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Dancing to honor the return of the birds in springtime was wrong, "The philosophy according to but kneeling in the dark confines which the residential schools of chapels with rosary beads was operated was diametrically right." (cited in York, 1990, p. 42). opposed to the traditional Indian Hence, the Blue Quills Indian philosophy of education. Before Residential School years have the arrival of the missionaries, been chronologically document Indian children learned by watch ed to familiarize the reader with ing their parents and elders. this era of formal schooling. We Their family and their community start our story with the impacts of were intimately involved in their the Riel Resistance. education. The myths and stories told by their elders were an · ROOTS AT LAc LABICHE important part of the process of learning." (Ditcham in 1904, cited In 1854, a permanent mission in Makokis, 2000:p. 37). The his was founded at Lac La Biche. The torical path of our formal school Oblate Fathers asked for the help ing starts as early as the 1870s. of the Grey Nuns to teach Our journey involves stories of European languages and religion (PROVINCIAL ARCHIVES OF ALBERTA P.200) to Indian children. The Fathers cultural genocide as government Father Lacombe, Jean L'Heureuse with Blacldoot chiefs. began building the small day sponsored atrocities documented cENTRE Row Three Bulls, Crowfoot, Red Crow. school there in 1857, named in the literature are supported in FRONT Row North Axe, One Spot. Notre Dame des Victories. the experiences of survivors of Father Lacombe founded the town of St. Paul, originally called Around the 1870s, rela residential schools such as those St. Paul de Metis. shared by Joe P. Cardinal and tions between Europeans and Mike Steinhauer. They referred to First Nations was under pressure. attendance soon dropped Lacombe's ladder, a pictorial cat Surveyors ignored existing farm because the children's parents echism, showing white people boundaries of the Metis. The disliked the school and withdrew ascending road to heaven and Indians were faced with starva their children. By 1892, the Indians veering off on a road to tion as provisions promised by Canadian Government financed hell. Students at residential the Federal Government in the the construction of an Indian schools were taught to despise Treaties were not forthcoming. Industri al school to take in stu- their cultures and languages, as Raiding occurred. The Riel dents from the entire district. demonstrated in the words of Resistance impacted the Frog Henry Bird Quinney: "The burn Lake incident and it resulted in "The students went to school at were dog teams. In the ing of sweet grass and tobacco Nuns at Lac La Biche wintering Lac La Biche, and my father wintertime especially it was was a 'heathen' ritual, but praying on an island in 1885 to escape was one of those guys. When cold and they weren't able to with their burning incense was the uprising. they went there, they ne'Ver see their families. So the people supposedly the only sacred way. Church records show that came back until they were 16 in Saddle Lake started to say Songs with the Drum were 'bar by 1886 there were seven girls years old. At that time the road they wanted to ha'Ve a school baric,' but Latin chants were okay. and eight boys in residence, but was 'Very bad, all they could close to home." use -STANLEY REDCROW, ELDER (OB 8604 PROVINCIAL ARCHIVES OF ALBERTA) Sacred Heart Church, bacl~round, stood on Saddle Lalie Reserve, until it burnt down in 1998. 1870 -·-1-970 e PIMOHTESKANAW =;-=-- - ~---- . · THE MoVE ro SACRED Saddle Lake)., whose name was one thing was prayer. " ues. The bonds of family identify Blue Quill: . and told him they - Louis McGilvery, Elder as part of a tribe were to be HEART MisSION wanted to build a school. He replaced by the school system. said 'All right, you can build it Indian schooling meant the four First Nation's students were treat BY 1898 the Government was on, my reserve. I'm not a r's of reading, 'riting, 'rithmetic ed as wards of the government. looking to move the school closer Catholic. I have my own reli and religion. The school housed to Saddle Lake, to be closer to gion, but I'll let you build a school-aged children between 4 "We were always hungry. We the population there. (Sacred school here. " - and 16 years old. Schooling were called Pagans. And we Heart Mission had been founded STANLEY REDCROW, ELDER meant basic literacy and practical always had to speak English, there by Albert Lacombe in skills. There was school in the , even though the nuns couldn't 1873). Two Oblate brothers built The Federal Government gave morning and chores in the after- speak it very well themselves." and dedicated a church and a the Oblate priests and the Grey noon. The boys did the farm work, -Joe P. Cardinal, Elder school at the Mission. They called Nuns the role of preparing the and the girls did the household it Blue Quills after the Chief of the First Nations children for life on duties like cooking and sewing. Attendance by Force area. The wooden church, school the reserves. In schools the chil and residence were impressive dren learned Christianity and The Role of Indian In the 1920's Canadian law for the day. Until 1931 they were agriculture. But life for the stu Residential School made it mandatory for all children home to 140 young boys and dents was harsh. The govern to attend school. Parents who girls, who boarded there for 10 ment could not support the refused to send their children to The residential school served months out of every year away school with much funding, so the school faced jail terms. from their families. children worked to support them the aims of the Federal Government. The Government selves and the school. The stu "An ROMP and the Indian believed that the best way to deal "The government said they dents went to class in the morn Agent came out to where we with the First Nations was to iso could build a school at a site ing and did chores in the after lived and threatened my father late them, both on the reserves but when the Protestants saw noon. In the early 1900s residen with incarceration if he did not and in residential schools. The those piles of lumber, they tial students spent an average of send me to school; even though Government wanted to replace asked what we were doing. We one afternoon each week on my father was a veteran of the the First Nations' tribal and com said, 'We're going to build a schoolwork. Most of their time first World War." was spent working munal . values with capitalist val- school here.' They said, 'No in the fields, or -Charles Wood you're not. After you pile the doing chores. lumber we'll put a match to it and burn it up!' So what were The Need for the Catholics going to do? "They made us work 6 days a They didn't know exactly. They week. We had to milk 32 cows A Larger Building went to see the Chief of Blue every morning before break Quills, (one of the small fast. And we never ate the eggs, The Government planned to reserves which made up cream or chickens. The number build a larger school for the chil dren of several reserves in the area. Approval for the building of the new school came in 1926 dur ing Arthur Meighen's reign as Prime Minister, the era in which most of .the Indian ~ residential schools 'iri Alberta' wer·e~ b~i\t .' T'n 'e Oblates wanted to erect a sGhool with the capacity for 200 students to allow more young students into the system. The Nuns wanted a location closer to the Church there and the comforts of civiliza tion and access to the railroad, hospital and electricity. (A 5693 PROVINCIAL ARCHIVES OF ALBERTA) (OB 1674 PROVINCIAL ARCHIVES OF ALBERTA) 1910 Polia-lie-lium (Little girl) Maggie Stabbed Last. This The buildings seen here are the Sacred Heart Mission on the young girl has clearly been living at residential school. Her Saddle Lalie Reserve, around 1905. dress and stance show the modesty so important to the nuns. (SADDLE LAKE MusEuM) Blue Quills Boarding School Pupils 1920's .1870 -. 1970 .. .. .... ... ~ ~ - ---~------------------------------------------~~ a co ld day in 1931. People from The Reality of the community can still remem ber the moment they moved into Residential School the school. The children soon fell into the "It was December 8, the daily routine of the school. It Blessed/Virgin Mary 's Day. I called for rising at 6 a.m. , saying remember how I ran up and prayers, doing chores, attending down those stairs. It was the school, eating meals and going to biggest building I had ever bed. Life was as regimented as a seen. " prison or army base is today. - A former student Children were often called by their number, which was put onto The school was imposing to their clothing and utensils. The In 1931 an Indian Residential School is built, and named Blue many young natives. The tall children's culture and language Quills to house and school the children from the surrounding walls became symbolic of the was not tolerated. It was replaced reserves. unyielding discipline within them. by strict morality and unyielding The New Bricli at Blue Quills, the move from the It was excessive, many argue, as discipline.