Kuper Island Indian Residential School
June 19, 1941 view of Kuper Island Indian Residential School
Location
Kuper Island, British Columbia

Canada
Information
TypeCanadian Indian residential school
Religious affiliation(s)Catholic
Established1889[1]
Closed1975[1]
AuthorityCatholic Church in Canada
OversightCrown–Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada
LanguageEnglish

The Kuper Island Indian Residential School, also known as Kuper Island Indian Industrial School, was a Canadian Indian residential school located on Kuper Island (now known as Penelakut Island), near Chemainus, British Columbia, that operated from 1889 to 1975.[2] The school was operated by the Roman Catholic Church, with funding from the Department of Indian Affairs.[3]

According to a controversial publication,[4] the Dorchester Review, attendance was voluntary with the exception of a period between 1920 and 1948.[5] It has also been asserted that attendance was mandatory for children from the then-Cowichan Indian Agency and adjacent Coast Salish peoples. CBC's Ombudsman, in reviewing a complaint regarding language related to residential school attendance, cited the 2008 Statement of apology to former students of Indian Residential Schools[6]: "the residential school system was intended to “remove and isolate children from the influence of their homes, families, traditions and culture” further supports the idea that residential school attendance was involuntary."[7]

On 12 July 2021, the Penelakut First Nation announced that more than 160 unmarked graves had been found on the grounds and foreshore of the former institution.

History

The school opened in 1889.[1][2] In 1896, a poll found that 107 of the 264 students who had attended the school had died.[1][2] The cancellation of holidays at the school led students to try to burn it down in 1896.[1][2] In 1922 a school inspector wrote that “The Indians are inclined to boycott this school on account of so many deaths.”[8]

In 1959 sisters Beverly and Patricia Marilyn Joseph drowned while trying to escape the school.[1][9]

In 1969 the federal government of Canada took over the school, and closed it starting in 1975.[3] The school building was demolished in the 1980s.[3]

The school was nicknamed "Alcatraz" or "Canada's Alcatraz", after the American prison, due to its remote island location and the difficulty of escape.[8][10]

Administration

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Victoria was the first operator of the school, with Rev. G. Donekele acting as principal from 1890 to February 1907.[3][11] P. Claessen and Bishop W. Lemmens of the Missionaries of the Company of Mary (Montfort Missionaries) replaced Donekele after his death in 1907.[3][11] By 1957, the Oblates of Mary Immaculate were listed as the operators of the school. In 1969 the Canadian federal government assumed management.[3]

Experiences of survivors

Experiences of some who attended the Kuper Island Residential School have been shared publicly through media.[9][12]

Qwul'sih'yah'maht, Robina Anne Thomas, looked at experiences of three former students of the institution from Halalt First Nation and Cowichan Tribes through a storytelling methodology in her social work thesis.[13]

No time to say goodbye: Children's stories of Kuper Island Residential School [14] by Sylvia Olsen with Rita Morris and Ann Sam is a fictional account of five children sent to the school, based on the recollections of a number of Tsartlip First Nations people.

In the Elder Project no. 19, The Rivers Where We Sing,[15] a number of Elders make reference to their experiences as former residential school students.

In 1995 Oblate Brother Glen Doughty pled guilty to three charges of indecent assault and gross indecency for offences committed at Kuper Island Residential School between 1967 and 1968.[16]

A 1998 film, Kuper Island: Return to the Healing Circle, explored effects of the institution and healing journeys of survivors twenty years after it closed.[17] In 2022, the filmmaker returned to make a follow-up documentary, Penelakut: Returning to the Healing Circle, to look at changes in the intervening period, and the experiences of intergenerational survivors.[18]

In May 2022, a CBC podcast series by Duncan McCue explored the stories of four children who attended the institution,[19] with sources that included police investigations and coroner's reports, in addition to interviews with abusers and community members.[20]

Also in May 2022, Penelakut Elder Raymond Tony Charlie published a book, In The Shadow of the Red Brick Building, relating his experiences at the Kuper Island institution and at St. Mary's residential school in Mission, BC.[21][22][23] In July 2021 he shared a poem about healing that he wrote for survivors of the schools.[24]

Other accounts have been the subject of controversy, including that in 1930, German doctors are alleged to have arrived to inject large syringes into the chest of some students, resulting in several deaths. While author Terry Glavin wrote in 2008 that there is "not a shred of evidence" for some such assertions,[25] since then new application of technology such as ground penetrating radar confirms community knowledge of some past events. With calls for the release of records related to Kuper Island and other institutions accelerating early in 2021, additional information may be forthcoming.

Unmarked graves

In 2018, Penelakut Chief and Council and Elders' Committee met with researchers from the University of British Columbia to discuss possible identification of unmarked graves using ground-penetrating radar (GPR). This work would build on previous GPR surveys conducted in known cemeteries in the community.[26] In the context of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission: Calls to Action,[27] these conversations sought to ensure that the work occurs in a community-led way.[26]

On 12 July 2021, Penelakut Chief and leadership sent a letter to neighbouring tribes and organizations, confirming that more than 160 undocumented and unmarked graves had been found on their grounds and foreshore.[28][29][30]

Community Responses

With the release of information about unmarked burials at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School in Spring 2021, a group of residential school survivors launched a fundraising campaign to support the search for unmarked graves at the former Kuper Island institution and at other Vancouver Island residential school sites.[31][32][28] The original goal of the fundraiser was met, with additional funds going to Ahousaht and Snuneymuxw First Nations to support ground-penetrating radar searches at sites in their territories.[33]

As a response to emerging news related residential schools through Spring 2021, including the Kuper Island institution, Penelakut Elders Ray Tony Charlie and Florence James led a listening circle to focus on support, learning, and healing.[34] The virtual gathering on June 30, 2021 was hosted by the Centre for Global Studies and the POLIS Project on Ecological Governance at the University of Victoria, and was attended by 180 people.[35]

On August 2, 2021 Penelakut First Nation held the Spune’luxutth Sulxwe’en Memorial Walk (or March for the Children) in the neighbouring town of Chemainus, BC. Representatives from several Island First Nations attended, as did a handful from areas around the Lower Mainland and interior of B.C., together with school trustees, local representatives of government, and university researchers who have partnered with Penelakut First Nation in their search for information regarding unmarked burials.[36] In spite of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the march was attended by thousands from across Vancouver Island and the province of British Columbia.[37] The march was followed on August 4 by healing sessions held in the Penelakut community for residential school and intergenerational survivors.[38]

See Also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 NCTR Archives (22 January 2021). "Kuper Island Residential School". NCTR Archives.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Chan, Adam (1 June 2021). "More than 200 students died at Vancouver Island's 5 residential schools". ctvnews.ca.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Kuper Island Indian Industrial School - RBCM Archives". search-bcarchives.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca.
  4. ↑ "Social media post depicting residential school children 'having an absolute blast' causes outrage | Globalnews.ca". Global News. Retrieved 7 July 2023.
  5. ↑ |url=https://www.dorchesterreview.ca/blogs/news/two-thirds-did-not-attend
  6. ↑ "Statement of apology to former students of Indian Residential Schools". 3 November 2008. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  7. ↑ "https://cbc.radio-canada.ca/en/ombudsman/reviews/When_does_something_become_fact". cbc.radio-canada.ca. Retrieved 7 July 2023. {{cite web}}: External link in |title= (help)
  8. 1 2 "Why so many children died at Indian Residential Schools". nationalpost.
  9. 1 2 "TRC report: 5 stories of residential school escapees who died". cbc.ca.
  10. ↑ "'There has to be more': Vancouver Island residential school survivor mourns bodies found at Kamloops school". ctvnews.ca. 28 May 2021.
  11. 1 2 "Pioneer Priest Passed Away" (PDF). Victoria Daily Times. 30 May 1907.
  12. ↑ "'There has to be more': Vancouver Island residential school survivor mourns bodies found at Kamloops school". CTV News. 28 May 2021. Retrieved 1 July 2021.
  13. ↑ Qwul'si'yah'maht (Thomas, R. A.). (2000). Storytelling in the spirit of wise woman: Experiences of Kuper Island Residential School. University of Victoria. Retrieved from: https://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk2/ftp01/MQ52810.pdf
  14. ↑ Olsen, Sylvia (2001). No time to say goodbye : children's stories of Kuper Island Residential School. Rita Morris, Ann Sam. Victoria, B.C.: Sono Nis Press. ISBN 1-55039-121-6. OCLC 47691137.
  15. ↑ Ladysmith Secondary. (2018). The Rivers Where We Sing. The Elder Project, no. 19. ISBN 978-1-7751596-3-6. Retrieved from: https://nebula.wsimg.com/630593259521b2d7f7229605f4c63b1d?AccessKeyId=3DFB717728396FCABE8E&disposition=0&alloworigin=1
  16. ↑ "Oblate Brother jailed four months for kid-sex crimes." Times Colonist, April 15, 1995, C8.
  17. ↑ Campbell, Peter (1998), Kuper Island ~ Return to the Healing Circle, retrieved 6 July 2021
  18. ↑ "New film festival shines light on Vancouver Island Indigenous stories". Victoria News. 24 February 2022. Archived from the original on 25 February 2022. Retrieved 30 September 2022.
  19. ↑ McCue, Duncan. "Kuper Island". Kuper Island. CBC. Retrieved 24 May 2022.
  20. ↑ "Unravelling the legacy of Kuper Island, one of Canada's most notorious residential schools". [CBC] Podcast News. 16 May 2022. Archived from the original on 20 May 2022. Retrieved 24 May 2022.
  21. ↑ Bannister, Kelly (22 December 2020). "Coast Salish Elder is Out of the Shadow and Into the Light". Chemainus Valley Courier. Archived from the original on 22 December 2020. Retrieved 22 July 2021.
  22. ↑ Charlie, Raymond Tony (2022). In The Shadow Of The Red Brick Building. Askew Creek Publishing. ISBN 978-1999148119.
  23. ↑ Mehta, Shalu (29 September 2022). "'I will continue to talk' says Coast Salish Elder and residential 'school' survivor Raymond Tony Charlie". The Discourse. Archived from the original on 30 September 2022. Retrieved 30 September 2022.
  24. ↑ Charlie, Raymond Tony. (2021-07-22). The Discourse: Cowichan This Week. Retrieved from: https://mailchi.mp/thediscourse/cowichan-this-week-10363300
  25. ↑ Glavin, Terry (30 April 2008). "Truth and Native Abuse". The Tyee.
  26. 1 2 Meloche, Chelsea H.; Spake, Laure; Nichols, Katherine L. (29 November 2020). Working with and for Ancestors: Collaboration in the Care and Study of Ancestral Remains. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-000-24581-3.
  27. ↑ Truth and Reconciliation Commission. (2012). Truth and reconciliation commission: Calls to action. Winnipeg: Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Retrieved from: http://trc.ca/assets/pdf/Calls_to_Action_English2.pdf
  28. 1 2 Schisler, Cole (12 July 2021). "More than 160 unmarked graves found near former residential school on Penelakut". Ladysmith Chronicle. Archived from the original on 13 July 2021. Retrieved 26 July 2021.
  29. ↑ "More Than 160 Additional Indigenous Graves Have Been Found In Canada". NPR.org.
  30. ↑ "Former Native Residential School: Over 160 Graves Found on Kuper Island". The Canadian. 13 July 2021. Archived from the original on 13 July 2021. Retrieved 13 July 2021.
  31. ↑ Kloster, Darron (2 June 2021). "Survivors raising funds to scan grounds of Island residential schools for unmarked graves". Times Colonist. Retrieved 1 July 2021.
  32. ↑ "Indigenous-Led GoFundMe Campaign Raises Money to Purchase Ground Penetrating Radar Technology." (June 21, 2021).The Vancouver Sun (Online). Retrieved from: https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/indigenous-led-gofundme-campaign-raises-money-to-purchase-ground-penetrating-radar-technology
  33. ↑ Chadwick, Julie (16 September 2021). "Community helps fund search of former Nanaimo "Indian Hospital" grounds". The Discourse. Archived from the original on 24 September 2021. Retrieved 30 September 2021.
  34. ↑ A Virtual Listening Circle with Coast Salish Elders Florence James & Ray Tony Charlie, retrieved 30 September 2021
  35. ↑ Ronson, Jacqueline (24 July 2021). "By listening, 'you can help us with the pain.'". The Discourse. Archived from the original on 25 July 2021. Retrieved 30 September 2021.
  36. ↑ Fry, Greg (2 August 2021). "VIDEO: Massive march honours missing children from former Penelakut residential school". CKPGToday.ca. Archived from the original on 5 August 2021. Retrieved 30 September 2021.
  37. ↑ Lloyd, Eric (3 August 2021). "Thousands march for Penelakut Tribe following discovery of unmarked graves". Vancouver Island. Archived from the original on 29 September 2021. Retrieved 30 September 2021.
  38. ↑ McKenzie, Anna (4 August 2021). "In photos: Thousands march in Chemainus, BC, to support victims and survivors of Kuper Island School". The Toronto Star. ISSN 0319-0781. Archived from the original on 4 August 2021. Retrieved 30 September 2021.
  39. ↑ Ginn, Audrey M. (1991). "The New England Company on Kuper Island" (PDF). B.C. Historical News. Summer: 10–11 – via UBC Library.
  40. ↑ "A welcome to Penelakut Island part 2". KAIROS Canada. 24 October 2011. Retrieved 30 September 2021.

Further reading

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