Author Archives: troymoore

About troymoore

Librarian/Teacher at Correlieu Secondary School.

Residential Schools – Part 2 – Project

Weblog to Research Statement – Part 2

I posted one prior to this (although for some reason I was posting in last year’s blog…I should pay attention to dates), however after discussion with Heather and her trepidation about interviews and their ability to be collected ethically and the fact that I would have needed to go through the ethics committee, I have not changed topics but have changed some format and made so tweaks…so without further adieu….

The St. Joseph’s Mission School (also know as Cariboo Residential School, or St. Joseph’s Residential School)

One of Canada’s longest running residential schools, St. Joseph’s also has one of the most horrific pasts. In May of this year, survivors met for a reunion and the laying of two monuments to remember the past.

I began in the Cariboo district about 8 years and one of my first jobs was to teach social studies. One of the units was on residential schooling. I didn’t particularly care for the textbook’s explanation , nor did seem localized. I began a discussion with one of the local Aboriginal Education teachers and was told of two local residential schools. After some preliminary research I began to teach the unit. Low and behold several of my students had relatives or knew someone who had gone to either the Nazko School or St. Joseph’s. The stories the kids told me of their family members and the plight they faced was harrowing.

In June of 2008, Stephen Harper stood in front of the nation and apologized for the misdeeds of government. He offered solace, understanding, and reparations. The implications of residential schools are still not fully realized. The distrust of schooling as a result of residential schools will take generations to overcome, if ever. The toll these schools took on families is profound and slowly families rebuild. However, the toll took on individuals will never be understood. Lives were destroyed.

St. Joseph’s is one of the few schools to have criminal charges stem from its treatment, yet the public outcry was muffled. People talk of the school, and know survivors, but the conversation is muted. I plan to research the residential school in BC, with a focus on St. Joseph’s. By learning the past, I hope to understand my students better and improve their future.

My project will consist of a movie which chronicles a brief history of residential schools in BC. Then the history and allegations of St. Joseph’s will be examined. Finally, the third part will examine what has come out as a result of the apology and the lawsuits, such as the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. I will look at possible obstacles that still need to be overcome.

I look forward to comments or feedback.

Module 2 – Weblog 5 – Abuse and Cover-up

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Weblog (Mod 2 – WL5)

http://www.nwac.ca/sites/default/files/reports/InstitutionalAbusePublicResponse.pdf

This website from the Native Women’s Association of Canada, in 1992, and it documents how the government refuses to look into residential schools and call for an inquiry.

It focuses on schools which have faced allegations of sexual abuse and the redress as a result. These include: Mount Cashel by the Newfoundland government, the Ontario government’s investigation into the St. Joseph’s Training School for Boys, and the British Columbia government’s inquiry into the Jericho Hill School for the Deaf.

At the time of the documentation, only St. Joseph’s in Williams Lake had an active RCMP investigation into the sexual abuse at the school. Two convictions were handed down, but at that time no inquiry was made into the school, no arranged of compensation offered, and, as the document points out, no real outcry from the non-Native community.

The document points out that in addition to the government refusing to inquire or apologize for the residential school, churches have not been much more forthcoming than the government. Although some churches have apologized, no compensation has been made available.

The four aforementioned schools are discussed, at length, by the article, but it is the Williams Lake school much brought me here. In 1989, Father Harold McIntee was convicted of sexually assaulting 17 boys over a 25 year period at the school. One year later, Brother Doughty (a Roman Catholic official) was convicted of 5 counts of gross indecency and indecent assault, for instances that occurred between 1961 and 1967.

The article also documents a study done by Roland Chrisjohn from Guelph University on the graduates of St. Joseph’s was published and I will try to get my hands on it for my project.

One facet of the article intrigued me about St. Joseph’s. The article states Williams Lake was more concerned about the lumber market that the residential school. I will delve into that a little more and see f there is any substance to that allegation. If so, I wonder if was collective shame that caused that response. A school with that many students and things like that happening over a long time period, the people in the Cariboo had to know, right?

I will use this document in my research to outline the government’s slow response to addressing the concerns of the survivors of residential school and the silence they tried to buy with $16 million dollars.

Moore

Module 2 – Weblog 4 – St. Joseph’s: An Overview

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Weblog (Mod 2 – WL4)

http://irsr.ca/williams-lake-indian-residential-school/

This website is a brief overview of the Williams Lake residential school a.k.a St. Joseph’s Mission.

The school opened in 1886 and operated until 1981, a span of 96 years. Therefore, it is very safe to assume that many families in this region were deeply affected and many families had more than one relative attend. My neighbour’s mother was a student at this school. The stories I have heard are absolutely heart-wrenching.

I do know that 23 counts of sexual abuse were laid against three individuals at the school, including Bishop Hubert O’Connor. However, that will need to be researched further to find corroborating evidence. It does speak volumes to the types of atrocities faced there. In addition, hair was cut and clothes changed upon arrival at the school. Families were also cut apart according to gender. Parent visitation was not allowed, children were allowed one month per summer off. It is also alleged (not in this documentation, but in others I have found) that if Native tongue was spoken it resulted in serious beatings.

At the height of capacity, in the 1950s the school had over 300 students. Things were so deplorable that 2 boys committed suicide and 8 attempted. There are reported grave sites on the school site as under the foundation of a tunnel structure, which gives credence to claims that more deaths occurred during the school’s tenure.

from http://irsr.ca/williams-lake-indian-residential-school/

I don’t think I will use this website in my project, but it did provide some very interesting background. Moreover, realizing the size of the school and its years of operation, so much of the Cariboo must be touched by this tragedy.

Moore

Module 2 – Weblog 3 Residential School Settlement

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Weblog (Mod 2 – WL3)

http://www.residentialschoolsettlement.ca/english_index.html

This website contains the entire decision for the class action lawsuit in which the government and the churches were sued by survivors of the residential schools. The website also contains a claim form so people who were unaware or for hardship reasons can still file a claim. Currently, Mistassini hostels are the focus of the claims.

What makes this site interesting is that it offers monthly updates to the claims put forth so far. The following data is directly from the site:

Update for June 5, 2013:

The Indian Residential Schools Adjudication Secretariat has posted updated statistics including details such as the amount of claims received and total compensation distributed from September 19, 2007 to April 30, 2013:

Total number of claims received:	37,767
Total number of claims resolved:	20,855
Total number of claims in progress:	16,912
Total number of hearings held:	16,968
Total Compensation:	$1,974,000,000

The update can be viewed at www.iap-pei.ca.

The next status update will be available on July 3, 2013.

The website also offers appeal forms to those who may need them. It also lists all the schools that applied to be a part of the process including the school I will focus on: St. Joseph’s.

Cariboo (St. Joseph’s, Williams Lake) St. Joseph’s Missions (Mission)

CARIBOO-ST. JOESPH’S

British Columbia Williams Lake Already Included in Settlement

Agreement

Identified as IRS #34 on CEP and IAP

I plan to use this to show the process the survivors of St. Joseph’s went through and to see if any compensation was given. This is all part of the documentation process of St. Joseph’s.

The formating on this one seems a little wonky when cut and pasted from my documents, must be due to the table…my apologies.

Moore

Module 2 – Weblog 2 The Truth and Reconciliation Commission

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Weblog (Mod. 2 – WL 2)

http://www.trc.ca/websites/trcinstitution/index.php?p=3

This is the website of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada.

The TRC has a mandate to learn the truth of what happened in residential schools and to pass that information on to all of Canada. They follow records, interview survivors, talk to operators, essentially gathering all the information they can on the residential school experience.

They were over 130 residential schools located all across Canada, with the last closing in BC in 1984. 1,000s of British Columbians were affected by the tragedy. Often having school aged children taken against their will. In 2008, the Assembly of First Nations and Inuit took the government and churches to court, leading the largest class-action settlement in Canadian history. In June of 2008, Prime Minister Stephen Harper formally apologized on behalf of the Government of Canada.

In addition to gathering background information, the TRC is also responsible for hosting several national events each year and supporting education around this subject. Recently, the TRC has also supported the Missing Children Research Project. In fact, their mandate is extremely comprehensive.

However, perhaps the best part of this website is the expansive list of websites and links. It connects the user with numerous Aboriginal groups and Government websites to assist in research.

This is definitely a website I plan on using in the project. It will most likely be used to show what the government has done in light of the court cases and to highlight some of the material they found.

Moore

Weblog Module 2 – WL1 – St. Joseph’s memorial

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Weblog (Module 2 – WL 1)

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2013/04/24/bc-st-josepho-memorial.html

This website is from the CBC and discusses the reunion of survivors of the St. Joseph’s residential school (also known as Williams Lake Indian Residential School and Williams Lake Industrial School). Closed in 1981, the school was one of the last operating residential schools in BC. The article calls for plans for a monument for survivors in the spot of the school, which has been torn down and a monument in a Williams Lake park to honour the children that died at this school.

However, there is also a link on the page to a 8 and a half minute radio interview with Andy Brice, who is the great grandson of Peter Henderson Brice, who was hired to be a health official for a smallpox outbreak. He did a 3 year study and found that Residential schools in Ontario were so bad that tuberculosis was found in up to 75% of students. Other suggestions included better nutrition, heating and ventilation.

1922 – ‘Story of a National Crime’ published. It discussed deplorable conditions in Residential Schools that Brice had seen. The pamphlet by Brice, was less than stellarly received.

This story links the deplorable conditions in BC to the deplorable conditions in Ontario and show Residential schools to be a national problem at the turn of the century.

I will use the information in my paper on Residential schools, with a focus on St. Joseph’s , to demonstrate what the city is doing as reparations.

Moore