Religion

Harold Greyeyes, a student who attended the Lebret Indian Residential School from 1936 to 1944 recalls a typical day in school. The days were long, beginning at 6 am and ending at 9 pm everyday. Activities were strictly regulated due to the influence of principle Fr. DeBretange, a retired colonel from the French Foreign Legion and the second-in-command who was a retired RCMP sergeant. The day's events and tasks were divided into half-hour blocks. The students routinely had prayers, meal times, chores, class room time, and recess.

An assembly organized by Louis Riel at Batoche confirmed the split between the Metis and the Catholic Clergy at the settlement (represented by Fathers Fourmond, Moulin, and Végréville). The clergy did not support Riel’s plan for resistance. In the following months this split grew into an estrangement. The clergy threatened to withhold the sacraments from the Metis if they rose up again the “established authority.” As a result, on 19 March 1885 when the “little provisional government of Saskatchewan” was formed the government took over the church and rectory at Batoche.

A lack of professional training in Residential school teachers was noted as early as the 1890s and had not significantly improved by the early 1960s. Many of the missionary organizations who oversaw appointments of teaching candidates considered 'missionary spirit' or religious enthusiasm more important than academic preparation. In the 1940s the Department of Indian Affairs was aware that religion took precedence over academic studies for most teachers in the residential school system. By the 1950s many of the most dedicated teachers emphasized their religious teachings over academic studies. Students from both the Cowessess and Thunderchild Residential Schools who attended in the 1950s report that religious instruction was the primary focus of these schools as opposed to education in reading, writing, and arithmetic. Former student Cedric Duncan observed, "Seemed like they just wanted us to learn about praying and all that stuff quite a bit." A common experience for students who attempted to go on to other institutions was an under preparation for future education and academic ventures as a result of their failed education in Residential schools. A Saulteax man discovered after attending St. Philip's in the 1950s when "both at Marieval residential school and at St Joseph's college he found himself poorly trained for the academic program, and in the latter case he was so embarrassed by his educational deficiencies that he dropped out at fifteen."

Following the Red River Resistance and the Manitoba Act’s passing a wave of new settlers from Eastern Canada arrived in Manitoba. These individuals were largely English Protestant and were linguistically and religiously intolerant. The French Metis experienced violence and a general disregard for their land rights.

Members of the Swan River, Crooked Lakes, File Hills, and Touchwood agencies attended a Sun Dance in Yorkton. The actions of participants were criticized, but there was no direct action by government or police to stop the ceremony.

An all-night ritual took place near the Red Pheasant reserve featuring 15 members of the Native American Church, 13 members of the Stony Reserve (Alberta) and Red Pheasant Band, and peyote. Non-Indigenous observers were also present.

In 1952, the ritual consumption of peyote related to the activities of the Native American Church was reported among members of the Cree band led by Louis Sunchild. Sunchild, an Alberta First Nation leader, was stopped at the Montana-Alberta border carrying peyote. RCMP took him into custody, and although he was released, the peyote was retained and the report and images of his peyote stash were circulated to Indian Agents across Western Canada.

Between 1845 and 1855 the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate established a series of missions across the west, including at Ile-à-la-Crosse, where many Metis voyageurs wintered. In 1846, two Catholic priests, Alexandre Taché and Louis Richer Leflèche arrived at Ile-à-la-Crosse to establish the St Peter mission.These missions became bases of operations from which clergy travelled in the 1850s and 1860s to seasonal camps on the North and South Saskatchewan Rivers to spread Christianity.

Many students experienced sexual abuse at the hands of school faculty, local clergy members, lay persons from the local community, and other students. Some victims of sexual assault in Residential Schools have remained silent about their experiences for multiple reasons, including shame, fear of disbelief, and symptoms of psychological trauma that are harmful to retell to the survivors. However, given the number of survivors who have reported sexual assault, and the extensive research already collected on the conditions of Residential schools, it is inarguable that sexual violence was widespread throughout the institutions, having immediate and long-term effect on Indigenous peoples and their communities. This is affirmed by Mel H. Buffalo, an adviser to the Samson band in Alberta, who says that "every Indian person I have spoken to who attended these schools has a story of mental, physical or sexual abuse.". Several incidents of sexual abuse and neglect occurred under Principle McWhinney at the Crowstand IRS. Following incidents of abuse in 1914, D. C. Scott, Deputy Superintendent of Indian Affairs, instructed that female students be sent home. It was deemed the institution was no longer safe to continue mixed education of boys and girls.

The Native American Church, or ‘Peyote Religion,’ which included 40-50 members of Red Pheasant, became officially incorporated under the Saskatchewan Benevolent Societies Act of 1954, after having begun the quest for legal charter status earlier that year.