Indigenous Studies: The History Of St. Michaels Residential School

The following text below will talk about a specific residential school located in British Columbia. As of many other residential schools, unfortunately the tragic events that took place at this residential school followed the same faith as of many other residential schools. The events that took place left many traumatized. Being torn apart from your family and isolated from your culture, is not the easiest thing to deal with.

St. Michaels Residential School is the name of the Indain Residential School I chose. St. Michaels is located in Alert Bay on Cormorant Island, British Columbia. St. Michaels operated through 1894 to 1974. St. Michaels was first structured as two separate buildings, one for the girls and one for the boys. Eventually, St Michael’s was then converted into a three-story building, in 1929. During the school’s operations, it to me seemed that St. Michaels was never really re-located. It just has always been in Alert Bay.St. Michaels operated from 1894 to 1974.

The following is sort f a timeline of St. Michaels operations. In 1968, it was the last year for Anglican administration. Them in 1969, Indian Affairs takes over St. Michaels. Following that was 1974, when St. Michaels was then turned over to the Nimpkish Band. After that in 1975, the building gained administrative use for the ‘Namgis First Nations. Just a few years ago on February 2015, St. Michaels Indian Residential School was torn down. The hope that those bad experiences would be removed from those who had attended the school. Some students would face sexual, physical, phycological abuse, even sometimes torture. These were just a few of the incidents that took place at St. Michaels. During piecing together, St. Michaels operations over the years. It brought great difficulty for me to really find what really these residential school students really faced during their day to day life at St. Michaels.

The Anglican Church of Canada, were the ones who were really in charge of day to day operations at St. Michaels. Around the year of 1882, A person named James Hall built a mansion house for the native children. It initially started as a day school that turned into a residential school. St. Michaels was imposed upon the land of the Namgis Territory. The Namgis peoples were apart of the Kwakwaka band. In which, they spoke the Kwakwaka language. The language spoken was the most general item I could find about the Kwakwaka peoples. Finding their culture, values, beliefs and contributions was a bit more difficult to find.

Children from the Namgis Fisrt Nation/Nimpkish band attended these schools. Most of these children came from local reserves. Finding information on students who attended St. Michaels was a bit scarce. Many survivors were forced out of their homes to attend these residential schools. If they disobeyed any rules, they were punished. Many were afraid of running away because they knew they would get a harder punishment. There was sexual abuse that affected the female students. Usually, it was the priests who would participate in these activities.

Many of these residential students faced darkness, loneliness and hunger. They never really given any love in these residential schools, or have even been given that adult figure. Many who attended these schools spoke only the Kwakwaka language. Eventually, many of them didn’t get a chance to fully learn the language or practice their culture. Now they are trying to revive their language and culture. Many families had trauma passed down generation to generation. To deal with this matter, prayers, songs and speeches are held. The Kwakwaka’s had built rich land and created their culture. The community is filled with flowers, totems, canoes, and masks. The most important to the Kwakwaka was their songs and dances that spread great knowledge.

The physical conditions at St. Michael’s were not efficient enough to provide for these students. Many students had caught diseases such as tuberculosis. This could have been prevented but the government had no interest in providing for these students. It was difficult to find the number of casualties at this Indian residential school. Another obstacle was trying to find stories of those, if any, that ran away form St. Michaels. In Conclusion, these points above support my research paper on St. Michaels Indian Residential School.

Going through what they have to go through, took a traumatic toll on them. As of today, those former students who attended, St Michael, are trying to vent out their past. Due to assimilation, those who lost their culture and mother tongue, are striving to learn it, and are encouraged to do so. There is still a lot of information I do not know, neither do the indigenous. For example, the number of casualties, what were the lives like for those students? There is still a lot more to be answered, this research paper is just the beginning.

Bibliography:

1. http://www2.uregina.ca/education/saskindianresidentialschools/st-michaels-indian-residential-school-duck-lake/
2. https://www.anglican.ca/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Alert
3. Bay.pdfHyslop, K. (2015, February 18). Marking the End of a 'Dark Era'. Retrieved from https://thetyee.ca/News/2015/02/18/End-of-Dark-Era/
4. Minsky, A. (2015, June 02). In their words: What residential school survivors told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Retrieved from https://globalnews.ca/news/2031617/in-their-words-what-residential-school-survivors-told-the-truth-and-reconciliation-commission/
5. Tammemagi, H. (2018, January 05). The Horror of St. Michaels Residential School. Retrieved from https://roadstories.ca/st-michaels-residential-school/
6. St. Michael's Indian Residential School. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://eugenicsarchive.ca/database/documents/526dc75edc1dc8b86500002b'
7. Namgis First Nation. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.namgis.bc.ca/namgis-culture-history/
8. Photographs St. Michael's Indian Residential School. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://eugenicsarchive.ca/discover/institutions/residential/526dc75edc1dc8b86500002b
9. G. Alert Bay, B.C., residential school to be demolished. Retrieved from https://globalnews.ca/news/1831807/alert-bay-residential-school-to-be-demolished/
10. Tammemagi, H. (2018, January 05). The Horror of St. Michaels Residential School. Retrieved from https://roadstories.ca/st-michaels-residential-school/