Students and faculty head to Residential School site
March 1, 2018
The Social Justice and Peace Club, the JMS Careless History Society and the King’s Political Science Students’ Association have partnered to organize a trip for all current King’s students to visit the Shingwauk Indian Residential School site. Interested students will travel by bus to Sault Ste. Marie on March 1-4, 2018 to explore Canada’s current relationship to its colonial past. This excursion is planned in an attempt to understand Canada’s colonial legacy and assess the impact of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. At Shingwauk, students will explore archives and listen to presentations focusing on residential schools in Sault Ste Marie. A former Residential School student will speak about the experience.
A tour of the Shingwauk Indian Residential School site will include the grounds, Shingwauk Hall, the Bishop Fauquier Memorial Chapel, the Principal’s Residence, and the Shingwauk Memorial Cemetery.
Dr. Allyson Larkin and Dr. Tom Malleson of Social Justice and Peace Studies will accompany the students. “Residential schools have played a devastating role in Canadian history. Learning the truth about this history, and coming to grips with the myriad ways in which the legacies of colonialism still exist is fundamentally important for everyone who lives on this land today. Visiting residential schools is a profound and potentially transformative way for students to begin to really grapple with the processes of decolonization and reconciliation. I have no doubt that it will be a powerful experience,” says Dr. Malleson.
Shingwauk Indian Residential School was part of the Canadian residential school system and one of 130 boarding schools for First Nations, Métis, and Inuit children that operated in Canada between 1874 and 1996. The building is now the central building of Algoma University and is also partly operated by The Shingwauk Residential School Centre.
For more information about the residential school trip, visit the calendar page.
(Photo credit: Fungus Guy https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=22763106zz)