Muscowequan Indian Residential School facts for kids

The Muscowequan Indian Residential School was a special kind of school in Canada. It was part of a system that ran from 1889 to 1997. This school was located on the land of the Muskowekwan First Nation in Lestock, Saskatchewan.

As of 2021, this school building is the only one left standing in Saskatchewan. It's a three-story brick building, built in 1931 after an older one burned down. In 2018, it was put on a list of important places that need protection. Many people who went to the school want it to become a museum. They hope it can be a place to remember the past. In 2018, most former students voted to keep the building. In April 2021, it was officially named a national historic site.

History of the School

The Muscowequan Indian Residential School started as a mission school in 1884. It was called the Touchwood Hills Mission school. In 1886, it was made bigger to allow students to live there.

In 1888, the Canadian government began to help pay for students to stay at the school. From 1889 until June 30, 1997, it was run as an Indian Residential School by the Government of Canada.

The school was first on the Muskowekwan Reservation. In 1895, it moved to a building in Lestock. The government helped with this move. In 1924, the government bought the school's land. However, the Roman Catholic Church still ran the school. The Canadian government took over running the school in 1969.

Different religious groups were involved with the school over the years. These included the Oblates of Mary Immaculate and the Grey Nuns. In 1962, lay people (people who were not priests or nuns) started teaching. The school later became a place where students lived while attending other schools.

In 1973, a group of leaders from seven local First Nation communities began to help manage the school. By 1981-1982, they fully took over running the school. It was then called the Muskowekwan Education Centre Inc.

The school was known by several other names over time. These included Touchwood Hills School and Lestock Indian Residential School. It was also called Muscowequan Student Residence and Muskowekwan Education Centre.

Discovering Unmarked Graves

Records show that a cemetery was located behind the student living area. People of different backgrounds, including Saulteaux, Cree, Métis, and European, were buried there. Some deaths were due to a flu outbreak in the early 1900s.

In 1935, some graves were moved because a new building was being constructed. An Elder who attended the school said that a priest later flattened the remaining graves in 1944. More building work in the 1960s and 1970s might have been built over parts of this unmarked cemetery.

In 1992, during plans for a new water pipe, a map of the unmarked graveyard was found. This led to changing the path of the water pipe. However, some human remains were still found by accident during other digging. In total, nineteen unmarked graves were discovered. The workers believed there were more nearby. Some individuals were reburied where they were found. Others were respectfully reburied in a new cemetery on the Reserve.

Even though a site plan was found, the exact edges of the cemetery were not clear. Because of the risk of disturbing more graves, digging behind the student living area was stopped. The discovery of these graves was important. It showed why it's so important to find and protect residential school cemeteries. This is especially true as towns grow and old school lands are used for new things.

Between 2018 and 2019, more possible graves were found. Researchers used special ground-penetrating radar to help. The lead archaeologist noted that school records showed 35 children who were not accounted for. No one knew what happened to them. Members of the Muskowekwan First Nation later said that 35 unmarked graves were found. They feared there might be even more.

In June 2021, a special service was held to honor those who attended residential schools. This was after 215 possible graves were found at the Kamloops Indian Residential School. Cynthia Desjarlais, a leader from the Muskowekwan First Nation, spoke at the service. She said, "Our elders have told us that there's a lot of areas here that haven't been explored and eventually we will do that." This means they plan to keep looking for more graves to understand the full history.