As the final pages of the Indian School Days book were read I sift through the varied emotions brought to the surface by the author Basil H. Johnston. His memories spanning from the age of 10 to 20 speak of the trials and tribulations of the manner in which education was presented and demanded by the priests of St. Peter Claver’s Indian Residential School in Spanish, Ontario a school where the residents referred to themselves as inmates rather than students. As I wrap up the book through my last blog postings I will focus upon three main topics: runaways, evidence of cultural clashes, and the high school education.
As mentioned by a number of pre-service candidates within the course, runaways were common within the boarding schools of the U.S. The same can be said of this particular residential school in Canada. The author shares a number of successful and non-successful runaway attempts. Due to the location of the school a fair number of boys attempted to make their attempts during school outings that occurred during the summer. The prime opportunities occurred when the boys were permitted to go camping using the river as their best route of escape. Although the attempts were made not many boys were successful in using this particular method. It would be left to believe, by the reader, that the priests expected these attempts to be made and would strategically place the camps in locations that were nearly impossible for students to cross over due to the speed of water flow as well as the length of distance between the shores. But try they did! Those who were successful were often “recaptured” a day to a week later and returned to the school. Once returned they were physically punished, publically humiliated, and handed out the worst jobs (cleaning the bathrooms). Although they knew being caught meant that these punishments would be handed out it did not detour those who wanted nothing to do with the school and everything to do with returning to their family.
As the boys became more and more educated in the school it became more and more apparent that a large percentage of them held even more tightly to their traditions. Once they were able to return home to be with their families many of them desired to make up for the lost of time and the practice of their Indigenous tradition, however; this could be viewed as a double-edged sword. The author provides an example of a cultural class between a son and his father during a severe thunderstorm. The son observes his father offering tobacco and a prayer to the great spirits to acknowledge their presence and to apologize for not honoring them more often. Although the son is quite intrigued by what he has just observed he asks his father to explain why they practice this particular tradition. The father is delighted and explains it to his son. The son responds in a manner that politely reinstates that the storm is not related to the spirits of which his father has offered the prayer to, the storm is related to the scientific phenomena which is attributed to the weather cycle.
As the boys became more and more educated in the school it became more and more apparent that a large percentage of them held even more tightly to their traditions. Once they were able to return home to be with their families many of them desired to make up for the lost of time and the practice of their Indigenous tradition, however; this could be viewed as a double-edged sword. The author provides an example of a cultural class between a son and his father during a severe thunderstorm. The son observes his father offering tobacco and a prayer to the great spirits to acknowledge their presence and to apologize for not honoring them more often. Although the son is quite intrigued by what he has just observed he asks his father to explain why they practice this particular tradition. The father is delighted and explains it to his son. The son responds in a manner that politely reinstates that the storm is not related to the spirits of which his father has offered the prayer to, the storm is related to the scientific phenomena which is attributed to the weather cycle.
Lastly, the nature of education and the acceptance of Indigenous education changed dramatically in the mid-1940’s when a new superintendent of the school realized that a school of trades was no longer suitable for the employment of its grade 8 educated students. The residential school in Spanish extended its training to high school and offered more professional opportunities in the newly renamed school of Garnier Residential School for Boys. The author who was released at the age of 16 found himself returning to Spanish, on his own accord, to make a better life for himself and graduated in 1950 as valedictorian of the first graduating class.
As the last few pages were read, I found myself relating to the author as I had the opportunity to assist my father when he began writing his own book in 2000, which was published in 2004 titled Hauling the Biggest Load. The time, effort, and energy that my dad put into this project brought back a number of emotions tied to the experiences that my father faced from the earliest years of his life to the loss of his son. There were a number of times that my father could not find the strength to continue to tell his life story as many of what he recollected in his past were based on sadness and anger. I applaud Basil for sharing his own personal journey through the trials and tribulations of his boarding school experience.
