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Report on the Indian schools of Manitoba and the North-West Territories cover

Report on the Indian schools of Manitoba and the North-West Territories

Chapter 5: THE BOARDING SCHOOLS.
By P. H. Bryce
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About This Book

A detailed account traces the development of mission and government-run schools for Indigenous children in Manitoba and the Northwest Territories, beginning with early missionary day schools and extending to boarding and industrial institutions. It summarizes denominational involvement, treaty commitments, and federal grants across several decades and tabulates expenditures by school type. The report evaluates physical conditions, staffing, attendance rules, building materials and sanitation, and examines pupils’ health and the medical oversight provided, concluding with observations about deficiencies and needs for improved accommodation, inspection, and administrative support.

THE CONDITION OF THE SCHOOLS ON INSPECTION.

According to instructions I visited the industrial and boarding schools of Manitoba and the Territories, during the months of March, April and May, inspecting 35 in all and omitting the Pine Creek and Sandy Bay boarding schools in Manitoba, and those of Kenora and Cecilia Jeffrey in Ontario, which could not be reached on account of freshets and ice. Neither were the schools at Fort Chipewyan and Wabiscow Lake visited. Summarized details with regard to the several schools will be found in tables VII. and VIII. of this report, and in yet more detail in the original notes herewith transmitted. As might be expected from the history of the schools, very great differences exist, first in the age and character of the buildings, and secondly in the internal school and dormitory space and in their sanitary and general equipment. But as regards the general efficiency and even the health of the children, it has been found that the extent of the buildings, and even the number of the staff, are by no means necessarily the measure of the success of any particular school either as regards the numbers in attendance, the health of the pupils or the discipline and effectiveness of the schools.

THE INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS.

The industrial schools now in operation, the details of the inspection of which will be found in table VII., appended to this report, are eight in number, and, as has been already pointed out, have been carried on, some of them since 1884 at the cost of the government, and with a large aggregate annual expenditure. The total amount expended upon those in operation was $134,635.98 in 1905–6. The original idea seems to have been to have them fairly convenient to the railway, and yet at points about which there would be a group of reserves, and from which their pupils were to be drawn.

As has been already statistically pointed out, there has been a very notable falling off in the number of pupils since 1901, and this tendency seems rather to increase than diminish. The reasons seem chiefly to be:—

  1. The distance of the schools from the reserves.
  2. The ineffectiveness of the staff in several instances.
  3. The lack in practical success of the pupils after graduation.
  4. The dependence of the number of pupils upon the co-operation of the staffs of the boarding schools and upon the canvassing activity of the principals of the industrial schools.
  5. The lack of interest of Indian agents in schools at great distances from their particular reserves.
  6. The dislike of the parents to have their children so far from home.
  7. The great increase and enlargement of the boarding schools on or near the reserves.

With, perhaps, the exception of that of Brandon school, every principal expressed the same opinion regarding the difficulty of obtaining and retaining pupils, and all seem to feel that the obligation, in practice if not in theory, which is placed upon them of gathering pupils is not only disagreeable, but is further one which takes them from their proper duties as administrators of the school. However much force there may be in this contention, the fact yet remains that it is only in four instances, those of Qu’Appelle, High River, Brandon and Elkhorn, that the schools as regards either numbers or effectiveness can be said to have held their own, and that it is only in these that efficient staffs, energetic principals and good discipline are to be found. When so remarkable and successful a principal as Rev. Father Naessens, of High River, has to say that he finds it difficult to maintain the number of his pupils, although situated within the area whence he can draw from three of the largest reserves, the Blackfeet, Bloods and Peigans, on all of which there are Roman Catholic boarding schools, and when he says he is now convinced that his school in order to do the best for his pupils, ought, contrary to his former view, to be situated on or adjoining some reserve, it seems evident that with boarding schools increasing in numbers and in efficiency, the successful continuation of the industrial schools under the present form must become increasingly difficult and expensive.

THE BOARDING SCHOOLS.

The origin and history of these schools, which have grown up as it were between the two original types of schools, the day and the industrial, is most interesting and instructive. The details of the inspection of these schools will be found in table VIII., appended to this report. A reference to table I will show that in 1886 scarcely a single boarding school existed and that to-day we find their number to be 38, with a total cost to the department of $98,688, and the total pupils 1905–6, 1,739 as compared with (see tables III. and IV.) 694 in 74 day schools, and 693 in 8 industrial schools. It seems evident, therefore, that there are in these boarding schools some strong essentially vital forces which have enabled them to force their way into their present dominant position. Summarized, these seem to be:—

  1. Their location on, or in immediate proximity to, some Indian reserve.
  2. That with a few exceptions they have attached to them considerable tracts of land, and are engaged in some instances even more successfully than the industrial schools in agricultural operations and practical outdoor work.
  3. That their principals or some members of their establishment, being usually missionaries, are more or less constantly and closely in touch with the parents, whose children are to keep up the supply of pupils, and who, if they be of the right spirit, are constantly cultivating an interest in and sympathy for the school amongst the members of the band, such as is impossible for the principals of industrial schools unassociated with the reserves and long distances from them.
  4. The influence of a good master and spiritual adviser follows him, the pupil, to the reserve, where he is encouraged and directed in establishing himself in his future occupation on the reserve.
  5. The usually smaller schools, less complex in their organization, possess more of the elements of the family life of a home, and necessarily the influence of the principal, matron and staff is greater in the degree that their personality enters into the life of the pupil.