Edmonton Residential School

Picture taken of the old Edmonton Residential school in St. Albert, circa. 1924 just around opening date.

The Edmonton Residential School , or also known as the Edmonton Industrial School was a Canadian residential school in St. Albert, Alberta. The school operated from 1924 to 1966 before going bankrupt. It was burned in 2000 by an individual before being removed entirely.

The site now operates as Poundmaker Lodge rehabilitation center, for Indigenous drug rehab. The school was the site of one of the largest-scale mutinies of children in 1961.

History

As the Red Deer Industrial School closed in 1919, so a new school run by the Methodist church was needed in Alberta for Treaty 6 First Nations. Old, church-built schools were being modernized by the federal government at the time. St. Albert was selected for its better proximity to Northern First Nations, The DIA confirmed the site in 1920 and built the 855-acre farm. Farming was immediately commenced to create financial compensation for the building, but money was quickly lost in the first 3 years. The DIA funded construction and the school began accepting kids ahead of its official opening date in October 1924.

At first, 125 children and 12 staff were accommodated. Many of its parents had been enrolled at Red Deer, even if not many of its initial kids had attended Red Deer before moving to Edmonton. Red Deer students had either graduated or transferred to other schools in the interim. After Red Deer closed, J.F. Woodsworth, the principal there, took over at Edmonton and stayed there until 1946.

Similar to Red Deer before it, Edmonton Residential School taught students in grades 1 through 8 in a half-day format, with instruction in the morning and agricultural training in the afternoon. Older boys would frequently spend all day on the farm during harvest season. By 1929, the farm had 500 acres under cultivation, divided into 40 acres of barley, 125 acres of oats, and 110 acres of wheat. That year's potato crop yielded three thousand bushels. There were 15 horses, 59 cattle (dairy and beef), 135 pigs, 50 chickens, and 25 turkeys in the livestock by 1933. The farm helped support the school's finances during its existence. The majority of the food served at the school was made possible by the children's labor; wheat was ground there, and pigs and livestock were killed. The pigs were sold at the market, and Woodsworth leased many hundred acres to neighbors so they could sharecrop when there weren't enough elder boys in the school to farm the entire 500 acres. "Mr. Woodworth has turned hog farming into a legitimate company. One inspector stated, "He sells quite a few each year, and they are sold as'selects.'" However, it was discovered that the gathered grains had little value and were primarily fed to the animals. There was often conflict between the school and the kids, their parents, and the visiting inspectors because of the emphasis on farm work at the expense of academic learning. "I just went to school three days since I came here, that isn't why my father sent me here to work, he send me here to go to school and study hard, and to learn to read and write," wrote a youngster in 1930, pleading to be sent back home or moved to another school. The youngster said that he had not yet learnt "anything at all," thus he needed someone else to write the letter for him. In defense of the rigorous farm work that the pupils were required to perform, Principal Woodsworth contended that "farm education" was "the best kind of training they could have." Woodsworth frequently praised the Christian benefits of farming in his writings, a belief that mirrored the church's view that Native American hunters, trappers, and fishers should become Christian farmers. He applauded the school's administration for instilling in its students "discipline and restraint" and chastised parents who wanted their kids "suddenly to become fine scholars, after allowing them to run the streets of their villages until they are big boys and girls."

Until Principal Staley replaced Woodsworth in 1946 on the latter's retirement, the only form of vocational instruction available at the school was farming and ranching for boys and housework, for girls. "There would be no serf labor of pupils, no rationing of food, no drudgery work," Staley said. Rather, he said, "to improve the place with a high esprit de corps by supplying a good sports program and other entertainment." Staley did not, however, forsake the farm. He advised that the acreage under use for sharecropping be returned under school ownership. As a manual training project, he also planned to raise mink and have the lads build the cages at the school. The kids' academic performance at school kept getting worse. The inspector noted in 1949 that the kids only spent a portion of the school day in the classroom and that the focus was still on practical training rather than intellectual instruction. A scarcity of senior teachers was another issue facing the institution.

In 1953, Principal Findlay Barnes discontinued the use of student labor on the farm and abolished the half-day schedule. The school stopped farming in 1958, and the farm's livestock and tools were put up for public sale.

WW2

Government funding for schools nationwide was reduced and shortages occurred as a result of World War II, as resources and focus were shifted to the war effort. The pupils of Edmonton Residential School suffered from skin diseases as a result of the school's negligence during the war, which left it in desperate need of upkeep and cleanliness. Due to his dissatisfaction with the condition of the school, Principal Staley decided to postpone its 1946 opening until October in order to make necessary renovations and alterations to the building. Regarding Staley's suggested modifications, one inspector noted, "The Indians who have such great opposition to sending their children there might change their minds, and do so freely." Staley arranged for a provincial sanitation inspection, which resulted in recommendations for general facility redecorating, replacing numerous wash basins and toilets due to corrosion from safe use, replacing the septic tank and sewer pipes, enhancing the fire escapes, and replacing the entire set of mattresses because the old ones were lumpy and uncomfortable. Additionally, at the start of every school year, the provincial sanitary inspector suggested that two tubs be made accessible "to disinfect" new students. It was the aim of school administrators that these modifications would improve the school's appeal to the local community and parents, who had frequently voiced their displeasure with the unhygienic conditions there.

But not every issue with the school's sanitation was fixed by these upgrades. During a 1948 inspection, it was noted that the dormitories had just one toilet, no drinking taps, and an overused septic tank that resulted in a foul-smelling pool of water. Children's skin diseases had become widespread by the 1950s. The lack of washing stations was the subject of a complaint by Findlay Barnes, the new principal, to the DIA. "This means that if one child has an infectious skin ailment, then many of the other children are apt to contract the same disease," Barnes said.

Children from Gitxsan and Tsimshian communities in northern British Columbia were recruited by the school between 1928 and 1937 in order to fill spots and increase enrollment. During these years, around one third of the student body consisted of about 100 pupils from the neighboring province. According to most accounts, these kids went through a lot. They felt especially alone and vulnerable because of their distance, cultural differences, and the hostility they believed they had experienced from authorities as well as from the Albertan students. One student wrote, "All the B.C. boys hate this place." "Me and the other boys from British Columbia don't like the food we eat in our dining room; we can't even eat anything because we're not used to these kinds of food." Parents objected the long distances their kids had to travel, the school's focus on farming (which they felt was inappropriate for kids from fishing areas), and the strange meals their kids were eating. Principal Woodsworth and the DIA both acknowledged these allegations, but ultimately disregarded them. Wordsworth wrote to the DIA, "I fancy food is about the same in Alberta as in B.C." "We could give them some more often if fish were more plentiful, but right now they are in season." In response to the cost of bringing the children from British Columbia home for the holidays, the DIA decided to completely stop giving them holidays. For years, many parents did not see their kids.

The DIA advised stopping the practice of transporting children out of province in 1937 due to persistent community objections against it. "I am very unhappy with regard to the lack of progress made by the Indian pupils going to the Residential School near Edmonton," said G.H. Barry, district inspector of Indian Schools for British Columbia. According to what I've been informed, the Indians in British Columbia are not as familiar with the various goings-on there as the Indians in Alberta, who live on the other side of the Rocky Mountains. Barry thought that a better option for these kids would be the Anglican residential school at Alert Bay, on Vancouver Island. Principal Woodsworth acknowledged the proposal from the DIA, pointing out that the significant gap between the school and home had become a contentious topic.Possible solutions to the overcrowding included converting to a non-denominational school, accepting the upper-class Calgarian Morley Residential school kids, and appealing to northern-British Columbia. The school added a sixth full-day classroom to accommodate the increased students. Furthermore, the school consented to offer some Anglican services because a large number of the recruits were connected to the Anglican Church. The majority of students attending the schools between 1950 and 1968 were from the following communities: Babine Lake, Skeena River, Haida Gwaii, Terrace, Wuikinuxv (formerly known as Oweekano), Kitasoo, Bella Bella, and Bella Coola. For instance, 120 pupils at the Edmonton Residential School came from northern British Columbia in 1958. Of these children, half belonged to the United Church and the other half to the Anglican Church. Albertans made up the remaining twenty-four students. Two Inuit children were also registered in 1955. The friction Woodworth had noted in the 1930s quickly reappeared again. Principal Staley described the older lads from BC as "a bad lot." In a similar vein, Oliver Strapp, the principal from 1955 to 1960, stated that staff members found it challenging to manage the older pupils. He also mentioned "a definite antipathy" between the pupils from Alberta and British Columbia. Soon, allegations of misconduct were brought against the school.

Cemetery

The Indian Affairs Branch requested permission to build a tiny graveyard on the school grounds in 1946 to inter First Nation and Inuit people who had died at the nearby Camsell Hospital and whose northern homes were deemed too far away for them to visit for last resting places. The Edmonton Indian Agency Superintendent explained in 1965 that the cemetery held the remains of people who had passed away from Alberta and the Northwest Territories and whose families were unable to afford to send them back home. Despite being under the DIA's authority, officials stated that the United Church was responsible for the cemetery's spiritual support. Additionally, they relied on schoolchildren to assist with maintenance. "The boys at the School keep the grounds in reasonable condition for no remuneration, but they get paid for digging graves," Principal Barnes wrote in 1955, for example. The cemetery's final interment took place in 1966. Following the closure of Edmonton Residential School, the province promised to maintain and enhance the location and install a historical marker or commemorative plaque. In order to "reassure them that the old cemetery will be undisturbed as a result of the transfer of the land to provincial jurisdiction," the DIA suggested contacting the Indian Association of Alberta and the ancestors of those buried there, including Chief Sun. In 1979, the City of St. Albert took ownership of the graveyard when it annexed the area next to the school for a city cemetery and also included the graveyard itself.

Closure

By the late-50s authorities realized the school was no longer serving the interests of the region. It was becoming too expensive to import children and foster homes were becoming a better alternative. There was a struggle in the area because the school was overcrowded with Jasper Place imports, and limited foster homes in Edmonton. A committee ruled that the kids would eventually be integrated to the public school system. Farm operations should cease, and the United Church would be handed the students who needed institutional care. By June 1960- it was more a residence than a school.

Staffing was shortening and together the United Church and Jasper Place disowned the school of students. In 1968, it was closed. The abandoned building was destroyed by arson on July 16, 2000.