Reclaiming Shingwauk Hall exhibition space at Algoma University, 2018.
Krista McCracken
The Shingwauk Residential School operated in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario from 1874 to 1970. In 1971, Algoma University College – today known as Algoma University – moved onto the Shingwauk Site. Since 2010, I’ve been part of the staff at the Shingwauk Residential Schools Centre (SRSC) that seeks to promote sharing, healing, and learning in relation to the legacy of the Shingwauk Site. My work involves caring for the archival collections of the SRSC, community outreach and access work. My role has changed a number of times since 2010, but the public education focus of my job continues to be present.
Before going any further, I’d like to highlight that none of the work of the SRSC would be possible without the guidance and work of the Children of Shingwauk Alumni Association (CSAA). The CSAA is a group of Survivor and intergenerational Survivors associated with the Shingwauk Site, who have been working to support Survivors and promote education since 1981. I am incredibly grateful to work alongside the CSAA.
In this post, I am reflecting on how the SRSC’s outreach and education programming has shifted over the years. When I began working at the Centre it was common to have school and professional development groups visit who knew nothing or very little about Residential Schools. Likewise, it wasn’t unusual to meet people from Sault Ste. Marie who had no idea that there was a Residential School site located in the city. Continue reading
On February 24, 1884, Louie Sam, a Stó:lo teenager, was accused by an angry mob of starting a fire that killed James Bell, a shopkeeper in the settler community Nooksack, in what is now Whatcom County, Washington, which borders British Columbia. Without any evidence, the assembled mob determined that Sam was responsible and, despite him being arrested by Canadian authorities, crossed the border, took him by force, and hanged him. Nobody was ever arrested for Sam’s death, which simultaneously stands a rare documented lynching in Canada as well as a powerful example of the violence associated with colonialism.
On a cold February night in 1968, Bernie Langille drove his friends to play darts and have a drink at CFB Gagetown. The next morning, his wife found him bloody and bruised in bed without knowing what happened. He was taken to the base’s hospital where it was recommended he be flown to Halifax for immediate treatment. After a 4-hour delay in ordering the flight, an assault by one of the doctors, and his ambulance being in a collision with a train, he finally made it to the hospital in Halifax, but it was too late. The rather unusual circumstances of Langille’s death led to many questions for his family and speculation by the community. Over 50 years later, the deep pain remains for the Langille family and has led Bernie Langille’s grandson – also named Bernie – to revisit his grandfather’s death in a search for truth and healing.
Elizabeth Mancke