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Lac Seul First Nation’s search for lost children continues

By Ryan Forbes Apr 11, 2023 | 4:07 PM
Photos courtesy of Canada’s National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation.

If you are a residential school survivor, you can contact the 24-hour National Crisis Line at 1-866-925-4419 for support. Indigenous people can also access the Hope for Wellness Help Line at 1-855-242-3310 or online chat at www.hopeforwellness.ca.
 

The provincial and federal governments have made an $8.7 million pledge to help heal the community of Lac Seul First Nation.

$8.7 million has been pledged to continue the search for unmarked graves on their traditional lands, in the area of the former Pelican Falls Residential School.

Chief Clifford Bull, Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations Marc Miller, Minister of Indigenous Services Patty Hajdu and Minister of Indigenous Affairs Greg Rickford made the announcement in Lac Seul.

“The funding commitment allows us, as First Nations, to search for our missing children and to find the truth through meaningful involvement of the residential school survivors and their families,” explains Chief Bull.

Ontario’s also providing $500,000 to support mental wellness resources for the community, and Lac Seul is working with 33 other First Nations across the north who all had students attend the facility.

“This means having an ongoing stable mental health, financial and human support system in place that will be critical as we delve into such a dark past,” adds Chief Bull.

Canada’s National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, based out of Winnipeg, says the former residential school was established by the Anglican Church in 1926 on farmland near Sioux Lookout.

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The school experienced severe overcrowding in the 1940s, but by the 50s, it mostly served as a residence for other students attending local day schools.

The federal government took over the Pelican Falls site in 1969, tearing it down by 1978.

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Records show that over the 51 years the school was in operation, at least 24 children passed away – but only 15 children were ever reported to be missing by the school.

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In 1996, Anglican Priest Leonard Hands, who worked at the school in the 60s, was charged with 19 counts of indecent assault. He entered a guilty plea and was sentenced to four years in prison, dying in 2000.

The case was initiated by Pelican Lake Survivor Garnet Angeconeb, and Hands remains the only person ever charged for crimes at the school.

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Today, Pelican Falls First Nations High School sits in the former residential school’s location, and leadership created a memorial garden in honour of former students’ memories in 2004.

In memory of those who passed away at the Pelican Lake Residential School:

Amos Jacob
Charles Ombash
Daniel Masakeyash
Doris Carpenter
Dorothy Ferries
Ferlin Southwind
John Wapoos
Lavina Beardy
Maggie Cromarty
Margaret Fox
Margaret Singebis
Mary Ann Ash
Mary Petawayway
Michael Jean Sapay
Mike Oombash
Morris Rooster
Nancy Tooshenan
Samuel Sakakeesic
Samuel Wesley
Stoney Johnson
Sybil Anishinabi
Thomas Ombash
Thomas Wapoos (Rabbit)
Uriah Baxter

Additional photos of the school can be found through Algoma University HERE.

This funding announcement is in addition to a $1 million sum made in 2021-2022 and $6 million annually until 2024 to support Lac Seul’s ‘Bringing Our Children Home’ initiative.

Nationally, Canada operated over 150 Indian Residential Schools for over 140 years. The last remaining residential school, the Gordon Residential School in Saskatchewan, closed in 1996.

An estimated 150,000 Indigenous children were forcibly taken from their homes and forced to attend the schools and assimilate into settler culture, which included giving youth new names, haircuts and identification numbers.

Wauzhushk Onigum Independent Nation’s discovery of 171 possible unmarked grave sites in January was the first such discovery in Ontario. More investigations are taking place in their area as well.

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