REPORT ON THE INDIAN SCHOOLS OF MANITOBA AND THE NORTHWEST TERRITORIES.

The story of the early explorations and of the trading adventures of the French and English on the plains of the great Northwest has ever been one of exceeding interest to the people of Canada; but while filled with romance and important as illustrating how the great domain has gradually been brought under the dominion of the British Crown, it nevertheless is largely lacking as a record of the more silent, yet more potent, influences which for over a century have been at work transforming the Indian aborigines into members of a civilized society and loyal subjects of the King. Restrained through diplomacy, force and the interests of trade by the great fur-trading companies, the widely distributed and wandering bands of Indians would still have been savages, had it not been for the heroic devotion of those missionaries who, attaching themselves to some band, moved with it in its wanderings, or travelled from post to post where the Indians were assembled while bartering their furs.

The evolution of schools amongst the Indian population of the Northwest naturally begins with the efforts of the early missionaries to obtain an influence over the Indians through the education and guidance of the children. The Roman Catholic Church as early as 1817 sent its first missionary into this extensive region and its work has been extended to far within the Arctic Circle, reaching even to the Northern Ocean. Co-incident with its work has been that of the Church of England, whose missionaries, locating near some Hudson’s Bay Company’s trading post, have covered, through the work of the Church of England Missionary Society, the entire Northwest to Fort McPherson and the Yukon. To illustrate—the first Anglican mission was established at Winnipeg in 1820, Dynevor in 1833, Cumberland in 1840, Lac la Ronge in 1840, Battleford in 1876, the Blood Mission in 1880, Fort Simpson in 1858, Fort McPherson in 1874, and Rampart House in 1882. The British Methodist Church began its labours by establishing missions on Lake Winnipeg at Norway House and Berens River in 1856, gradually extending westward as far as the Stony reserve in the foothills of the Rockies. The Presbyterian Church, latest in the field, started a mission at Prince Albert in 1867. The stories of hardship and of danger endured by these missionaries of the Cross have been but incidentally told, but the results are shown in the list of missions and of day schools in existence when this enormous territory passed into the hands of the Dominion of Canada in 1870. The lists are very incomplete, but a published report shows that 20 Roman Catholic schools and 5 Church of England schools received in 1877 some financial aid from the Dominion government. The following statement, taken from a report published in 1897, gives the total grants made by the government to the schools of the different churches in the years 1877, 1886, 1896 and 1906:—

Table I—Showing the Government grants to the Schools of Manitoba andthe Northwest Territories in 1877, 1886, 1896 and 1906.
ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH.
District.Kind of School.1877.1886.1896.1905–6.
Building.Maintenance.Building.Maintenance.Building.Maintenance.Building.Maintenance.
$ cts.$ cts.$ cts.$ cts.$ cts.$ cts.$ cts.$ cts.
ManitobaDay268 452,711 873,145 131,800 00
"Boarding1,620 0012,480 00
"Industrial2,000 0012,764 39
N. W. TerritoriesDay150 00300 00236 001,077 393,969 05900 00
" "Boarding536 202,938 1514,762 572,152 5042,406 06
" "Industrial2,661 6226,489 7443,344 328,676 0735,761 16
150 00568 452,897 6230,815 204,938 1579,605 1610,828 5793,347 22
CHURCH OF ENGLAND.
ManitobaDay274 50325 976,447 229,634 688,930 00
"Boarding
"Industrial28,027 7516,488 90
N. W. TerritoriesDay130 001,761 414,326 174,500 00
" "Boarding15,336 55134 0012,567 48
" "Industrial10,179 577,430 0019,260 861,369 2017,102 09
274 50455 9718,488 507,430 0076,586 011,503 2059,588 47
METHODIST CHURCH.
ManitobaDay1,637 711,902 221,500 00
"Boarding5,500 00
"Industrial13,526 742,952 3912,000 00
N. W. TerritoriesDay407 872,480 771,800 00
" "Boarding358 541,725 602,271 80
" "Industrial6,664 351,963 649,648 16
2,404 1226,299 684,916 0332,719 96
PRESBYTERIAN.
ManitobaDay600 00
"Boarding1,464 156,720 60
"Industrial
N. W. TerritoriesDay457 601,270 47950 15900 00
" "Boarding6,063 136,261 65
" "Industrial17,336 837,525 72
457 601,270 4725,814 2622,007 97
UNDENOMINATIONAL—$600 00

The following is a summary of the expenditures set forth in the former table:—

Class of School.1877.1886.1896.1906.
BuildingMaint’nceBuildingMaint’nceBuildingMaint’nceBuildingMaint’nce
$ cts.$ cts.$ cts.$ cts.$ cts.$ cts.$ cts.$ cts.
R. Catholic Schools150 00568 452,897 6230,815 204,938 1576,605 4610,828 5993,347 22
Church of England274 50455 9718,488 507,430 0076,588 011,503 3059,588 47
Methodist Church2,404 1226,299 684,916 0332,719 96
Presbyterian457 601,270 4724,350 1122,007 97
Undenominational600 00
150 00842 953,811 1952,978 2912,368 15206,843 2617,247 92208,263 62

Thus the connection of the Dominion government with the Indian schools of the Northwest began in 1871, when on August 3, the first treaty, extinguishing the Indians’ title to the lands within the boundaries of southeastern Manitoba, was signed. The dates of the several treaties were:—

ISoutheastern ManitobaAugust 3, 1871.
IILake Manitoba (south)August 21, 1871.
IIINorthwest AngleOctober 3, 1873.
IVQu’Appelle DistrictSeptember 5, 1874.
VLake WinnipegSeptember 24, 1875.
VIFort PittSeptember 9, 1876.
VIIBlackfoot DistrictSeptember 22, 1877.

As the terms of all these treaties were much the same, some of the particulars may be quoted;

They provided:—

At Confederation in 1867 it was agreed that the Indian Department should contribute an amount equal to that contributed by the Methodist Church for schools in Ontario and Quebec, provided the sum did not exceed $1,000. Hence it was natural and easy, apart from treaty engagements, for the government to extend this principle to the schools of the newly acquired Northwest Territories. There appears a memorandum of Sir John A. Macdonald, dated October 19, 1880, fixing the salary of $300 to be given each day school teacher in Manitoba and the Territories. It also states that if the attendance should fall short of 25 in any quarter, the teacher should be paid at a per capita rate of $3 per quarter; in the case of non-denominational schools, it was considered that teachers should be paid a maximum salary of $504, or at the rate of $12 per annum for 42 pupils; if the attendance be short of this number, the teacher should receive $3 per pupil for the quarter. The same memorandum provided prizes or bonuses to the teachers of the five best conducted schools in Manitoba and the Northwest.

In the annual report for 1881, Commissioner Dewdney states:—‘There are now 20 schools and missions in the Northwest Territories, 12 of which are receiving government aid; 9 are Church of England, 6 Roman Catholic, 4 Canada Methodist, and 1 Presbyterian. There are now 11 school-houses under construction or completed, for which teachers will be required during the coming season. We find considerable difficulty in securing teachers for schools where the number of children is small and is

not likely to increase to an extent sufficient to make the per capita remuneration attractive, and I would recommend that in these cases a fixed sum be granted, say two-thirds (⅔) of the maximum allowed by order in council of 19th October, 1880.’ The same report shows that grants were paid to the following additional schools, 10 of which were in Superintendent Graham’s inspectorate:—

  1. Little Saskatchewan.
  2. Brokenhead.
  3. Ebb and Flow.
  4. Fairford.
  5. Lake St. Martin.
  6. Black River.
  7. Berens River.
  8. Fisher Lake.
  9. Eagle Hill.
  10. Isle à la Crosse.
  11. Onion Lake.

Inspector Graham says in the same report: ‘I find it very difficult to secure the services of competent teachers for the schools in Treaties 3 and 5 owing to the difficulty of getting there and the high prices charged for provisions, &c., and being cut off from any mail communication.’

The total amount paid by the government as salaries to teachers that year in these 31 schools was $3,227.50, or roughly, $100 per school.

In the same appendix may be found items for building materials and for erecting buildings at several points.

These quotations serve very well to indicate the embryonic condition of the Indian school system, if it may be so called, in the Northwest, and regarding which the adoption in 1884 of the industrial school idea seems to have been a necessary growth.

Such was the general condition when in 1879 Mr. N. F. Davin was appointed a commissioner to report on the establishment of industrial schools in the Northwest. A comprehensive report, dated March 14, 1879, was the result of his investigations. In his conclusions he says:—‘I should recommend at once an extensive application of the principle of industrial boarding schools in the Northwest, were it not that the population is so largely migratory that any great outlay at present would be money thrown away.’ He also recommends—

The report says:—‘The importance of denominational schools at the outset must be obvious.... Where, however, the poor Indian has been brought face to face with polemics and settlements are divided, or think they are divided, on metaphysical niceties, the school should be, as at the White Earth Agency, Minnesota, undenominational.’ It further advises ‘that, as bands become more amenable to the restraints of civilization, education should be made compulsory.’ Also that ‘the character of the teacher, morally and intellectually, is a matter of vital importance; if he is morally weak, whatever his intellectual qualifications may be, he is worse than no teacher at all; if he is poorly instructed or feeble in brain, he only acts every day an elaborate farce.’ The report also advises competent inspection and that special advantages be given to boys and girls showing special aptitudes, and finally that, ‘the salary of a teacher must be such as will induce good men to offer themselves’ ... ‘in the future when the manual labour boarding schools are established institutions, these teachers, who manage these schools in a manner toward self-support, should have a percentage in the reduction in the cost of management.’

The report formed the basis, apparently, of the action taken subsequently in 1883, when a grant of $44,000 was made by parliament to establish three industrial schools.

In the annual report of 1881, Commissioner Dewdney states that he hopes to have selections made of localities for the three proposed industrial schools.

On July 19, 1883, an order in council was passed adopting the recommendation of a report of the Superintendent General of Indian Affairs by the Deputy, Mr. Vankoughnet, in which it was ordered:—

The maintenance of the industrial schools from the period of their establishment in 1884 was assumed wholly by the department; while on October 22, 1892, an order in council was passed, intended to regulate the matter of their expenses. This document, which since then has governed generally the management of the industrial schools, is so important that it is inserted here:—

The following is a copy of the order in council of October 22, 1892, providing for the carrying on of industrial schools in Manitoba and the Northwest Territories:—

‘On a report dated 17th October, 1892, from the Superintendent General of Indian Affairs stating that it is advisable to make a change in the manner of carrying on those industrial schools in the Northwest that are wholly supported by the government. The cost of those institutions is larger, it is thought, than that for which they might be conducted, and with a view to more economical management it is advisable and necessary to adopt some method which would relieve the pressure of the present expenditure and at the same time keep up the schools to an equal standard of efficiency and usefulness.’

‘The minister considers that when the whole cost of an institution is directly borne by the government the same economy by those in immediate charge is not used as would be employed under other conditions. Demands, under the present system, are frequently made for articles and supplies, whereas if the amount to be expended were to take the form more of an annual per capita grant, more effort in the way of economizing would be made.’

‘The minister states that the actual cost to the government, as shown under the head of industrial schools, does not represent the total expenditure which the present system entails, as there is a small expense in the purchasing and inspection of supplies to be added.’

‘The accounts for the past year (1890–91) show that the per capita cost of each child at the industrial schools under consideration was:—

Qu’Appelle $134 67
Battleford 175 45
High River 185 55

‘The rate per capita, it is thought, is higher than it would be if a forced system of economy were exercised, and that the best way to effect the desired decrease would be to place the schools under a per capita grant system similar to that now in operation at Elkhorn and St. Paul’s under Church of England authorities, St. Boniface and Kootenay under Roman Catholic Church authorities. The per capita system under which these schools are operated by religious bodies has been found to work satisfactorily.’

‘The minister therefore recommends that the following be applied to the industrial schools in operation in the Northwest Territories, and to such other similar institutions as may hereafter be established, as soon as, in the opinion of the Indian Department, said institutions are in proper running order, at rates to be fixed upon as being fair and just, viz.:

‘The committee submit the above for Your Excellency’s approval.’

Qu’Appelle$134 67
Battleford175 45
High River185 55
Qu’Appelle$115 00
Regina120 00
Battleford140 00
High River130 00

In addition to the per capita grant, the following concessions have been made to schools established under the above order in council:—

  1. That account books, stationery and an allowance for postage will be given those institutions.
  2. That strict accounts of all expenditure incurred on behalf of each school, supported by vouchers, will be required by the department to be kept in each institution, and at the expiration of each year, a revision of the rate of capitation may be made should it appear that such a step is considered necessary.
  3. In the event of pupils over and above the number already authorized and estimated for on the capitation system, being admitted into a school, and for whom no provision has been made, beds for occupation by such additional pupils are to be given by the department, if they cannot be made in the institution.
  4. In the event of the erection of new buildings at the expense of the department becoming necessary, the cost of the heating apparatus to be included in such cost.
  5. Agricultural and other implements, when considered by the department as being unfit for further use, may be disposed of by the officers of the institution in such manner as may be thought proper by them.
  6. The department will agree to provide sufficient grazing land for use of each institution.
  7. The department agrees to provide sufficient fencing material for the first inclosure required, but the fences must be renewed at the expense of the institution.
  8. Medical attendance as directed by the commissioner for the pupils of each institution will be provided and paid for by the department.
  9. An advance of a sum to be agreed upon will, until further advice, be made by the department to each institution at the commencement of each quarter, to admit of the current expenses of that quarter being defrayed.

Such then was the beginning of what may be called secondary school education amongst the Indians of the Northwest, and this, as will be noticed, was coincident with the construction of the Canadian Pacific railway, which was completed across the prairie and which event the commissioner states would facilitate the movement of pupils and supplies.

Table II.—Statement giving the Population, Indians of SchoolAge, and Schools and Attendance, within the different provincialareas of the Northwest in 1905–6.
MANITOBA.
Agency.Report,
1905–6.
Population.		Children
from
6 to 15.		Industrial and
Boarding Schools.		Average
Annual
Attendance.		Year
Established.
Treaty I—
Lower Lake Winnipeg Agency2,504471{Brandon, (M.)911895
Elkhorn, (C. E.)711888
Treaty II—727164{Cecilia Jeffrey, (P.)311902
Lake Manitoba AgencyRat Portage, (R. C.)281897
Fort Alexander, (R. C.)45
Treaty III—
Buffalo Bay Agency264Norway House, (M.)511890
Treaty IV—1,217274{Portage la Prairie, (P.)231891
Bull AgencySandy Bay, (R. C.)351903
Pine Creek, (R. C.)661890
Treaty V—
Lake Winnipegosis Agency3,479796Birtle (P.)441888
Sioux near Portage la Prairie12117
8,0741,726479
SASKATCHEWAN.
Treaty VI—Industrial—
Pelly Agency628187Qu’Appelle, (R. C.)2061884
White Bear Agency18936Regina, (P.)561892
Crooked Lake Agency534109Battleford, (C. E.)711884
Boarding—
Qu’Appelle Agency860140
Assiniboine Agency31326Round Lake, (P.)301887
Touchwood Hills Agency52085Cowessis, (R. C.)441898
Duck Lake Agency945228File Hills, (P.)161889
Carlton Agency1,608413Gordon’s, (C. E.)241892
Battleford Agency886139Muscowequan, (R. C.)311889
Onion Lake Agency942141Thunder Child, (R. C.)201895
Duck Lake, (R. C.)1001895
Prince Albert. (C. E.)481889
Isle à la Crosse, (R. C.)281897
Crowstand, (P.)471889
Keesekoose, (R. C.)221903
7,4251,504735
ALBERTA.
Treaty VI—Con.Industrial—
Ermineskin’s Agency694123High River, (R. C.)771885
Saddle Lake Agency787126Calgary, (C. E.)181896
Hobbema Agency691113Red Deer, (M.)831893
Treaty VII—Boarding—
Peigan, (C. E.)261893
Blackfoot Agency803129Sacred Heart, (R. C.)281895
Sarcee Agency20329St. Pauls, (C. E.)361893
Stony Agency660156Blood Reserve, (R. C.)381898
Peigan Agency49387Sarcee, (C. E.)151895
Blood Agency1,181236Morley, (M.)331887
Blackfoot, (C. E.)311884
Blackfoot, (R. C.)301900
Hobbema (R. C.)501895
St. Albert, (R. C.)641889
Saddle Lake, (R. C.)341893
Onion Lake, (C. E.)111891
Onion Lake, (R. C.)331894
5,512999612
Grand total21,0114,212

The total number in attendance at the industrial and boarding schools visited by me is thus seen to have been 1,826 in 1905–6; while the actual number of those present in all these in 1905–6 was 1,999. This with the total number, 694, registered at the 74 day schools in 1905–6, gives the total school attendance in schools of every class as 2,691.

Approp. for Sal.
or
Annual Grant.		On Roll.Attendance.
Manitoba$ 13,430 001,071476
Saskatchewan5,760 00323138
Alberta2,700 0018680
21,890 001,580694

While the legal school age for admission is from 7 to 16 years, yet children are admitted at 6 years, and are regularly graduated from the industrial and boarding schools at 18 years, but the number of persons between the ages of 7 to 17 inclusive in an average population of 21,011 would be about 5,160, so that taking the average attendance in all schools as 2,691, this amounts to but 52 per cent of the Indian pupils of the ages between which children actually attend school.

Reverting to the boarding and industrial school attendance, it is found that a remarkable change has taken place in the relative numbers, during the past six years.

Table IV.—Statement of Attendance at Industrial andBoarding Schools in 1900 and in 1906.
Territory.Industrial Schools.Boarding Schools.Total
School Attendance.
190019061900190619001906
Manitoba394195153420547615
N. W. Territories6244989931,3191,6171,817
1,0186931,1461,7392,1642,432

Thus while the total industrial and boarding school increase during the six years was 268, the decrease in the industrial schools was 325. Where the falling off has been is seen in the following figures:—

Name of School.19011907Name of School.19011907
Battleford9959Red Deer5957
Calgary4019High River8483
Elkhorn6390Qu’Appelle216235
Regina10456St. Boniface95closed.
Brandon102115Rupert’s Land112closed.
408339566375