Thread by @withfilesfrom

Thread: Here is what the TRC reports from 2015 documented about the former Marieval Indian Residential School on Cowessess First Nation, known as the Grayson school.

I simply took screenshots I took of all mentions that came up in Ctrl+F, and sorted by theme. I may have missed information.

The national 24/7 Indian Residential Schools Crisis Line can be reached at: 1-866-925-4419, including for intergenerational survivors.

Fire-escape doors were locked or not functioning, and there was at least one fire believed to be deliberately set.

(The TRC documents numerous fires, including ones from pupils who deliberately set fires while running away.)

There are mixed notes on the quality of the education received, which may have varied over time, with reports of rote memorization

(With all TRC notes from government agents, I try to remember they may have had their own agendas and work pressures in how they assessed schools.)

There are similarly mixed noted on food, with one assessment finding the fridges were too warm to be safe, and another saying the nutrition was adequate.

The Cowessess school at Grayson was over-capacity, as officials tried to maximize funding.

The school also took in one mixed-race child who was already under care of her grandmother.

But the Grayson school also rejected a Métis child.

This was pretty common in the residential schools, and an entire TRC volume (#3) talks about Métis children being ostracized by staff and fellow pupils, or denied an education.

Here is what we know about children who tried running away from the Cowessess school at Grayson. One escapee was punished by having her hair cut.

It is worth noting that some children made multiple attempts to flee. Administrators resisted transferring some kids, feeling it would only incentivize more to try running away.

Local parents were also denied visits as of 1933.

Here is a more positive recollection from one of the survivors.

The youngest survivor to provide the TRC with testimony was from the Cowessess school (Marieval/Grayson). She said during her 1993-7 term that they still cut pupil’s hair and addressed them by number.

That is only 24-28 years ago.

Here is what we know about the closure, which occurred in 1997. There was apparent underfunding in the school’s last decades, and this also impacted local First Nations’ ability to get control over the school and manage its dissolution.

Outside the TRC, here is some more information from the 2017 project Shattering the Silence, led by Shuana Niessen, which pulled from other historical files.

www2.uregina.ca/education/sask…

Just adding to that USask link; here is more info beyond that two-page PDF: www2.uregina.ca/education/sask…