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Former students demand accountability from the Sisters of Saint Anne
This article discusses the residential school system, a subject that can awaken memories of the traumas caused by past abuse. Support for survivors and their families is available. Call the Residential School Survivors Society crisis line 24/7 at 1-800-721-0066, 1-866-925-4419 for the 24/7 crisis line.
Former high school students founded by the Sisters of St. Anne are demanding accountability after the discovery of a mass grave at the Kamloops boarding school, for which the religious congregation was responsible.
Graduates of Collège de Sainte-Anne and Queen of Angels Academy got cold feet last week.
A legacy in Lachine that extends
In 1861, the Sisters of Sainte-Anne founded Collège Sainte-Anne in Lachine, a French-language institution that now offers elementary, secondary and college education. Collège de Sainte-Anne also operates an elementary school and a high school on the former site of Queen Of Angels School in Dorval.
Elise Legault, who graduated from Lachine High School in 2007, reacted strongly when she learned about the presence of the founding Sisters in residential schools. It was the La Converse investigation that informed her. She has since written a letter to the principal of her former high school, Ugo Cavenaghi. “Your prestigious college is an ostentatious demonstration of the legacy of the Congregation of the Sisters of Saint Anne. Your vision is inspired by it. The constant expansion of your business and your deployment of student ambassadors internationally bear the mark of the missionary. You proudly display the history of the Sisters of Sainte-Anne, which you describe as a “Great Heritage”. Am I therefore wrong to expect a reaction from Collège Sainte-Anne? ” she wrote in the letter she sent us. To date, the director has not answered his questions. Ms. Legault denounces “the murderous mission” of the nuns perpetrated across the country. “I went to Collège Sainte-Anne in Lachine, I carried this coat of arms,” she says vehemently.
The communications professional did not recall boarding schools being mentioned in her history classes. By the time she was attending high school, the Sisters of St. Anne had left school administration.
Despite the proximity of the mother house and the adjoining convent, they were no longer involved in school life, and Ms. Legault was not aware of their missions. “The place was still steeped in religion. The heritage of the Sisters of Saint Anne was very ostentatious there,” she recalls. Ms. Legault, who was not sympathetic to the Sisters' heritage, was also sorry that the school administration refused to comment when her name referred to membership in the congregation. She believes that the establishment wants to maintain its image at all costs.
“They love attention and being celebrated. But you have to act according to the values they say they uphold. The management should use its powers and privileges to ask questions and hold the congregation to account,” says the former student who sent her request in writing to the director. She also wants the Sisters of Sainte-Anne to be accountable. “I want their full collaboration in order to make the archives available to Indigenous nations, who will then decide what they want to do with them.” She points to the agreement that states that these archives are under the supervision of the nuns until 2027. “Considering the context, that seems disrespectful to me.”
On June 3, we went to the Collège de Saint-Anne in Lachine. The place is reminiscent of the motherhouse of the Sisters of Sainte-Anne, not far away. The administration did not want to receive us and invited us to communicate by email with the communications department. We sent emails to several staff members over and over again. At the time of writing, our emails have gone unanswered.
Silence at Queen of Angels Academy
Students at Queen of Angels Academy (QAA) High School (QAA), founded in 1888 by the Sisters of St. Anne in Dorval, are also asking for answers from the nuns. “I fell out of my chair,” exclaims Catherine Doyle, who graduated from girls' high school in 1989, about when she was informed that the nuns who taught her were linked to the remains of 215 Indigenous children found at the boarding school in 1989. Kamloops.
It was a tweet from the First Nations Leadership Council asking the Prime Minister to make public the Catholic Church archives hosted by the province of British Columbia. “The Sisters of Saint Anne taught generations of young women at Queen of Angels,” she said. Ms. Doyle, who was taught by nuns, had never known that the sisters were connected to residential schools. “We all knew that the congregation was dedicated to education.
We were taught the history of the founder and the schools that the Sisters created in Montreal,” she tells us on the phone. According to her, the subject of residential schools was not discussed. Along with a classmate, Amy McLean, Ms. Doyle informed a group of former students about her discovery. The reactions were strong. The same goes for students who attended Dorval English-language private school recently, before the school closed in 2014. Nuns lived on campus.
After reading the La Converse investigation, Mrs. Doyle wanted to hold the congregation to account. Several former students also sent letters to the Sisters of St. Anne in British Columbia and Lachine. The former students issued a call to action asking the Sisters to disclose their records and archives. “We also believe that they should acknowledge the facts and apologize for their involvement. And we think it's important to not just apologize, but that there needs to be action associated with the apology. They need to take action and make amends for their role in the suffering, harm, and cultural devastation they caused through residential schools,” believes Ms. Doyle, who admits to being disappointed with the lack of transparency in the congregation.
Generations of Indigenous students
Photo: courtesy of Hayley Morris
Like many women and girls in her community, Megan Kanerahtenha:wi Whyte, an Indigenous artist and art therapy teacher, studied at the Queen of Angels Academy, from which she graduated high school in 2007. She followed in the footsteps of her mother who, a generation earlier, had attended the establishment. Every day, a school bus brought him and his classmates from Kahnawá:ke to Dorval.
“At the time, school fees were very affordable because the sisters wanted to make education accessible to everyone, regardless of social class,” she recalls. It was through a publication by Christine Boyle in an online group of school graduates that Ms. Kanerahtenha:wi Whyte learned about the involvement of the Sisters of St. Anne in residential schools. After the initial shock, she experienced a range of emotions. “It was a surprise, but also unsurprising,” she says, explaining how the history of residential schools is inextricable from that of her family and community.
“The surprise was that it was the school I went to. But it was not so surprising, because it was administered by nuns,” says the woman who took time to digest the news. She's still thinking about it, bringing up the notion of intergenerational trauma. “These are things we heard about growing up. It's the disappointment, the anger and the wounds that it revives”, testifying to the discovery of the 215 bodies in Kamloops. Even though residential schools are no longer in operation, for the artist, it is a living story that has a lasting impact on Indigenous communities and families, past and present.
Several members of his family attended Indigenous day schools, those mandatory schools where the students were not boarders. His grandfather is a residential school survivor. “Before, he and his family were fluent in the language. In my father's generation and mine, we don't have access to the language,” explains the artist with emotion. “It's a direct effect of boarding schools on my own family. When I was young and then as a parent, I fought very hard to learn my language and to make sure my daughter knew her language.
These are the things I have been thinking about since hearing the news from the Sisters of St. Anne: all the implications of boarding school in my family and community, knowing how it affects me, how it affects my family and my children. It's a lot,” she tells us. She recalls her time in high school. “It was mentioned that the Algonquin and the Iroquois existed. In five years of education, there were only a few minutes dedicated to Indigenous history,” she says of her history classes.
“When I was young, it seemed very unrewarding. As if I wasn't a real person.” Hayley Morris went to Queen of Angels Academy for the first two years of high school, before completing her studies at a different private high school in 2014. The accounting student took the bus from the Kahnawá:ke reserve, accompanied by her classmates. “It breaks my heart to find out that a school I went to was associated with such a thing,” says the young woman.
“I had a great time there, I was really welcomed there, as were all the Aboriginal students who were enrolled,” recalls Ms. Morris. “It's hard. It makes me sad and angry,” she said, after learning the news last Friday in the media.
The student, who works at the Mohawk Council in the finance department, wants the Sisters of St. Anne to recognize their responsibility. “For me, the first step towards reconciliation is recognition. If you don't, it's a real slap in the face,” she believes.
Between reconciliation and intergenerational trauma
“Recognizing the fact that these atrocities took place in governments and the Church, writing history books and discussing” is what Ms. Morris proposes as a first step towards reconciliation. Although, according to her, it may be a trendy expression, the young woman still wants everyone to ask themselves the question: “What can we do about it? ”. Ms. Kanerahtenha:wi Whyte discusses the subject of reconciliation extensively through art therapy and community art, as well as the notions of cultural safety and intergenerational trauma.
“Boarding schools were meant to create a break, in every way possible and conceivable. How do we rebuild broken bridges together? How can we build relationships together knowing where we come from? ” she asks. Repairing a relationship is how the artist describes reconciliation, a term for which she has shared feelings. “It implies that there was a relationship at the beginning,” she notes. “If you think about it carefully, there has never been a healthy relationship with Indigenous peoples since the onslaught of colonization. And there still isn't one.” To achieve the desired healthy relationship, you have to build it on listening, empathy and reaching people where they are, believes the art therapy professor.
“It's the base. We need to see each other,” she observes. For Megan Kanerahtenha:wi Whyte and Hayley Morris, dismantling stereotypes and understanding intergenerational trauma is also crucial. “I feel like people need to understand what happened in the story in order for it to be passed on to families. People need to understand what Indigenous people have gone through and continue to experience to shed light on the forms of colonization and systemic violence that continue today,” says Kanerahtenha:wi Whyte, who wants these issues to be addressed at the political table as well.
“We start with residential schools, but there are social problems that stem from the horrible things that people have experienced, including trauma and alcoholism,” she adds. “If people understood where it came from, they would be less ignorant,” she believes. She believes. Students at Little Flower Academy for Girls High School for Girls, founded by the Sisters of St. Anne in British Columbia, are also demanding an apology from the religious congregation.
Update from the Sisters of Saint Anne
Since our publication on June 14, the religious congregation has updated the home page of his website. There is now a section called “Indian Residential Schools.”
“A few years ago, with deep sadness and regret, we realized that some of the teaching positions accepted by the Sisters of St. Anne in British Columbia were destructive for the children the sisters intended to serve. These positions were located in four “Indian Industrial Residential Schools.” Kamloops was one of them,” it reads. The congregation adds that it regrets having contributed to it.
Since last June 21, the Sisters of Saint Anne have signed a new agreement with the Royal British Columbia Museum regarding access to their archives. The agreement provides for better dialogue with the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation as well as the Centre for History and Dialogue on Residential Schools.
To go further
La Converse spoke with the Mother Superior of the Sisters of Saint Anne, the Quebec congregation that was involved in the Kamloops boarding school. Here is an excerpt from our interview:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_BPGtxBolU&t=2s&ab_channel=LACONVERSE