Remembering the File Hills Farm Colony

Excerpt from Introduction

"Aboriginal oral histories have largely been absent from colonial and academic narratives about the File Hills farm colony. I argue that Aboriginal oral histories enrich the historical and geographical record, and that these stories—especially about everyday geographies and lives—draw intricate links between stories and place. Stories about everyday geographies and lives not only show distinct connections to identities, feelings, spirits, memories, and histories, but they also constitute a unique history of the colony that is missing from colonial documents. My intentions in this paper are twofold: first, I suggest that engaging with oral histories can “open” histories and enrich methodologies; second, I propose that the oral histories and memories of colonized peoples assist in understanding everyday geographies and lives beyond the constructs of colonialism.

The construction of the colony on the Peepeekisis Reserve in southeastern Saskatchewan created one of the most oppressive and distinct colonial landscapes in North America (Figure 1). Founded in 1898 by Indian agent William Morris Graham, the colony was established under what Ann Laura Stoler calls an “administrative anxiety” over the “regression” of expupils back to traditional ways after completing residential school. The “re-socialisation” and “re-education” of Aboriginal children was not as quick or complete as the government had envisioned. Consequently, Graham, predominantly with the collaboration of Kate Gillespie at the File Hills boarding school and Father Joseph Hugonard at the Qu’Appelle industrial school, selected “certain” ex-pupils from various reserves to be settled on sub-divided land allotments on Peepeekisis and live like non-Aboriginal homestead farmers. Constructing the colony displaced original Peepeekisis members to a small fraction of the land base, where they lived very different lives than colonists. As early as 1910, government records show that Graham’s “experiment” began creating friction and resentment amongst Peepeekisis community members." 53.