Muscowequan Indian Residential School
{{Short description|Defunct Canadian residential school}}
{{Infobox school
| name = Muscowequan Indian Residential School
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| location = Lestock, Saskatchewan
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| other_name = Lestock, Muskowekwan, Touchwood{{rp|354}}
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| religious_affiliation = Roman Catholic
| established = {{Start date|1889}}
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| closed = {{End date|1997}}
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The Muscowequan Indian Residential School was a school within the Canadian Indian residential school system that operated on the lands of the Muskowekwan First Nation and in Lestock, Saskatchewan, from 1889 to 1997.{{cite web |title=Honouring the Truth, Reconciling for the Future: Summary of the Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada |url=http://www.trc.ca/assets/pdf/Honouring_the_Truth_Reconciling_for_the_Future_July_23_2015.pdf |website=National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation |publisher=Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada |accessdate=27 June 2021 |date=May 31, 2015}}{{rp|354}}
{{As of|2021}}, the school building is the last-standing residential school in Saskatchewan.{{cite news |last1=Bramadat-Willcock |first1=Michael |title=Ottawa funds Saskatchewan First Nations to search unmarked residential school grave sites |url=https://paherald.sk.ca/2021/06/22/ottawa-funds-saskatchewan-first-nations-to-search-unmarked-residential-school-grave-sites/ |access-date=29 June 2021 |work=Prince Albert Daily Herald |date=23 June 2021}} The three-story brick structure was erected in 1931 after the previous building burned down.{{cite web |title=Muscowequan Residential School |url=https://www.canadashistory.ca/explore/historic-sites/muscowequan-residential-school |publisher=National Trust for Canada |access-date=29 June 2021 |date=23 May 2018}} The school was added to the National Trust for Canada's list of endangered places in 2018.{{cite news |last1=Shield |first1=David |title='A dark history': Muskowekwan First Nation fights to save former residential school building |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatoon/muskowekwan-first-nation-residential-school-1.4681156 |access-date=29 June 2021 |work=CBC News |date=28 May 2018}} Former students want to see the building restored and used as a museum and archive. In 2018, 331 out of 335 former students voted in favour of keeping the building in place as a reminder of the site's history.{{cite news |last1=Giesbrecht |first1=Lynn |title=Unmarked grave search near residential school paving the way for new wellness centre |url=https://leaderpost.com/news/saskatchewan/unmarked-grave-search-near-residential-school-paving-the-way-for-new-wellness-centre |access-date=29 June 2021 |work=leaderpost |date=7 July 2018 |language=en-CA}} The school was designated a national historic site in April 2021.{{cite web |title=The Former Muscowequan Indian Residential School National Historic Site |url=https://www.pc.gc.ca/en/culture/clmhc-hsmbc/res/information-backgrounder/pensionnat-muscowequan-residential-school |publisher=Parks Canada National Office|location=Gatineau, Quebec |access-date=19 March 2022|date=26 July 2021}}
History
What would become the Muscowequan Indian Residential School began as a Touchwood Hills Mission school started in 1884 by the Qu'Apelle Oblates.{{cite web |title=Muscowequan School (Lestock) |url=https://shsb.mb.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Lestock_School_EN.pdf |publisher=Société historique de Saint-Boniface |access-date=29 June 2021}} The school was enlarged in 1886 to accommodate boarders.{{cite news |title=Muscowequan (Touchwood) |url=https://nctr.ca/residential-schools/saskatchewan/muscowequan-touchwood/ |access-date=29 June 2021 |work=NCTR |date=2021-01-28}} In 1888, teacher Fred Dennehy received a grant from the Canadian government to support the boarding of students, at which time the school began operating as a day and boarding school. It fully operated as an Indian Residential School under the Government of Canada from 1889 to June 30, 1997.{{cite web |title=Muscowequan Indian Residential School: IAP School Narrative |url= https://www.touchwoodagency.ca/uploads/7/7/5/4/77542752/muscowequan.pdf|publisher=National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, University of Manitoba, Government of Canada|date=22 August 2012|page=1|access-date=19 March 2022|ref={{sfnref|IAP School Narrative|2012}} }}
The school operated on the Muskowekwan Reservation until 1895, at which time it relocated to a building in Lestock with assistance from the federal government.{{cite book |last1=Niessen |first1=Shuana |title=Shattering the Silence: The Hidden History of Indian Residential Schools in Saskatchewan |date=July 2017 |publisher=University of Regina Faculty of Education |url=https://www2.uregina.ca/education/news/assets/shatteringthesilence09-06-2017-1.pdf |access-date=29 June 2021|page=74}} The government purchased the school's land from the Roman Catholic Church in 1924, with the church continuing operation of the school. The Canadian government took over management of the facility in 1969.
Religious affiliations included the Oblates of Mary Immaculate and later the Oblate Indian and Eskimo Commission (1897-1969), the Grey Nuns (1897-1932) and Oblate Sisters (1932-1977).{{sfn|IAP School Narrative|2012|page=2}} The Grey Nuns left owing to the need for personnel at a new mission in Saint Vital, Manitoba, necessitating their replacement by the Oblate Sisters. Teaching nuns were replaced by laymen in 1962.{{sfn|IAP School Narrative|2012|page=2}} The school was eventually converted into a student residence with students attending Muscowequan’s public school or Lebret’s residential school. 1976 saw the Oblates withdraw from school and residence administration.{{sfn|IAP School Narrative|2012|page=11}} A board of directors made up of members from seven local First Nation Bands began administrative and funding oversight of the school in 1973 and eventually took over school and residence operations in 1981-1982 as the Muskowekwan Education Centre Inc.{{sfn|IAP School Narrative|2012|page=3}} The Muskowekwan Band were sold surplus IRS land in 1965{{sfn|IAP School Narrative|2012|page=2}} and later claimed 28 acres of Crown land on which the IRS was situated, as part of an unfulfilled land entitlement in 1981.{{sfn|IAP School Narrative|2012|page=3}}
Other names for the school included Touchwood Hills School (1896), Mission School (1910-1963), Muscowequan (Indian) Boarding School (1910-1941), Lestock Indian (Residential) School (1937-1969), Muscowequan Student Residence (1968-1988) and Muskowekwan Education Centre (M.E.C.) (1982-1997).
Discovery of unmarked graves
Document reviews by Indian Residential Schools Resolution Canada found that a cemetery was established behind the student residence apparently with the graves of people of Saulteaux, Cree, Métis as well as European origin.{{cite web |last1=Schillaci-Ventura |first1=Vincent |last2=Bray |first2=Charles|title=Cemetery and Grave Site Research - IRS Narratives Review |url=http://archives.algomau.ca/main/?q=node/44062 |access-date=20 March 2022 |date=10 April 2008|ref={{sfnref|Schillaci-Ventura|2008}} |publisher=Indian Residential Schools Resolution Canada|page=2}} Their deaths were partly credited to an influenza epidemic in the early 1900s. Some graves were moved in 1935 to accommodate the construction of a new residence and the remaining graves were alleged by an Elder who attended the residence to have been "leveled" by a priest in 1944.{{sfn|IAP School Narrative|2012|page=7}} Later building construction in the mid 1960s to 1970s may have been sited on the unmarked cemetery.
In 1992 during planning for the construction of a new water line by the M.E.C. Board of Directors, a sketch of the unmarked graveyard provided by a board member prompting rerouting of the project.{{sfn|Schillaci-Ventura|2008|page=3}} However, remains were still inadvertently uncovered in separate digs.{{sfn|Schillaci-Ventura|2008|page=3}}{{sfn|IAP School Narrative|2012|page=7}} In total, nineteen unmarked graves were discovered with the contractor indicating there was evidence of other graves nearby.{{sfn|IAP School Narrative|2012|page=7}}{{sfn|Schillaci-Ventura|2008|page=3}}{{cite news |last=Curry |first=Bill |title=Hunt begins for long-missing students |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/hunt-begins-for-long-missing-students/article1064905/?p |access-date=20 March 2022 |publisher=The Globe and Mail|location=Toronto, Ontario |date=27 October 2008 |language=en}} Some individuals were reburied where they were found while others were ceremoniously laid to rest in a new cemetery on the Reserve.{{sfn|Schillaci-Ventura|2008|page=3}}{{cite news |last1=Issawi |first1=Hamdi |title=Dignity in death: Searching for the lost graves at a Prairie residential school |url=https://www.thestar.com/edmonton/2019/02/07/dignity-in-death-searching-for-the-lost-graves-at-a-prairie-residential-school.html |access-date=29 June 2021 |work=thestar.com |date=2019-02-07 |language=en}} While a site plan was later found, the boundaries of the cemetery remained poorly defined.{{sfn|Schillaci-Ventura|2008|page=3}} Given the chances of disturbing other graves, excavations behind the Student Residence were halted.{{sfn|Schillaci-Ventura|2008|page=3}} The re-discovery of the gravesite was one of the examples offered in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada's final report to underline the importance of documenting and protecting residential school cemeteries, especially "as urban development, infrastructure expansion, and resale or reutilization of old school lands become more common."{{cite book |title=Canada's Residential Schools : Missing Children and Unmarked Burials |volume=4|date=2015 |publisher=Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada |location=Montreal |isbn=978-0-7735-9826-3 |url=https://ehprnh2mwo3.exactdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Volume_4_Missing_Children_English_Web.pdf |access-date=20 March 2022|page=133}}
Ten to 15 more potential graves were identified between 2018 and 2019 with the assistance of research teams from the University of Alberta and the University of Saskatchewan using ground-penetrating radar.{{cite news |last=Snowdon |first=Wallis |title='There was a heaviness': Alberta anthropologists locate unmarked graves of residential schoolchildren |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/unmarked-graves-residential-school-alberta-saskatchewan-1.5045182 |access-date=19 March 2022 |date=9 March 2019 |publisher=CBC News}}{{cite news |last1=Giles |first1=David |title=Saskatchewan First Nation remembering lives lost at residential schools |url=https://globalnews.ca/news/7911193/saskatchewan-muskowekwan-first-nation-residential-schools/ |access-date=29 June 2021 |work=Global News |date=1 June 2021}} The lead archaeologist noted that "in the (school) records there were 35 children who were unaccounted for, that disappear off the records, and nobody quite knows what happened."{{cite web |last1=Cook |first1=Jordan Mae |title=First Nation teams with researchers to find graves of missing children from former residential school |url=https://www.ualberta.ca/folio/2019/01/first-nation-teams-with-researchers-to-find-graves-of-missing-children-from-former-residential-school.html |access-date=19 March 2022 |date=18 January 2019 |publisher=University of Alberta|location=Edmonton}} Muskowekwan First Nation members later claimed 35 unmarked graves were discovered,{{cite news |last1=Davis |first1=Stefanie |title=Muskowekwan First Nation recognizes 35 unmarked graves at residential school site |url=https://regina.ctvnews.ca/muskowekwan-first-nation-recognizes-35-unmarked-graves-at-residential-school-site-1.5451477 |access-date=29 June 2021 |work=Regina |date=1 June 2021 |language=en}}{{cite news |last1=Wolf |first1=Priscilla |title=Muskowekwan Nation ready to start painful search for school graves again |url=https://www.aptnnews.ca/national-news/muskowekwan-nation-residential-school-search-saskatchewan/ |access-date=29 June 2021 |work=APTN News |date=2 June 2021}} with more feared to exist.{{cite news |last1=Salloum |first1=Alec |title='We're still here': Survivors of Sask. residential schools offer prayers for 215 children |url=https://leaderpost.com/news/local-news/were-still-here-survivors-of-sask-residential-schools-offer-prayers-for-215-children |access-date=29 June 2021 |work=leaderpost |date=1 June 2021 |language=en-CA}} During a memorial service on June 1, 2021 in honour of residential school attendees and survivors following the identification of 215 potential graves on the grounds of the Kamloops Indian Residential School, Cynthia Desjarlais, a Muskowekwan First Nation councillor, 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".