Shingwauk Indian Residential School (Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.)

Lana Grawbarger is a member of Garden River First Nation and a descendent of Cheif Shingwaukonse. Lana is actively involved in the Anglican Diocese of Algoma. Lana serves as the Church Warden at St. John's Anglican Church in Garden River, Ontario. She is also a member of the Pine Family Singers musical group.

These interviews were conducted by Donald John Wilshere as part of his MA in education. These interviews ultimately formed the basis of his thesis, "The Experience of Seven Alumni Who Attended Shingwauk Residential School as Children 1929-1964." Don Wilshere completed his MA at the Faculty of Education at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay.

Edward Francis Wilson was born in the Islington borough of London, England in 1844. His family were reform minded evangelicals, and he too imbibed that spirit. Having come to Canada to farm, he had the occasion to visit an Indian reservation in southern Ontario (Sarnia). He then decided that "God had called him here to minister to the Ojibways". Wilson was ordained in the Church of England in 1867.While visiting Reverend J. Chance, minister at Garden River, Wilson became interested in Chief Shingwauk and the northern Ontario Ojibways. When Chance was transferred Augustine Shingwauk requested that Wilson be appointed as minister to Garden River. He took up his post in 1872 and immediately began to campaign alongside the Shingwauk brothers for funds for a residential school for native children. He remained Principal of the Shingwauk Home until 1893 when he moved to British Columbia to retire. Most of Wilson's years as Principal were spent adhering to the philosophy that prevailed at the time. And this philosophy was "assimilation". He saw "little good" in the ways of the Ojibway and attempted through education to change their ways. This involved creating a distance between the native students and their families. The attempt to accomplish this was manifested in such methods as the banning of the use of any native language, except for one hour a day, and the constant ingraining of Christian doctrines into the students. In his last years at the Shingwauk, Wilson's ideas changed drastically. In The Canadian Indian, a journal he co-founded, he recommended autonomy for native people and supported the maintenance of their languages. It seems that as a result of his experience he was led to a profound change of philosophy regarding the native way of life. Having come to know and appreciate the native people he realized almost one hundred years ago that assimilation was wrong and would not work.|In any event, once begun, the basic idea of the residential school established at Shingwauk was carried on under the direction of his followers.

The Shingwauk Indian Residential School opened in 1873 as a residential school for First Nations' children. It operated as a residential school until 1970. The building and institution, located at 1520 Queen St. East. is one of the oldest landmarks of Sault Ste Marie, Ontario, Canada. Chief Shingwauk, the Chief of the Ojibways at Garden River, believed that the future Ojibway needed to learn the white man's academic method of education in order to survive in what was becoming a "predominately non-native world with non-native values". His dream was to have an educational centre built for all future Ojibway children. With the combined effort of Shingwauk's Sons, Augustine and Buhgwujjenene, and Rev. E.F. Wilson, this dream came a reality. A school was built at Garden River in 1873. Six days after completion, the school burned to the ground. Not giving in to misfortune another school was erected at the present site on Queen St. East. The cornerstone for the second Shingwauk Home was laid by the Earl of Dufferin, the Governor-General of Canada, in the summer of 1874. In August 1875, the new building was officially opened to fifty pupils. Sixty years later, in 1935, a third building was erected directly behind the old one and the previous building was demolished. This new building was the home of the Shingwauk residential school until its closure in 1970. It now houses Algoma University.

The Children of Shingwauk Alumni Association (CSAA) was formalized in 1996. CSAA is comprised of staff, students, descendants of staff and students, and friends of the Shingwauk Indian Residential School. CSAA has been heavily involved in the development of the Shingwauk Project and the implementation of residential school healing initiatives. CSAA currently holds the Health Canada contract for Residential School support workers in a region of Ontario.

Kay Lindsay worked at a number of residential schools including Shingwauk, Moose Factory, St. Johns in Chapleau, Alert Bay, and MacKay. She worked in residential schools for a total for 42 years.

Irene Elsie Louttit Barbeau was born December 19, 1943 to parents Stanley Peter John Louttit and Lydia Louttit. Irene was a student at Shingwauk Residential School in Sault Ste Marie from 1958 to 1961. While at Shingwauk Irene boarded at Shingwauk Hall for her first two years. In her third year she boarded at a private home. After graduating Irene worked for Indian Affairs at Churchill Plaza. In the fall of 1963 she moved to Moose Factory and began working with National Health and Welfare. In the 1980s Irene became involved with the St. John Divine Church in Nepean, where she worked as the Church Secretary and later as a Parish Administrator. From June 1986 to March 1990 Irene worked as an Entitlement Office for the Indian Registration and Ban Lists Directorate. Irene later worked on the Shingwauk Project.