Blue Quills Indian Residential School

Blue Quills Indian Residential School

$1.25

Monday, March 25, 2014

Vol XCIII, No. 311

Operated and Run by the Roman Catholic Church

Johann Schmitt Murals at Holy-Cross Immaculata Roman Catholic Church Photo By Laura Laugle

Blue Quills: Beginning to End

Location? Wait... there were additional locations?!

Who were the children who attended?

The majority of the aboriginal students were First Nations and some were Métis as well, the children who came to these schools were originally from the Saddle Lake FN and Sacred Heart(Lac La Biche). Both females and males attending this boarding school came from surrounding reserves, settlements, off-reserve and off-settlement; starting from the age of 6, whereas some had arrived younger at the age of 4. They attended till the age of 16 or till they completed 8th grade.

Here are two pictures of two different students that had attended the Blue Quills Indian Residential School.

Madeleine Dion Stout is a Cree woman from Kehewin First Nation, she had attended Blue Quills Indian residential School.

(In the left picture)

Louise Bernice Halfe, also known as Sky Dancer, was born in Two Hills, Alberta and attended Blue Quills Indian Residential School.

(In the right picture)

Yes, Blue Quills Indian Residential School re-located within Alberta three times. It's hard to see how, since it would be tremendously hard to move a humongous brick building from place to place; like why would anyone want to relocate two more times after the first time?!....

There were three locations for this particular IRS: the first location opened in Lac La Biche of 1862, the second location moved to Saddle Lake First Nations in 1889, and the third and final relocation had been in St. Paul in 1931. I wonder what was so special about St. Paul?

Out of all the locations, the only reserve territory it was built on was Saddle Lake First Nation. The Other locations were not reservations.

There were no listings of Blue Quills Indian Residential School's deaths but an over all 4,000 Aboriginal children died in Residential Schools.

- National Post

UPDATE! Blue Quills IRS No Longer IRS!!

Community, values and conditions...

The First Native Administrated School in Canadian History!!

Researchers and Presenters

...The language, the tribes and also the teachings of the children who attended Blue Quills Indian Residential School

Story of Bill Quinn, a Blue Quills IRS Student

Aerial view of Blue Quills First Nation College

Faleshia Harper

&

Elizabeth Potskin

William (Bill) Quinn is Cree and a member of the Saddle Lake Nation, in Alberta. .... he was raised by his grandmother until he reached the age of seven. Bill considers himself very fortunate to have been raised by a “Native American woman” because she not only cared for and loved him, but taught him the Cree language, the Cree philosophy of life and value system. He was taught how to live in the natural world, to have respect for all forms of life and above all, she emphasized the concept of tapwewin or “speaking the truth”. To Bill, the word, tapwewin meant to always maintain “truth, total honesty” in all of one’s speech and behavior....

....despite being almost destroyed by his traumatic experiences, Bill is far from resentful. He is a positive and generous man who maintains optimism and an open heart. Now in his seventies, he continues to teach, to help others with addiction problems, and he even attends the occasional protest or demonstration on issues that he feels are important. Bill feels passionately that we need to work together as a group of people, because “this planet is our home”, and “we all have the responsibility” to ensure the future generations have a better life....

Saddle Lake First Nations are apart of the Plains Cree Clan, their language and tribe? Cree of course. They believed in every thing being equal and that because Mother Earth is round, so is our cycle of life. They valued respect, plants and animals, as much as they valued themselves and other humans. It is safe to say that- that was what the children were taught before attending Blue Quills Residential School.

The conditions in all residential schools: were not up to the standard of living, they were not all that hygienic, and a lot of the children had gotten sick and would eventually die from their diseases, The children went through starvation, malnutrition and lack of hydration because the faculty would give these children rotten food, often.

Those who attended Indian Residential Schools were either mentally, emotionally, physically and/or spiritually abused. Not all were, but most were affected in some way.

By 1970, it became the first Native Administrated School in Canada, definitely making history for the First Peoples (just not enough for our Canadian history textbooks). The building is currently being used to further educate people; now known as the Blue Quills First Nation College. Congratulations to the Blue Quills First Nation Administrators and special thanks to Harold Cardinal for being the spokesperson of the 1969 White Paper, without these wonderful leaders, we (yes, me and Faleshia are First Nations) would not have had the luxury of adopting the Blue Quills Indian Residential School and molding it into something much bigger than us all.

“There is nothing more important than our treaties, our lands and the well-being of our future generations.”

-Harold Cardinal

Thank you for reading and watching!

1969 Trudeau White Paper and Red Paper Response, and the Opening of Blue Quills under Native Admininstration

Watch Bill's video and read his full story

Video - http://kaltura.edonline.sk.ca/index.php/extwidget/openGraph/wid/0_1z5yv7ji

Story - https://www.edonline.sk.ca/bbcswebdav/library/materials/ArtsLink/main_pages/quinn207.html