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The Indian Industrial School at Fort
Qu’Appelle, which is under the able supervision of the Rev. J.
Hugonnard, deserves more than passing mention. It is doing a noble
work, and upon it and similar institutions largely depends the
solution of the interesting Indian problem. Efforts are being made
to lift the Indians out of the wretched position they have occupied
for so long, to make them appreciate the advantages of a better mode
of living, and the necessity of working for a livelihood. The
institution is not entirely a Government one, but a certain payment
is made for every child sent there. Under existing legislation the
Government have power to take children from the tribes and place
them in Industrial Schools, where they are kept until they arrive at
years of discretion. So attached to the schools do they become, that
they frequently return to them in after years, in case of ill-health
or of temporary difficulties in procuring employment. Cases of
running away are extremely rare. During the term in which they are
kept at the schools the children are not allowed to return to the
reserves from which they came, but they are often visited by their
parents. It is not an unusual, and it certainly is a pathetic sight,
to see an Indian cart and pony, with the inevitable “teepee” [tent]
outside the gates of the institution, and a dusky couple who have
come to gaze upon their boy or girl who has been taken in hand by
the Government. As the Indians have nothing to gain by making these
visits, and in some cases travel hundreds of miles for the purpose,
it serves to show that they have the same feelings towards their
offspring as their palefaced brethren. In addition to the industrial
schools, several of which are found scattered over the North-West
Territories, day and boarding schools have been organised on some of
the reserves, but they are not spoken of very hopefully, either by
the schoolmasters or by the Indian agents. The same influence and
authority cannot be exerted over the children that is possible at
the industrial schools, and the frequent opportunities they have of
seeing their parents, and of returning to their old life and habits,
tend to undo much of the good that might otherwise be expected from
the working of such establishments. There are about 200 children at
the Qu’Appello school, the number being about equally divided
between the sexes. Thu head of the Institution, Father Hugonnard,
has a staff of assistants, and the girls are looked after by a
number of Sisters from some of the Conventual Institutions in
Eastern Canada. The boys are taught various trades, and they seem to
be very apt and very willing workers. Many of them are hired out,
not only in the neighbourhood but in places some distance away, and
the young mechanics are often in great demand. Naturally, they keep
the buildings in proper repair, and work the farm. The girls are
taught the different branches of domestic service, and also to cut
out and make clothes, so that altogether the institution may be said
to be self-supporting. The
process of improving the Indian is necessarily a slow one, but those
who are interested in the work appear to be confident that the
rising generation will prove to be a great advance upon the adults
of the present day, and that they will abandon the mode of living to
which their parents have been accustomed. It is interesting to know
that a few cases of marriage have taken place among the elder boys
and girls brought up in the institution. The young men soon to be
doing well, other in farming or as mechanics in different parts of
the territory.
The following are some extracts
from the latest report of Father Hugonnard about the boys and girls
entrusted to his care:—“The trade boys are becoming efficient at
their different trades. Two carpenter boys worked part of last
summer on the now Indian Department warehouse at Regina, and two
also worked the whole winter on the building erected at the High
River Industrial School. In both places the boys gave satisfaction,
and proved by their efficiency, manners, and use of English, the
progress they have made here. Repairs were done to the File Hills
Agency buildings, to the boarding school on the Sioux reserve, and
over twenty regulation desks were made for schools on the Sioux and
Touchwood Hills reserve.
The blacksmith and apprentices did
all our own work, and, as in the other trades, made various articles
for the Chicago Exhibition. . . . The girls, under the able
superintendence of the Reverend Sisters, kept improving in their
studies, and in all kinds of house work. They sent a variety of work
to the Chicago Exhibition. Eighteen girls are at present hired out,
and many applications for servant girls have had but refused, owing
to the repugnance of some parents and girls to service. Those hired
out receive from $4 to $10 a month, and give as much satisfaction as
white girls. Even in the houses of the highest class they are sought
for as servants. One is at Government House, and another was there
previously for over a year. During the past year the pupils have
earned over $1,400.”
It is not all work and no play at
the institution. Among other amusements, the children have an
excellent gymnasium and a competent instructor, and some of the
young people are very expert in their gymnastic exercises. They also
play cricket and football, and during the last summer were able to
defeat the team from the Fort, and also the team of the North-West
Mounted Police. They also have a brass band, in which much interest
is taken. No one who visits the institution can fail to be impressed
with the value of the work that is being done, and with the
brightness and intelligence displayed by many of the pupils. Both
the Indian Department and those connected with the institution have
cause to be gratified at the result of their efforts to improve the
condition of the red man. Of course, it is only a beginning, but the
progress already made is encouraging, and the future is full of
hope. No doubt the present policy, satisfactory though it is, may
have to be developed, but the Canadian Government is not likely to
lag behind in endevouring to solve satisfactorily the difficult
problem it has taken in hand. It is unfortunate that a proportion of
the young people are not as strong, physically, as might be desired,
many of thorn showing some hereditary taint in the way of disease.
No doubt their condition may also be attributed to the way in which
they are brought up.
After leaving the industrial
school, we drove to Indian Head through a very well-settled
district. Farm-houses could be seen everywhere, and the stacks of
grain which were dotted over the landscape gave an indication of the
extent of the crops of the year. Threshing machines were also
familiar objects, and here and there could be seen flames arising
from immense heaps of straw which wore being burnt as the only means
of getting rid of them. The farmers, upon the whole, seemed to be
very well satisfied with their progress, although they complain of
the loss they had sustained by the drought which prevailed, and
which lessoned the yield to a certain extent. After three or four
hours’ drive, the immense elevators at Indian Head appeared on the
horizon, and we wore soon under the hospitable roof of Major Bell,
of the well-known Bell Farm. That gentleman had many thousands of
acres under cultivation, and there are several large farms in the
neighbourhood owned by Lord Brassey and others. There is also a
Government Experimental Farm, under the supervision of Mr. McKay.
The crops in this district were smaller than those in 1893, which
were phenomenal, but the grain was of the best quality, and
altogether the farmers appeared to be fairly satisfied with their
year’s work. |
