 15/03/2015 3:33:16 PM 94 ONTARIO HISTORY hear Ogimaamaashiik while reading her school, selling a loaf of bread, pumping memoirs. Julie Cruikshank has identified gas, or sitting down for tea. Luby worked similar formatting issues when working to recreate the tone and feel of her great- with Athapaskan and Tlingit Elders in grandmother’s speech. By restructuring what is now known as Yukon Territory.20 prosaic blocks into poetic stanzas, print When reflecting on her grandmother’s became “a medium through which oral original transcripts, Carol Lawson (nee ways of knowing [could] be preserved Carol Kipling) suggested “there seemed and expressed.”24 to be some hesitancy in grandmas [sic] Ultimately the authors edited Ogi- answers” – a deviation from the “inter- maamaashiik’s transcripts to produce esting, sharp, and alert” woman that three thematic poems. An ellipsis (...) Carol “found her to be.”21 The transcripts indicates where a word (or words) have seemed a physical embodiment of scholar been cut because they are deemed to in- Linda Tuhiwai Smith’s critique of history terrupt narrative flow. A four-period el- as a totalizing discourse.22 Ogimaamaash- lipsis (....), by contrast, means that a large iik’s voice was blocked in by one-inch section of the interview has been cut— margins, and by Western conventions of usually a reference to earlier material history-writing as prose. Her identity as or the beginning of a new story. Square an Anishinaabemowin -speaker and sto- brackets ([]) are used to draw attention ry-teller was lost. While the authors of to inserted words, correct verb tense or this article never knew Ogimaamaashiik, clarify sentences—material contained in they restructured her memoirs to capture the square brackets is of our own making, an accent that is more reflective of Ogi- not Ogimaamaashiik’s. An asterix (*) in- maamaashiik’s culture. Inspired by Métis dicates that material from elsewhere in scholar and writer Maria Campbell, the interview record has been inserted Brittany Luby “wrote it as I heard it.”23 into the piece. This meant deconstructing the written Book-ending oral testimony, that has words of Ogimaamaashiik to reflect the been relayed in stanzas with essay-format familiar language of her Anishinabek analyses, as has been done in this article, community. This was based on Luby’s has its shortcomings. Separating “analy- own experiences whether it was going to sis” from “testimony,” positions the “edi- 20 Julie Cruikshank, Life Lived Like a Story (Vancouver: UBC Press, 1990), 18. 21 Carol Lawson, e-mail message to author, 3 October 2011. 22 Linda Tuhiwai Smith, Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples (New York: Zed Books Ltd., 1999), 33. 23 As a story collector and translator, Campbell opted to format Metis stories, where appropriate, as verse to stylistically imitate speech patterns. For further reading, please see Maria Campbell, Stories of the Road Allowance People (Penticton: Theytus Press, 1995). 24 Warren Cariou, “‘We Use Dah Membering’: Oral Memory in Metis Short Stories,” in Marta Dvorák and W.H. New, eds., Tropes and Territories: Short Fiction, Postcolonial Readings, Canadian Writ- ings in Context (Kingston and Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2007), 201. OH spring 2015.indd 94 15/03/2015 3:33:16 PM co-operative education on dalles 38c 95 tor” as “expert” and reduces informants bek education history. This article will to larynges: informants become more explore the educational “middle ground,” like organs involved in sound production highlighting the establishment of Dalles than “experts” in their own right. Despite 38C Indian Reserve’s day school and the these dangers, the authors maintain that enrollment of Anishinabek youth, as well poetic structure is the best mode of trans- as the unique model of cooperative edu- mission for oral testimonies—primarily cation that developed (albeit temporar- because stanzas dissociate readers from ily) at Dalles 38C Indian Reserve—but the process of academic reading and, first we must meet the Ogimaamaashiik perhaps more importantly, editing. Luby herself. consciously rearranged Ogimaamaashi- ik’s words into poetic form to reproduce Matilda Josephine her speech pattern. And, in so doing, Lavergne Kipling Martin: Luby selected a structure that readers may more readily associate with “creative writ- Ogimaamaashiik ing” and, by extension, “creative reading.” n 29 April 1885, Ogimaamaashiik Given that McLay based Ogimaamaashi- Owas borne to Benjamin Lavergne, ik’s memoirs on audio recordings, gram- a French woodsman from Three Rivers, matical errors that Ogimaamaashiik may Manitoba, and Mary Lindsay, an Ani- have identified in writing were amplified. shinabek woman from Dalles 38C Indian Poetic structure allowed us to break rules Reserve (now Ochiichagwe’babigo’ining of punctuation, thus decreasing the risk Ojibwa Nation), Ontario, a reservation of readers conflating Ogimaamaashiik’s on the Winnipeg River. On 22 June quality of speech with form. The non-se- 1885, Reverend Jean-Baptiste Baudin, mantic (rhythm and structure) now helps an Oblate priest at Notre-Dame-du-Por- readers to grasp the semantic (meaning) tage in Kenora, Ontario, baptized Ogi- by challenging their expectation of what maamaashiik as “Josephine Lavergne.”26 the written word ought to look like. Ogimaamaashiik’s mother died Readers are encouraged to focus on Ogi- while she was still an infant and so Ogi- maamaashiik’s words, not her sentence maamaashiik was left in the care of Chief structure. Words become “precious in Thomas (Katiwasung) Lindsay and Jane themselves,” forcing the reader “to move Lindsay, her maternal grandparents. more deeply into the world [that] they re- Benjamin Lavergne’s whereabouts is un- fer to.”25 Consequently, what follows are known and she did not include them in three poems based on Ogimaamaashiik’s any of her interviews. Ogimaamaashiik’s oral testimony, with an analysis that seeks explanation of her parents’ encounter to clarify our understanding of Anishina- follows a pattern of what scholars view 25 Terry Eagleton, How to Read a Poem (Toronto: Wiley-Blackwell, 2007), 69. 26 “Birth and Baptism Record: Ogiimaamaashiik Martin,” 1885, Church of Notre-Dame-du-Portage, Kenora. OH spring 2015.indd 95 15/03/2015 3:33:17 PM 96 ONTARIO HISTORY Figure I: Chief Katiwasung Lindsay and his wife, Jane Lindsay, of Dalles 38C30 From left to right: Katiwasung, Jane, and an unidentified man Ogimaamaashiik’s childhood, unlike her birth, challenged cultur- al patterns especially in terms of her education. A little short of a decade before her birth, Nicholas Flood Davin submitted his 1879 Report as “interracial unions” that were “nor- on Industrial Schools for Indians and mal adjuncts to fur trade social life.”27 Half-Breeds to Prime Minister Sir John Indeed, interracial unions were so com- A. Macdonald. Davin recommended that mon among Hudson’s Bay and North- children — like Ogimaamaashiik — be West Company traders that by 1821, “kept constantly within the circle of civi- and as Ogimaamaashiik explains, “There lized conditions,” spurring the establish- were no white women in Kenora. So, the ment of residential schools across Canada white men in Kenora had to marry Indi- in the 1880s.31 Yet, Ogimaamaashiik was an girls and that’s what my father did.”28 raised on-reserve at Dalles 38C and at- Given traders’ frequent abandonment of tended day school. Her life was shaped their Indian families, it seems likely that by this experience on multiple levels. At Benjamin Lavergne adhered to the cul- nineteen, Ogimaamaashiik married the tural norm of the region.29 “half-breed”32 school master, John Ki- 27 Jennifer S.H. Brown, Strangers in Blood: Fur Trade Company Families in Indian Country (Vancou- ver: University of British Columbia Press, 1980), 51. 28 Ogiimaamaashiik Martin, interview by George Beatty, Kenora, ON, circa June 1972. 29 Perhaps one of the greatest indicators of the widespread abandonment of Indigenous families by Euro-originated fur traders is the formation of Red River Colony in 1812. As Alexander Ross (1856) explained, “Lord Selkirk [intended to] form a society of the indigenous and the Company’s old servants, together with their half-breed descendants” (qtd. in Brown, Strangers in Blood, vi) to provide an alterna- tive to family dissolution upon completion of an HBC contract. Prior to its formation, geography largely prevented lifelong relationships. That stated social custom also facilitated Euro-originated traders’ aban- donment of their Indigenous wives. Discussing the practice of Nor’Westers prior to 1821, Van Kirk notes that “[t]hey did not view marriage as a lifetime contract…. On the contrary, observers from both compa- nies reported that an Indian woman who had lived with and borne children to a white man could expect a hearty welcome back into her tribe” (46). Christine Welsh explores the family scars left by abandonment in the filmWomen in the Shadows; see: Norma Bailey, Director, Women in the Shadows, 1991. See also Brown, Strangers in Blood; Sylvia Van Kirk, Many Tender Ties: Women in Fur-Trade Society, 1670-1870 (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1980). 30 Unknown, 976.29.120 Old-Timers, Lake of the Woods Museum, Kenora, ON. 31 Nicholas Flood Davin, “Report on Industrial Schools for Indians and Half-Breeds,” Canadian Adaptations of Shakespeare Project, OH spring 2015.indd 96 15/03/2015 3:33:17 PM co-operative education on dalles 38c 97 pling, who worked at Dalles 38C. Her fished and trapped fifty-six kilometres grandfather, Chief Katiwasung, arranged outside of Kenora at Sandy Lake. Her the marriage, but allowed Ogimaamaash- grandparents disapproved of the mar- iik to affirm his choice. She explains, “My riage, stating, “You don’t know what grandfather chose the man for me to mar- you [are] marrying, you know, marry- ry and it took me a whole year to make up ing [a] White man.”38 They had hoped my mind…. I never had any boyfriends.”33 Ogimaamaashiik would marry Charlie After her marriage, Ogimaamaashiik Savage, an Anishinabek widower from worked alongside her husband in the day the Treaty #3 District. Her family’s dis- school. The Department of Indian Affairs approval culminated in an attempt to transferred neither teacher nor student to dissuade the minister from marrying the work in the recently established residen- couple. Unfortunately, Ogimaamaashiik tial schools in the Kenora District.34 In had eloped by the time her grandparents May 1905, Ogimaamaashiik gave birth reached the chapel. The next twenty-five to her first son, John Kipling Jr. Within years was a constant struggle with an abu- a year, John Kipling Sr. died of pneumo- sive husband—Ogimaamaashiik nearly nia.35 Ogimaamaashiik and her son “went lost her life to hæmorrhaging more than back to the old people [her grandparents] once. Despite her dissatisfaction with the then.”36 union, she raised four daughters—Ann, When John Kipling Jr. reached three Harriet, Hazel, and Mary—and two years of age, Ogimaamaashiik remarried. sons—Ben and Edward Jr.—with Mar- Her second husband, Edward Martin, tin.39 While Ogimaamaashiik may have “looked like a real White man.”37 He liked to raise John Kipling Jr. with her Manitoba. She explains, “Those Kiplings from Selkirk, they were same like, they were [S]cotch and halfbreeds like. I think their father was Englishman…. Their mother then was an Indian.” Please see Ogii- maamaashiik Martin, interview III by George Beatty, transcriptions by Dorothy Lavergne McLay (1987), Kenora, 11 July 1972. 33 Ogiimaamaashiik Martin, interview I by George Beatty, Kenora, circa June 1972. 34 In 1897, the Oblate Order of Mary Immaculate founded St. Mary’s Indian Residential School ad- jacent to Rat Portage Reserve, Ontario. This learning facility was located approximately three kilometres south of Kenora. In 1902, Cecilia Jeffrey Indian Residential School was opened at Shoal Lake Reserve #39. The Women’s Missionary Society of the Presbyterian Church managed the school at the time of its opening. In 1929, the Department of Indian Affairs opened an off-reservation facility, transferring existing students to town. The new facility was established on the north shore of Round Lake near Kenora. For more information, please see: We Were Taught Differently. 35 Death Record: John Kipling,” 3 February 1906, Diocese of Keewatin, Kenora, Ontario. 36 Ogiimaamaashiik Martin, interview V by George Beatty, transcriptions by Dorothy Lavergne McLay (1987), Kenora, circa 1972. 37 Ogiimaamaashiik Martin, interview I by George Beatty, Kenora, circa June 1972. 38 Ogiimaamaashiik Martin, interview III by George Beatty, Kenora, 11 July 1972. 39 Ogiimaamaashiik’s dissatisfaction with her marriage to Martin is implied throughout the tran- scripts. For example, when reflecting on her grandparents’ warnings—that she “[didn’t] know what [she was] marrying” or if Martin would “be mean to that boy [John Kipling Jr.]—she stated, “well, I find out then for myself.” Ogiimaamaashiik Martin, interview III by George Beatty, Kenora, 11 July 1972. OH spring 2015.indd 97 15/03/2015 3:33:17 PM 98 ONTARIO HISTORY Figure 2: Ogiimaamaashiik with her second husband, Edward Martin, and her children40 From left to right, top row: Ben- jamin Martin, John Kipling Jr., Edward Martin Jr. Middle row: Mary Martin. From left to right, bottom row: Annie Martin, Ogiimaamaashiik Martin, Hazel Martin, Edward Martin Sr., Harriet (Hattie) Martin From Prose to Poetics: New Transcriptions by Descendant B. Luby 1. The Importance of Speak- ing English other children, he was sent to Cecilia Jef- My father married my mother and fery Residential School in Kenora. my mother was an Indian. Notwithstanding the trials of her … personal and family life, by the time of [T]hose white men [trappers], they have to, her death on 10 February 1974, Ogi- you know [,] marry them Indian girls. maamaashiik had become a local celeb- … rity, famed for her craftwork and story- When [my father] came to Kenora, he never see telling. During the early 1970s, Kenora’s One local newspaper, The Daily Miner and White News, published a series of articles on her Woman. life. The editor justified the series by the … fact that “The memory of the early local My father married my mother and history, particularly with regard to the my mother was an Indian. Indian heritage, is fast fading away. Mrs. … Mathilda Martin, 10 Sultana Ave is one My old people [parental guardians] talk[ed] in resident who cherishes the knowledge of Indian all the time. the early customs and culture that pre- … vailed in this part of the country in her [My grandfather] thought, I guess, childhood.”41 The series concluded with “It’s too bad if [you] didn’t even learn…to Ogimaamaashiik’s aptly titled obituary talk in English or anything” “Well Known Resident Dies.”42 [because] my father was a white man. 40 Unknown, Matilda (Ogiimaamaashiik) Martin with her Second Husband, Edward Martin, and her Children, circa 1930, property of author. 41 Unknown, “Log School Built For Granddaughter,” Daily Miner and News, c. 1972, 7. 42 Unknown, “Well Known Resident Dies,” Daily Miner and News, 13 February 1974, 3. OH spring 2015.indd 98 15/03/2015 3:33:18 PM co-operative education on dalles 38c 99 … [no] second grade. [And] my father married…an Indian.43 We just had first book, Second book, 2. Ogimaamaashiik’s Schoolhouse, A Third book, and Place for Learning Fourth book. I was about six, I guess [when] he built a school… We went to school for [a] long time. a big log school…for me to go [learn English]. … Me and Margaret Savage went to school pretty regular. My grandfather went [to] see that Indian Agent, *Her people were old too… [see] if he could…get an Indian teacher. didn’t go anywhere to trap. [Grandfather got home and said:] … “If he [is going] to give me a teacher…I’m The other Indians…they take their children [going] to have to [build a school].” *away in the fall [to trap] and they don’t come home [until] Christmas. And then…he took all [those] logs and he made… … One room [, a] big room…. [Their children] couldn’t go to school [regularly]. *[with] logs…hewn…with a broad axe They were pretty slow learning * first book, *[and] mud[ded] with clay. Second book, …. Third book, and Then…he fix[ed] the school [with whitewash]. Fourth book. …. He made…a kind of bench [of white ash to sit on]. I don’t know how old I was when [Margaret and I] quit He made [slates] to write our studies. [to] let the small children go to school.45 *Then he [built] another building...close Ogimaamaashiik’s Oral …That’s where the teacher [John Kipling Senior] lived. Testimony and Anishinabek *They used to call it Mission Home. Education We didn’t go anywhere that summer [to harvest berries] gimaamaashiik’s descriptions of her because [Grandfather] wanted to finish that school. Oearly education at Dalles 38C Indi- *My grandfather… an Reserve offer a unique look into feder- was a good worker.44 ally-funded instructional programming developed in response to Treaty #3’s edu- 3. John Kipling’s Classroom cation promise. From her perspective we We didn’t learn no grades, can come to better understand the desire [no] first grade of those living on her reserve to attain 43 Matilda (Ogiimaamaashiik) Martin, interview I by George Beatty, Kenora, circa June 1972. 44 Ibid. 45 Ibid. OH spring 2015.indd 99 15/03/2015 3:33:18 PM 100 ONTARIO HISTORY English language training, as well as the Morris identified formal (read: Western) initiatives of local leaders to engage with training as a predictor of peaceable inter- European style education and the cur- actions between cultural groups, suggest- riculum delivered within the classroom. ing that the “learning of the white man” Signed in 1873, Treaty #3 established a would help to ensure that “the white and formal relationship between the Crown red man will always be friends.”48 Ani- and the “Saulteaux Tribe of the Ojibbe- shinabek children, Morris believed, could way Indians.”46 Considerable debate sur- be trained as cultural interlocutors. rounds the terms of the agreement. Trea- Chief Sakatcheway, representing ty commissioners sought the transfer of what are now Grassy Narrows and Wa- land ownership from the “Ojibbeway In- bauskang First Nations, shared Morris’ dians” to the Crown. Anishinabek repre- vision for Anishinabek youth.49 Accord- sentatives, by contrast, approached treaty ing to Morris’ notes, Sakatcheway com- as a land-sharing agreement—a guideline mitted to an educational exchange. He for future interactions between settler said, “I will lend you one of my daugh- society and local Indigenous communi- ters and one of my sons for you [Euro- ties. What is clear, however, is that both Canadians] to teach what is good, and Lieutenant Governor Alexander Morris after they have learned, to teach us [Ani- and Anishinabek chiefs agreed upon the shinabek].”50 Overall it is the perspective importance of Western education. Lieu- of Grand Council Treaty #3 that the na- tenant-Governor Morris proclaimed, “I ture of the agreement was to develop an will also establish schools whenever any insider’s understanding of the outsider’s bands ask for them, so that your children worldview and to build stronger relation- may have the learning of the white man.”47 ships with acquired knowledge.51 46 Crown of the United Kingdom, 4 October 1873, Treaty 3 Between Her Majesty the Queen and the Saulteaux Tribe of the Ojibbeway Indians at the Northwest Angle on the Lake of the Woods 1873. 47 Lieutenant Governor Alexander Morris qtd. in Grand Council Treaty #3, “‘We have kept our part of the treaty,’” 46. 48 Commissioner Dawson qtd. in Grand Council Treaty #3, “‘We have kept our part of the treaty,’” 46. 49 This quotation is attributed to Chief Sakatcheway by Grand Council Treaty #3 in “‘We have kept our part of the treaty,’” (reprint 2013). Grand Council Treaty #3 also associates the quotation with present-day Grassy Narrows and Wabauskang First Nations (47). However, in the short-hand reporter’s account, reproduced by Morris in Treaties of Canada (1880), no name is listed. This quotation is attrib- uted instead to “CHIEF (of Lac Seule)” (63). The Dominion Government did not define the boundaries of Grassy Narrows and Wabauskang reservations, represented by Chief Sakatcheway, for almost a decade after treaty. After 1882, Chief Sakatcheway managed a federally-recognized territory that covered over 7,000 hectares. To learn more about the territories managed by Chief Sakatcheway refer to Anastasia M. Shkilnyk, A Poison Stronger than Love: The Destruction of an Ojibwa Community(New Haven: Yale Uni- versity Press, 1985), 56-58. 50 Morris, Treaties of Canada, 63. See also Chief Sakatcheway qtd. in Grand Council Treaty #3, “‘We have kept our part of the treaty,’” 47. 51 Tim Holzkamm and Leo Waisberg, “We Have Kept Our Part of the Treaty: The Anishinaabe Un- derstanding of Treaty #3 (Kenora: Grand Council Treaty #3, 3 October 1998), 43. OH spring 2015.indd 100 15/03/2015 3:33:18 PM co-operative education on dalles 38c 101 One of the ways that Chief Kati- school master John Kipling. This mar- wasung, Ogimaamaashiik’s grandfather, riage created a kinship bond and cultural suggested that treaty goals be met was ties for future generations. through language education. Although Local initiatives to engage with gov- his views are silent in the written records ernment-run education systems also of Treaty #3 negotiations, Ogimaamaash- come to light through Ogimaamaashiik‘s iik’s testimony reveals that he perceived testimony. During the Treaty #3 nego- English language training as a useful strat- tiations, Lt.-Governor Morris promised egy to connect the Anishinabek commu- that learning facilities would be provid- nity with newcomers. Ogimaamaashiik ed upon application by a band.53 When was at the forefront of this experiment. Katiwasung applied for a school, how- In many ways she was the ideal candidate. ever, he quickly discovered that Lieuten- Although the product of a bi-cultural un- ant Governor Morris’ promise was provi- ion, her father, Benjamin Lavergne, had sional. The Department of Indian Affairs purposefully left Ogimaamaashiik to be refused to fund construction at Dalles raised on-reservation, in Anishinaabe- 38C Indian Reserve. Contrary to Morris’ mowin, by Katiwasung and Jane Lindsay, commitment to “establish schools when- thus privileging her Indigenous ancestry. ever any bands ask for them,” the version Still, Katiwasung considered it impera- of Treaty #3 published by the Crown set tive that Ogimaamaashiik learn to speak a the following conditions: schools would European language: “It’s too bad if [you] be federally funded if (1) the Dominion didn’t even learn… to talk in English or of Canada deemed the facility “advisable,” anything,” he said.52 Katiwasung believed (2) the “Indians of the reserve…desire[d] that by learning a European language it,” and (3) the school was established on Ogimaamaashiik would be able to bridge reservation land.54 Shortly after Treaty #3 cultural divides. This belief is also appar- was signed, David Laird, Minister of the ent in the chief ’s willingness to “lend” Interior, revealed federal designs to reduce Ogimaamaashiik to a federally-appoint- operating costs by refusing to fund school ed missionary to learn English, and “what construction at Broken Head River First is good,” so that she could—at the most Nation—regardless of advisability or de- intimate level (home)—connect with a sirability. Laird explained, “[T]he Gov- white man. In the end the language train- ernment is not bound under the Treaty ing seems to have paid off as Katiwasung to erect a schoolhouse on each Reserve, successfully arranged the marriage of and that the Government consider their Ogimaamaashiik to the English-speaking obligation in this respect discharged by 52 Matilda (Ogiimaamaashiik) Martin, interview I by George Beatty, Kenora, circa June 1972. 53 Commissioner Dawson qtd. in Grand Council Treaty #3, “‘We have kept our part of the treaty,’” 46. 54 Crown of the United Kingdom, 4 October 1873, Treaty 3 Between Her Majesty the Queen and the Saulteaux Tribe of the Ojibbeway Indians at the Northwest Angle on the Lake of the Woods 1873. OH spring 2015.indd 101 15/03/2015 3:33:18 PM 102 ONTARIO HISTORY the payment of a school teacher on each in Council, rules and regulations for… reserve.”55 Although Laird’s rejection [t]he construction and repair of school concerns a Treaty #1 Reservation, it re- houses [and the] locating of the land in flected a nationwide shift in the applica- their reserves.”58 Federal officials here tion of Indian policy. Anishinabek Chiefs claimed authority to reject applications felt this breach of treaty acutely. Treaty #3 submitted by Anishinabek chiefs in the signatory Chief Mawintoopinesse, for ex- best interest of their wards. ample, “died in 1890 without ever seeing Chief Katiwasung appears to have a well-funded and efficient Day School recognized the tightening noose of state built on his reserve” despite multiple re- power. Cognizant of his declining power, quests for financial aid.56 Katiwasung made the decision to work Federal rejections of band applica- with what he had and strategized to tions for learning facilities reflect the make the most of the limited treaty ben- declining political power of Anishinabek efits. Katiwasung explained that “If he chiefs. Confederation (1867) complicat- [the Indian Agent is going] to give me a ed meaningful nation-to-nation negotia- teacher…I’m [going] to have to [build a tions as it identified Anishinabek chiefs school].” He proceeded to build a school- as subjects of the state prior to treating house using locally harvested materials. with them.57 Within a decade of the sign- Logs hewn on Dalles 38C Indian Reserve ing of Treaty #3, the Indian Act of 1876 formed the walls. Clay collected from the further reduced Anishinabek power by banks of the Winnipeg River filled cracks redefining Anishinabek chiefs and their between logs, insulating the one-room band members as legal wards of the state. schoolhouse. Katiwasung then furnished The Act ratified a paternalistic relation- the school in his attempts to secure an ship between Indigenous “wards” and educator. He fashioned desks of white settler “agents,” assigning the state veto ash and slates for student use. Band mem- power over band council’s education de- bers actively supported the project. Hazel cisions. Section 63 read, “The chief or Martin-McKeever, Chief Katiwasung’s chiefs of any band in council may frame, great-granddaughter, explains that “An subject to confirmation by the Governor iron stove was put in that was made by 55 David Laird qtd. in Sheila Carr-Stewart, “A Treaty Right to Education,” Canadian Journal of Edu- cation, 26:2 (2001), 131. 56 Grand Council Treaty #3, 49. 57 Section 91(24) granted the Parliament of Canada, or federal government, “exclusive Legislative Authority [over] all Matters” concerning “Indians and lands reserved for the Indians.” This division of power problematically defined Indigenous treaty negotiators assubjects of the Dominion and thus subject to federal law. It failed to identify Indigenous treaty negotiators as representatives of alternative geopoliti- cal territories. Please see Dominion of Canada, British North America Act, 1867, Section 91(24). 58 Dominion of Canada, An Act to amend and consolidate the laws respecting Indians [Indian Act of 1876], 1876, 39 Vict., c. 18. 59 Martin-McKeever, The Chief’s Granddaughter, 8. OH spring 2015.indd 102 15/03/2015 3:33:18 PM co-operative education on dalles 38c 103 one of Chief Katiwasung’s friends.”59 of Indian Affairs hired John Kipling Sr., Band members generally seem to have a lay missionary of mixed Native and Eu- donated large homemade wax candles for ropean descent who had studied at St. classroom use.60 This flurry of activity -re John’s College in Winnipeg, Manitoba, sulted in short-term economic loss for the to teach at Dalles 38C Indian Reserve.63 chief and his family. Ogimaamaashiik ex- Ogimaamaashiik recalls that Kipling plains, “We didn’t go anywhere that sum- catered to youngsters living on-reserve mer [to harvest berries] because [Grand- (and likely nearby off-reservation lands). father] wanted to finish that school.”61 The teacher took special care to integrate Hazel Martin-McKeever, links financial his pupils by grouping them in relation sacrifice to increased state intervention: to their performance abilities rather “The Chief wanted to get the building up, than age. Students worked through “first as he was anxious to meet the conditions book, second book, third book, and imposed before the government changed fourth book.”64 Spelling, history, natural its mind.”62 In the end, the school was history as well as stories and poems filled built and little Ogimaamaashiik attained these books (or readers).65 her classroom education. Skill-based groupings suggest that Without the initiative of her grand- Kipling was responding to local circum- father this kind of opportunity would stances. Ogimaamaashiik indicated that not have taken place. In this instance, children with elderly parents or guardians government education was not imposed attended school most regularly. While on the students of Dalles 38C Reserve, Kipling reported a roll call of twelve but was requested within the spirit of the students, he had an average attendance Treaty #3 negotiations and the desire of of seven.66 Regular attendance corre- local leaders to broaden their children’s lated positively with sedentarism, which knowledge base. The curriculum and helps to explain the family dynamics (i.e. pedagogical approach to learning at the elderly guardians) of his most frequent day school followed a cooperative model students. Children with youthful par- due in large part to the program set out ents continued to participate in seasonal by the schoolmaster. Upon the recom- rounds, experiencing large breaks in their mendation of First Bishop Lofthouse of studies to help hunt and manage traps the Church of England, the Department during the fall.67 Given the mobility of 60 Ibid. 61Matilda (Ogiimaamaashiik) Martin, interview I by George Beatty, Kenora, circa June 1972. 62 Martin-McKeever, The Chief’s Granddaughter, 7. 63 Ibid., 8. 64 Matilda (Ogiimaamaashiik) Martin, interview I by George Beatty, Kenora, circa June 1972. 65 Charles Levi, “What were the schoolbooks like?” A Virtual Schoolhouse, Library and Archives Can- ada, OH spring 2015.indd 103 15/03/2015 3:33:18 PM 104 ONTARIO HISTORY Kipling’s students, skill-based groupings curriculum. Trial and error was (and is) allowed children to learn at their own a valued Anishinabek teaching method. place thus encouraging continued—al- Anishinabek educators attached consid- beit sporadic—in-class participation. erable value to continued practice and Such flexibility may have been unique to hard work—such skills were essential to Kipling’s pedagogical style. At the Pres- community survival. Kipling allowed his byterian residential school located on students to develop their English-speak- Shoal Lake Indian Reserve, parents had ing skills over time and through trial and to negotiate holidays from the Reverend error.70 Overall, this kind of inclusivity A.J. McKittrick and Principal J.C. Gan- and grouping system seems to have cre- dier. Three weeks of holiday was granted ated a popular reputation among local to Anishinabek attendees. However, par- students as indicated by the fact that ents had to decide which harvesting ac- Ogimaamaashiik left school not because tivities to maintain as a family; the 1902 she had completed all the schooling, but agreement dictated that “during the ber- to make room for incoming students. ry season the larger children shall have at Anishinaabemowin also had a place least three weeks holidays or part of this in Kipling’s schoolhouse. Few of the time may be given at rice harvest.”68 Ki- moral lessons occurred in English. It is pling reduced conflict for families eager important to note that moral instruc- to co-educate, allowing them to pass on tion, although heavily associated with kagitiziiminaanik (“traditional knowl- residential schools, was not uniquely tied edge”) during the school year without to Indigenous education. According to the restrictions of Shoal Lake. Even historian Charles Levi, “one of the main Ogimaamaashiik, with her grandfather’s concerns of early public education [was] keen support of the day school, received the moral instruction of young people,” in-depth training outside the classroom both Anishinabek and non-Anishina- in skills such as manomin (“wild rice”) bek.71 The clergy attained higher levels cultivation, basket-weaving, and soap- of education than the general public, making.69 and were trained specifically to dissemi- While many schoolteachers divided nate moral knowledge in a schoolhouse their students by book instead of grade, setting. What is unique, in the case of Kipling’s groupings may also have re- Dalles 38C Reserve, is Kipling’s decision flected Anishinabek influences over local to moralize in Anishinaabemowin. Carol 68 Chief Red Sky et al., Cecilia Jeffery School Agreement, 14 January 1902, Cecilia Jeffery Residential School Collection, Lake of the Woods Museum, Kenora, Ontario. 69 “Lake of the Woods Museum, “Many Skilled Tasks Performed at Dalles,” (newspaper clipping), 9 (c. 1972). 70 Matilda (Ogiimaamaashiik) Martin, interview I by George Beatty, Kenora, circa June 1972. 71 Charles Levi, “Why have schools?” A Virtual Schoolhouse, Library and Archives Canada, OH spring 2015.indd 104 15/03/2015 3:33:18 PM co-operative education on dalles 38c 105 Lawson, Kipling’s great-granddaughter, Rather, Kipling encouraged his students inherited his teaching Bible. This Bible and parishioners to weave the Christian was written in Anishinaabemowin as faith into their Anishinabek lives. were Kipling’s margin notes.72 According This kind of cooperation and blend- to family lore, Ogimaamaashiik and Ki- ing of customs remained intact among pling “went around to the Reserves, min- band members long after the school- istering the Word of God in [this trans- house had closed. Ogimaamaashiik’s lated] King James Version of the Bible.”73 grandmother, Jane Lindsay, for instance, Hymns were also translated from English insisted that Chief Katiwasung be bur- for learning purposes. Children and ma- ied, according to Anishinabek custom, ture students alike learned to praise the with his Queen Victoria Treaty Medal Christian God in Anishinaabemowin. in 1925.75 Jane justified the act by stating By encouraging worship in Anishinaabe- that “He needed it [the Queen Victoria mowin, Kipling fostered a direct com- Medal] when he went above.”76 Thereaf- munication link between his students, ter, funeral attendees sung “Nearer My his parishioners, and the Lord thus chal- God to Thee.”77 lenging structural advantages that typi- While the argument can and has cally accrued to settlers. Band members been made that Christianity is a by- retained primary responsibility for their product of colonial dominance, simple spiritual practice; English translators binaries such as Anglo-Christian versus need not be present to worship. Educa- Anishinabek (and the inevitable “other- tion here did not downplay Anishinabek ing” that ensues) obscures collaborative spiritual power by pressuring Anishina- attempts to share alternative spiritual bek learners to speak English before truths. Children educated at day school speaking to God. Nor did Kipling threat- on Dalles 38C Indian Reserve retained en with hellfire those children who con- control over their religious affiliation and tinued to blend Anishinaabemowin with do not appear to have been forcibly bap- Christian practice—a recurring theme in tized like pupils of the nearby Cecilia Jef- residential school survivors’ testimony.74 frey Residential School. During a chiefs’ 72 Carol (Kipling) Lawson, interview with Brittany Luby, Kenora, Ontario, 12 July 2012. 73 Martin-McKeever, The Chief’s Granddaughter,78. 74 Aboriginal Healing Foundation, “Appendix B: General Discussion in Residential Schools at the Southwest Region Manitoba Metis Federation Reginal Meeting, 24 June 2000,” in Metis Hitsory and Experience and Residential Schools in Canada (Ottawa: published by the Aboriginal Healing Foundation Research Series, 2006), 89. 75 Martin-McKeever, The Chief’s Granddaughter,64. Conflicting evidence exists. The funeral record maintained by the Diocese of Keewatin indicates that Thomas Lindsay, Indian Chief, was buried at Lake of the Woods District Cemetery on 7 September. The year is not listed. Please see: “Funeral Record: Tho- mas Lindsay, Indian Chief ” 7 September [?], Church of Notre-Dame-du-Portage, Kenora. 76 Martin-McKeever, The Chief’s Granddaughter,64. 77 Ibid. OH spring 2015.indd 105 15/03/2015 3:33:19 PM 106 ONTARIO HISTORY meeting in 1902, Chiefs Red Sky and children—John Jacob (b. 1913), Jose- Pagindawind demanded of the Reverend phine (b. 1914), Alfred James (b.1917), A.J. McKittrick and Principal J.C. Gan- Mary Margaret (b. 1919), Mary Sarah dier that “while children are young and at (b.1921)—in the church adopted by his [Cecilia Jeffrey] school they shall not be wife, their mother.80 Taken in relation baptized without the consent of their par- with Ogimaamaashiik’s testimony these ents.” Chiefs Red Sky and Pagindawind records indicate that Kipling was a cul- preferred that “if when they [students] turally respectful educator who allowed reach years of understanding they wish his pupils more choice in adopting the to be baptized, relations and friends shall Christian faith than “Indian” students be invited to the baptism[.]”78 enrolled at nearby residential schools. Records from the Diocese of Keewa- This is not surprising when looking at tin suggest that Kipling did not coerce his overall conduct during his tenure at his pupils into baptism. Ogimaamaashiik Dalles 38C Indian Reserve. Kipling con- clearly remembered attending day school sistently approached education with a with Catherine Henry (b. ~1890).79 flexible and inclusive pedagogy, reinforc- Catherine was not baptized until July ing the cooperative nature of learning 1906, approximately five months after within the community. Kipling’s death. Further, Catherine re- quired an interpreter during the ceremo- “The New Generation” ny. She did not have sufficient English to gimaamaashiik’s education was a proceed without translation. Catherine’s Osuccess, especially in terms of her Christian faith had developed in Anishi- grandfather’s vision. Her role as a cul- naabemowin and was solemnized outside tural mediator did not disappear with of the schoolhouse. Records from the the death of her first husband and former Diocese of Keewatin reveal that Cather- schoolmaster, John Kipling Senior. Years ine Henry married fellow student Alfred later, due to her language and religious Lindsay. There is no written evidence that training, other opportunities arose. Ogi- Alfred sought affiliation with the Angli- maamaashiik was able to act as an inter- can Church (despite his Anglican educa- preter for the Church of England, and tion) in the early 1900s. Baptism did not in particular clergyman John Page.81 She function as prerequisite to his enrolment. likely translated ceremonial utterances Alfred did agree to baptize many of his and instructions for Christian living. 78 Chief Red Sky et al., Cecilia Jeffery School Agreement. 79 Martin-McKeever, The Chief’s Granddaughter,9. 80 Birth and Baptism Records: Church of Notre-Dame-du-Portage, Kenora: “John Jacob Lindsay,” 8 May 1916; “Josephine Lindsay,” 8 May 1916; “Alfred James Lindsay,” 31 May 1921; “Mary Margaret Lind- say,” 31 May 1921; “Mary Sarah Lindsay,” 31 May 1921. 81 For example: Baptism Record: Catherine Henry, 1 July 1906, Location Not Listed, Diocese of Keewatin, Kenora, Ontario. See also: Baptism Record: Sarah Elizabeth Lindsay, 1 July 1906, Location Not Listed, Diocese of Keewatin, Kenora, Ontario. OH spring 2015.indd 106 15/03/2015 3:33:19 PM co-operative education on dalles 38c 107 Figure 3: Map of Dalles 38C Active Territory, 1890 – 1930.84. Produced by Sheldon Ratuski, Kenora, Ontario. Ogimaamaashiik also used her English shinabek] concerns about each other and education to help communicate Ani- what was happening at their reserve.”82 shinabek grievances to the Department With Ogimaamaashiik at his aide, Chief of Indian Affairs. As early as 1904, Ogi- Katiwasung promised to “get word to the maamaashiik began to accompany Chief Indian agent” in hopes of remedying lo- Katiwasung on his summer rounds. To- cal complaints.83 Her English-speaking gether, they travelled from Dalles 38C skills, developed in the classroom setting, Indian Reserve to Rat Portage Indian thus became a tool in Chief Katiwasung’s Reserve. They likely visited active gath- negotiations with the Department of ering sites (i.e. blueberry camps) in off- Indian Affairs. Education allowed band reservation territories along the way. members of Dalles 38C to achieve one On their journey, Chief Katiwasung and treaty education goal: dialogue across the Ogimaamaashiik “paid attention to [Ani- linguistic and cultural divide. 82 Martin-McKeever, The Chief’s Granddaughter,39. 83 Ibid. OH spring 2015.indd 107 15/03/2015 3:33:19 PM 108 ONTARIO HISTORY The Day School Legacy: A forced adoption of Christianity) and improved economic opportunities for Vision Denied Anishinabek youth. The Department of he long-term success of the day Indian Affairs had elected to fund a day Tschool was curtailed by Kipling’s school at Dalles 38C Indian Reserve. It untimely death and the entrenchment had transferred an educator from Selkirk, of the policy of aggressive civilization Manitoba, to the reservation. Enrolment proposed by Davin of which the resi- did not demand any structural changes dential school was a principal feature. to the building. It was simpler, adminis- In February 1906, Kipling took sick and tratively, to maintain Kipling’s resource died within a week.85 Dalles 38C Indian allowance. However, when Kipling died, Reserve lost its only salaried teacher and it became cost-effective to retrofit the -ed continued federal support for on-reserve ucation system. Students could be trans- instructional programming. The Depart- ferred to learning facilities more strongly ment of Indian Affairs opted to trans- aligned with the policy of aggressive civi- fer many Anishinabek pupils from day lization. By transferring students, the De- school at Dalles 38C Indian Reserve to partment of Indian Affairs also reduced either Cecilia Jeffrey or St. Mary’s resi- the cost of recruiting and relocating a re- dential schools in Kenora. This move placement teacher. After Kipling’s death, reflected federal fears that children who opportunities for cooperative education remained with kin “may know how to declined. Increased federal control over read and write, but… will still remain Anishinabek pupils’ lives is evident in savages.”86 The Department of Indian the spike in Presbyterian and Catholic Affairs, however, tied removal to - spir baptisms and marriages and parallel a de- itual emancipation (more accurately, the cline in Anglican ceremonies.87 Children 84 This map reflects the active territory of Dalles 38C Indian Reserve as reconstructed from newspa- per clippings. However, it does not accurately reflect the full extent of active territory described by elders at Dalles 38C Indian Reserve. Permission has not been granted to reproduce a detailed map of active ter- ritory that includes elder testimony. As such, this map should be seen as suggestive, rather than representa- tive of Ogiimaamaashiik’s summer voyage. 85 Martin-McKeever, The Chief’s Granddaughter,43. 86 Sir Hector Langevin qtd. in We Were Taught Differently,4. 87 The earliest identified Anglican marriage at Dalles 38C Indian Reserve occurred “in the school- house” in 1895 (“Marriage Record: George [widower] and Margaret [widow],” 4 October 1895, Schoolhouse in the Diocese of Rupert’s Land in the County of Keewatin). In 1928, Bessie Begg (born at Dalles 38C Indian Reserve) married a non-Native man in the Anglican Church (“Marriage Record: Eric Larvarne and Bessie Begg,” 18 August 1928, St. Alban’s Church, Kenora). This is the last identified -An glican marriage with a Dalles band member. The earliest identified Catholic marriage was held by Nancy McLeod (born at Dalles 38C Indian Reserve), but was solemnized at St. Mary’s Indian Residential School. Records indicate that she was baptized into the Catholic faith shortly thereafter (“Marriage Record: Nancy McLeod and Joseph Morriseau,” 1909, Church of Notre-Dame-du-Portage, Kenora). Nancy McLeod is the first identified child to be born at Dalles 38C Indian Reserve and baptized by the Catholic Church. The last identified Anglican baptism of a child born at Dalles 38C Indian Reserve occurred on 31 OH spring 2015.indd 108 15/03/2015 3:33:20 PM co-operative education on dalles 38c 109 of Dalles 38C Indian Reserve stopped her great-great-granddaughter, grappled exacting choice over their religious affili- with the most efficient and ethical means ation and the ability to blend Christian to approach the information provided and Anishinabek practice. The treaty ed- by Ogimaamaashiik. In the end, a poetic ucation goal of cultural interlocutors was rendering gave voice to a perspective that replaced with the state goal to “destroy had been lost to the living world with the Indian.”88 Ogimaamaashiik’s passing. Recovering that voice allowed for original perspec- Conclusion tives concerning the historical reality of he conclusions of this research did day schooling at the Dalles 38C Indian Tnot come easily. The final analysis Reserve, providing an alternative model is the results of generations of knowl- of cooperative education in the midst of edge building and preservation. Ogi- an overflowing collection of overtly co- maamaashiik’s education was the prod- ercive experiences. Through this creative uct of her grandfather’s investment in approach to Ogimaamaashiik’s words the European systems of learning in order to authors were able to re-construct the day provide language and cultural training school and in some ways continue the for his descendants in the wake of colo- work begun by Chief Katiwasung. This nial regimes. His initiative, supported by article has highlighted the legacy of his band members and the schoolmaster Ki- initiatives with the hope that the chief ’s pling, allowed Ogimaamaashiik a unique vision may again become a focus and a position in her later years as a cultural reminder of the viability and benefits of interlocutor and knowledge keeper. Her cooperative education. interviews with George Beatty were pos- In an ironic twist, Kipling and Ogi- sible in the 1970s because she had a com- maamaashiik’s son, John Kipling Jr., was mand of the English language and an un- later enrolled at Cecilia Jeffrey Indian derstanding of settler society. This made Residential School.89 Within one life- Dorothy Lavergne McLay’s job much eas- time, members of Dalles 38C Indian Re- ier as she diligently transcribed her aunt’s serve (like Ogimaamaashiik herself ) had accounts. Still the testimony in its most lost the power to determine their chil- authentic form remained obscured as the dren’s education. Educational goals also authors of this article, and in particular, changed. Residential schools like Cecilia May 1921. The child was born to Alfred and Katherine Lindsay, who had been baptized in the Anglican Church over a decade earlier (“Birth and Baptism Record: Mary Sarah Lindsay,” 31 May 1921, Church of Notre-Dame-du-Portage, Kenora). On 24 April 1938, Carol Kipling (born to John Kipling Jr.) was baptized in the Anglican Church by her now-enfranchised father (“Birth and Baptism Record: Carol Ki- pling”, 24 April 1938, Church of Notre-Dame-du-Portage, Kenora). Given that no comparable record ex- ists, it is likely that her brother Jack Kipling—like Nancy McLeod—was baptized by the Catholic Church given his enrolment at St. Mary’s Indian Residential School. 88 Nicholas David Flood qtd. in We Were Taught Differently,4. 89 Martin-McKeever, The Chief’s Granddaughter,62. OH spring 2015.indd 109 15/03/2015 3:33:20 PM 110 ONTARIO HISTORY Jeffrey discouraged the practice and ac- tion promise—could have been: inclusive ceptance of Anishinabek skills, values, of Anishinabek speech and pedagogical and ceremonies—gone were the days of practices, supportive of Anishinabek cooperative curriculum where students economic activities, and accepting of could learn both the written word and spiritual exploration and cultural blend- manomin (wild rice) cultivation. ing. It also allows to better understand While Chief Katiwasung and John Anishinabek educational goals. During Kipling encouraged the training of cul- the Treaty #3 negotiations, Lieutenant- tural interlocutors through language Governor Alexander Morris claimed training, residential school instructors “The [new generation] could be trained sought to eliminate the use of Anishi- in the habits and ways of civilized life— naabemowin. John Kipling Jr. refused to prepared to encounter the difficulties speak Anishinaabemowin with his chil- with which they will be surrounded, by dren—Jack, Ray, and Carol Kipling—in the influx of settlers.”90 Chief Katiwasung order to improve their educational per- worked to achieve these goals by building formance at school. This son of a cultural a schoolhouse for his granddaughter, Ogi- interlocutor raised unilingual children maamaashiik. Under Kipling’s tutelage, despite his family’s historical invest- Ogimaamaashiik learned to speak Eng- ment in bilingual education. Whereas lish. She subsequently lived out the trea- Ogimaamaashiik had used her English- ty promise, listening to the grievances of speaking skills to establish communica- her fellow band members and reporting tion channels between Chief Katiwasung them to federal authorities under Chief and the Indian Agent, her son used his Katiwasung’s direction. Such education- English-speaking skills to distance him- al opportunities, however, existed only in self from Dalles 38C Indian Reserve and the short-term. Book learning benefitted sought employment as a mill hand at Ogimaamaashiik and her community the Ontario-Minnesota Pulp and Paper for a few years, but as the Department of Company in town. Eventually John Ki- Indian Affairs’ commitment to “aggres- pling Jr. would opt for complete enfran- sive civilization” increased, Anishinabek chisement. Within a single generation, opportunities to shape educational out- the possibilities of an Anishinabek school comes declined. John Kipling Junior’s built upon a treaty promise evaporated. enrolment at Cecilia Jeffrey Residential The story of Chief Katiwasung, edu- School offers a poignant marker as his cator John Kipling Senior, and pupil Ogi- generation departed from the day school maamaashiik is an important reminder cooperative model and faced the usher- of what Anishinabek education—devel- ing in of Canada’s dark legacy of Indian oped in response to the Treaty #3 educa- residential schooling. 90 Morris, Treaties of Canada, 292. OH spring 2015.indd 110 15/03/2015 3:33:20 PM