Fonds

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.

Georgia (Georgie) Kirkpatrick (1903-1984) was born in Diligent River, near Parrsboro, Nova Scotia on September 18, 1903. Georgia graduated from Mount Allison University, in Sackville, New Brunswick. She taught at Shingwauk Indian Residential School from 1923-1926. In 1926 her father wrote a letter to the school, asking that she be excused from her duties and sent home to care for her mother, who was dying of cancer. She returned home immediately and her mother died a few months later. On July 11, 1927 Georgia married Perley W. Wright, a pharmacist, and later, mayor, in Parrsboro. They had five children. Georgia was president of the local Red Cross for many years, she also occasionally wrote for Halifax's Chronicle-Herald. She and her husband had a house and a cottage in Parrsboro. Her husband died in 1965 and she died on February 14, 1984. The house is now owned by one of her grandsons. The cottage, on the shore of the Minas Basin of the Bay of Fundy is currently enjoyed by her five children, twenty-one grandchildren, and many great-grandchildren. Georgina spoke fondly of her time at Shingwauk and is remembered as a kind, gracious woman, who always saw the decency in others.

Anglican Churches can be found all across Canada. In 2010 Canadian Anglican Churches included more than 800,000 congregation members. Prior to 1955, the Anglican Church of Canada was known as the Church of England in the Dominion of Canada. The Church of England and later the Anglican Church of Canada administered approximately three dozen residential schools between 1820 and 1969. Many of these schools were jointly funded by the Church and the Canadian government.

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 Shingwauk Project began in 1979 and started as a cross-cultural research and educational development project between Algoma University College and former Shingwauk students. The former Shingwauk student group would eventually become the Children of Shingwauk Alumni Association (CSAA). The Shingwauk Project was founded by Prof. Don Jackson, in collaboration with Dr. Lloyd Bannerman of AU, Chief Ron Boissoneau (1935-2000) of the Garden River First Nation, Shingwauk Almnus and Elder Dr. Dan Pine Sr. (1900-1992), and other former Shingwauk students, staff, and friends. The Project has undertaken many activities since 1979, focusing on reunions, healing circles, publications, videos, photo displays, curriculum development, presentations, workshops, historical tours and the establishment of archive, library and heritage collections. The Shingwauk Project is now operates under the guise of the Shingwauk Residential Schools Centre at 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.

In 2006-2007 the Indian residential schools settlement agreement was approved by the Canadian courts. The settlement was the result of various lawsuits against the Canadian government and church groups, based on the operation and management of residential schools. The settlement included Common Experience Payments (CEP) for former students who lived at residential schools; an Independent Assessment Process (IAP) to allow those who suffered physical or psychological abuse to receive payments. The settlement also included an clause to benefit former students and families: $125 million to the Aboriginal Healing Foundation for healing programmes; $60 million for truth and reconciliation to document and preserve the experiences of survivors; and $20 million for national and community commemorative projects.

The Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development is a department of the government Canada which oversees policies relating to the Aboriginal peoples of Canada. The Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development has included a number of predecessors, including: The departments responsible for Indian Affairs: The Department of the Secretary of State of Canada (to 1869), The Department of the Secretary of State for the Provinces (1869-1873), The Department of the Interior (1873-1880), The Department of Indian Affairs (1880-1936), The Department of Mines and Resources (1936-1950), The Department of Citizenship and Immigration (1950-1965), The Department of Northern Affairs and National Resources (1966), The Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development (1966 to the present). The departments responsible for Northern Affairs: The Department of the Interior (1873-1936), The Department of Mines and Resources (1936-1950), The Department of Resources and Development (1950-1953), The Department of Northern Affairs and National Resources (1953-1966), The Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development (1966 to 2011) Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada (2011-present)

Rev. Father William (Bill) Maurice s.j. was born in 1916 to parents Tansi and Rose Maurice. William had four brothers: John, Peter, George, and Joseph. He also had a sister named Laura. He was a missionary to the First Nation communities of the Diocese of Thunder Bay and Sault Ste Marie. He was a math teacher, a prefect of studies, and eventually a principal of the Garnier Residential School in Spanish, Ontario. He also ran a photo lab at the Spanish school. When the Garnier school closed in 1958, William briefly worked in Regina teaching and coaching students. In the 1960s he was a chaplain at the Radar Base for American and Canadian soldiers. He later became responsible for the 12 missions from St. Anne's Parish on the Fort William Reserve. In 1967, William assisted Indian Affairs with community development. In 1972, he worked as a community and social services worker in Armstrong. He was also an assistant band manager for the Fort William Reserve. He briefly served as the chaplain for the Thunder Bay Correction Services and the district jail. He was asked to become pastor of Wikwemikong Reserve on Manitoulin Island and eventually became the Jesuit Superior for that region. He also coached hockey for the Thunder Birds hockey team on Manitoulin Island. In 1984 William returned to Thunder Bay to become the Jesuit Superior of the region and the pastor at Beardmore. His retirement years were spent classifying genealogies from the Northwestern Ontario missions where Jesuits had worked since the 1850s. He created indexes of names which included many Native persons from the Northwest. He also collected, transcribed, and translated the journals of the early Jesuit missionaries in the Northwest. Rev. William Maurice lived at St. Anne's Parish Rectory on the Fort William First Nation Reserve from 1991 until he passed away on Monday April 14, 2008 at the Thunder Bay Regional Health Science Center. A tree was planted in Memory of Rev. William Maurice in the Blake Funeral Chapel Memorial Grove.