NIKAAWII OTIPAACHIMOWINA (MY MOTHER’S STORIES) LORRAINE SERENA SUTHERLAND SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIRMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS IN HISTORY NIPISSING UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES NORTH BAY, ONTARIO © LORRAINE SERENA SUTHERLAND MAY 2014 v ABSTRACT This thesis examines Cree residential school survivor accounts from the James Bay territory spanning a 40-year period from the 1930s through the 1970s. They attended St. Philips Indian and Eskimo Residential School, an Anglican operation, in Fort George, Quebec; St. Anne’s, a Roman Catholic institution, in Fort Albany, Ontario; and Horden Hall, an Anglican residential school in Moose Factory, Ontario. This thesis also includes original research with one particular survivor of St. Anne’s, nikaawii (my mother), who attended from the age of 2 through 17. The tipaachimowina (stories) of these Cree survivors reveal that residential schooling altered their lives in many ways. Because of Canada’s education policy, children were often placed in these schools for long periods of time. Many were not able to develop or master the traditional skills of their parents. Others were not able to reconnect with other members of their families. Most experienced sadness and loss; some endured physical and sexual abuse (the latter seeming more prevalent in Roman Catholic schools) at the hands of school personnel or peers. Tipaachimowina are oral history, and this unique method of Cree sharing enabled survivors to tell about their experiences. It is through this method that some survivors were able to come to terms with what they lived through and are still living through. Their tipaachimowina reveal pride, resilience and a will to live. vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to acknowledge and thank my late grandparents, Moses and Juliette Sutherland for their wisdom and determination and for sharing their Cree traditional values and knowledge with their children and grandchildren. I would like to acknowledge and thank nikaawii for sharing her tipaachimowina with me. This research would not have been possible without you. I am happy and very proud to call you my mother. Kisahkiheytin mistahey (I love you very much). Also, I would like to say thank you to my brothers Adrian, Andrew, and Robert and my sisters Judy, Iris, and Karen for your love and belief in me. Adrian, thank you for your spiritual guidance and for your love of the land. I would like to thank my husband Norman for always supporting me in my life and in my education. I would like to thank Forrest and Ariel, my beautiful children, for being patient and for understanding the importance of this work. I would like to thank Attawapiskat First Nation Education Authority (AFNEA) for supporting me financially in the early years of my educational journey. I would like acknowledge and thank the late Xavier Wesley for telling me to “just go” to Moose Factory, Ontario, even though I had not received “confirmation of funding” from AFNEA; it came after I boarded the plane to Moosonee, Ontario. If it had not been for Xavier’s belief that I would get sponsored I would have missed my first course in the Aboriginal Teacher Education Program (ATEP) and I would not be where I am today. I would like to thank and acknowledge the Chief and Council in Attawapiskat, Ontario for granting me permission to conduct my research in the community. I would like to thank and acknowledge Nipissing University’s Office of Aboriginal Initiatives for also granting me permission to do research in my home community. Both were instrumental in supporting me in bringing forth Ininiw tipaachimowina (Cree stories). I would like to acknowledge and thank the Elder-in-residence at Nipissing University, John Sawyer, for sharing his tipaachimowina with me. Your guidance throughout this process has been invaluable and has made my journey at the graduate level that much easier. I would like to acknowledge and thank my very good friends Melissa and Jennifer for listening to my trials and tribulations while going through this process. Thank you Melissa for taking the time to read and edit many of the chapters in this research. I would also like to acknowledge and thank my supervisor, Dr. John Long, whose guidance and wisdom have truly been invaluable. I am grateful for your feedback and ongoing support. I would like to acknowledge and thank Dr. Katrina Srigley for hiring me many years ago as a research assistant and for continuing to include me in your research endeavours. Your guidance and support throughout the years have truly made this work possible. To my external examiner, Dr. Carly Dokis, thank you for believing in me and for supporting this work. I would like to acknowledge and thank the late Stan Lawlor Jr., Dr. Steven High, Dr. Peter Cook, and Dr. David Calverley for their love of history, which laid the groundwork in my undergraduate years at Nipissing University in my seeking and sharing tipaachimowina as a graduate student. This research was made possible by Mushkegowuk Employment and Training Services of Mushkegowuk Council in Moose Factory, Ontario. I wish to thank them for their support. Kichii miigwetch (Thank you very much). vii TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER ONE Significance of Research Topic ............................................................................................... 5 CHAPTER TWO Historiography & Theoretical Orientation ............................................................................... 6 CHAPTER THREE Re-Assessing Residential Schools ........................................................................................ 14 CHAPTER FOUR Recovering from Residential Schools ................................................................................... 20 CHAPTER FIVE Cree Enculturation ................................................................................................................... 24 CHAPTER SIX Cree Residential School Survivor Accounts ......................................................................... 30 CHAPTER SEVEN Tipaachimowina (Stories) as Methodology ........................................................................... 35 CHAPTER EIGHT Nikaawii Otipaachimowina (My Mother’s Stories) ................................................................ 43 CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................................... 55 APPENDIX Cree Glossary .......................................................................................................................... 58 BIBLIOGRAPHY ....................................................................................................................... 60 1 INTRODUCTION A Fond Memory He stood motionless on the riverbank for what seemed to me like an eternity. The cool wind pressed up against his rough-tanned leathery skin, his lean body stood tall and firm on the ground beneath him. His faded green trousers, a Northern Store special, danced on command with the soft mystical wind. He stood in a trance as if there was nothing he could do but obey the wind. Something caught his eye and he looked off to his far left. His eyes instantly became small slits as he squinted in the direction of the mysterious something in the river beyond. My gaze automatically switched to the waterfront and gained my undivided attention. A small white speck swished in and out of the water beyond our reach. It disappeared and magically reappeared as if to prove its existence to all the onlookers. I later learned from my grandfather that it had been a beluga whale. The mysterious, white whale swam through our river en route to the bay. The grand waters there offered freedom and unlimited movement. Whales are seldom seen swimming in the Attawapiskat River. I never saw that whale again; perhaps it chose to hide from my view. On that day many years ago, I can still remember my grandfather’s words of wisdom as he spoke to me (in Cree): “High above, up in the sky is where our Creator is, and he is the one who makes choices for us living beings on earth.” He paused and looked up to the sky, then returned to me. “We are not always free to do what we want, just like the animals.” I stood beside him and listened carefully. He cleared his throat and continued. “This world we live in is sometimes strange, but when we believe in the Creator high above, then we have nothing to fear. So long as we trust in the Creator.” I often heard of my grandfather speak about this being, and wondered whether that being heard him. I knew, deep within, that whatever my grandfather spoke was true.1 This is a memory from my childhood, living with my grandparents in Attawapiskat, Ontario. It exemplifies the way in which Ininiwuk (Cree people) share tipaachimowina (stories). Tipaachimowina come to Ininiwuk in many ways. Some come through sharing stories, through the lived experience and memories of being on the land or by interacting with others, and sometimes they come to us in our dreams. Tipaachimowina inform who I am and how I make sense of the world. Tipaachimowina are my knowledge, guidance, and wisdom. This thesis examines how Canada’s policy on Indian education under the Indian Act tried to extinguish Indian ways of preserving and practicing our traditional ways.2 With the introduction of residential schools, children were removed from their families and traditional 1 Lorraine