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Indigenous communities are grieving in Canada. On May 27, the unidentified remains of 215 Indigenous children were found at the site of the residential school in Kamloops, British Columbia. The largest Aboriginal boarding school in Canada was overseen by the Sisters of St. Anne, a congregation founded in Quebec in 1848. Quebec nuns worked and were paid to force the assimilation of Aboriginal children taken from their families in at least three other boarding schools in British Columbia. At their parent house, the legacy of the Sisters of Sainte-Anne linked to the Aboriginal residential schools was discreet. Since the macabre discovery, the nuns have been abstaining. No mass, no words, no comments, no excuses. The Converse made them break the silence. On Friday afternoon, after insisting for several days, we met the superior of the Congregation of the Sisters of Sainte-Anne, Sister Rita Larivee. She leads us through the small building where her office is located and offers us a guided tour of the heart of the Quebec congregation. “We are very invested in education and health,” she says, showing us artifacts from the sisters' missions in Haiti, Chile, Cameroon, Cameroon, and finally, Cameroon, and finally, in Cameroon, and finally, in Cameroon, and finally, in Cameroon, and finally, in Cameroon. “That's why you're here,” she said, pointing to a window where we see photos, pamphlets, and a map showing the journey of the Sisters of St. Anne from Montreal to Victoria. “Imagine Sister Marie Jean Berchmans hurrying this way everyday and glancing across to her destination, the Songhees Indian School, where she taught from 1895-1911,” reads a pamphlet entitled Following in Their Footsteps (“Imagine Sister Marie Jean Berchmans hurrying every day, glancing at her destination, glancing at her destination, the Songhees Indian School, where she taught from 1895 to 1911”) which is behind a window in the small office of the congregation and that we were able to consult. This is the only reference to the involvement of the Sisters of Saint Anne in boarding schools that we will find in the motherhouse.
On the website Sisters, not a word about it. The Christian intuition of the founder of the convent is presented as “a heritage to be shared with Christians who feel called to make life grow.” “Mother Marie-Anne (Esther Blondin), founder of the congregation, is the evangelical figure who inspires them”, it is written. Sister Larivee explains this by the fact that the congregation does not have the technological resources to make changes to its website, because the average age of nuns is 85. Her counterpart in British Columbia, Sister Marie Zarowny, said she gave presentations in Quebec schools on the subject. “We never denied our involvement in residential schools, we fully participated in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. If people don't know we were there, I don't know why. We're definitely not trying to hide anything.”
In recent days, numerous testimonies from survivors in Kamloops speak of the sexual and psychological abuse they experienced at the residential school. They were washed with disinfectant and told that they would go to hell when they spoke their language, or references to the cemetery were made to discipline them. When asked about this, Sister Larivee first focused on the goodwill of the nuns. “Yes, they were there, but at least they were there to take care of the children, because who else would have been there if it wasn't them? she asks, adding that they were “women of their time.” She explains the silence of her congregation since the discovery made in Kamloops by the failure of the human being. “To be honest, I have to say that we were taken by storm because we were so involved; we did not know how to react. You can't just console yourself by saying, “I didn't know.” And you realize that you were complicit.” She couldn't find words. “Sometimes, the best thing to do is sit in silence and listen, because there's no way around it,” says the Superior Sister.
No excuses, no names
But let's go back to British Columbia, where 23 nuns from the congregation are still alive — and among them, some who worked at the Kamloops Indian Residential School (KIRS). The sisters refuse to give us their names and to let us interview them, in order to protect their privacy. “The people who were there know the names of the sisters who were there,” Sister Marie Zarowny, the president of the Sisters of Saint Anne in British Columbia, tells us bluntly.
On the phone, she told us right away: “I want to make one thing clear: we never managed the Kamloops boarding school. We were hired by another religious organization to run the school, and we asked our community to provide teachers and support staff, including daycare for girls and food services.” Asked about the role of the Sisters, she answered by playing with words. “Whatever the terminology used, it probably doesn't represent the meaning of what we were doing. [...] We were there to meet their needs, to take care of them, to entertain them; we were there to make sure they slept at the right time.”
In the congregation, we are referred to the work of Sister Marie Zarowny, in particular to her efforts to dialogue with Aboriginal nations. Despite this, she has not contacted survivors of the Kamloops residential school or with Indigenous leaders since the unidentified remains of 215 of the children her congregation raised were found. “I have not been in contact with the survivors in the last week, and none of them have approached me. It is absolutely necessary that I have more information about these graves,” says Sister Zarowny.
About the macabre discovery, the president of the nuns in British Columbia is not ready to apologize. “We need to know why we would apologize and what really happened,” she says tersely. Her supervisor in Lachine, Sister Larivée, said that, if she had to apologize, the congregation would apologize in a group, with the Canadian Religious Conference, that is, with the 240 Catholic congregations in the country. Why not an official apology on behalf of the Sisters of Saint Anne? “That's just how we work,” she says.
The nuns of Sainte-Anne took care of the children of KIRS from 1890 to 1970, but say they do not know how many of them died. “Yes, the students were dying, but even with our archives, we don't know how many students died,” explains Sister Larivee. According to Sister Zarowny, when children died, they were buried in the boarding school, in the cemetery, or sent to their families when possible. “Those who died were registered. It's not that the children were disappearing and we didn't know what had happened with them, we were in mourning,” adds Sister Zarowny.
Protected archives, a contested agreement
The sisters' archives could shed light on these questions, but it is difficult to consult them. The nuns say they sent all their archives on residential schools to the National Center for Truth and Reconciliation (CNVR) in 2012. “None of us denied or withheld information about our involvement in residential schools,” continues Sister Zarowny. We fully participated in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.”
When asked to consult the archives, Sister Zarowny sent us to the National Center for Truth and Reconciliation. The latter gives us A link which sends us to a site where it is indicated that the archives are kept at the Royal British Columbia Museum. The archives are under lock and key and managed by an archivist from the Sisters of Saint Anne who reviews them and notes any inaccuracies.
One Agreement signed in 2011 and amended in 2018 was concluded between the Sisters of Saint Anne and the Royal British Columbia Museum. According to this agreement, the archives are under the supervision of the nuns until 2027. It is signed by Sister Marie Zarowny and the Executive Director of the British Columbia Museum, Jach Lohman.
Several members of Aboriginal communities in British Columbia Ask for the breach of the agreement and an investigation into what led to his signing. This week, BC Minister of Arts and Culture, Mélanie Mark, also asked the Sisters of St. Anne to return all their archives on residential schools to the affected Indigenous communities. Questioned for this purpose, the nuns say they were not notified of the requests of the minister and the indigenous communities. They refute their statements. “Our archives have always been open to the public,” they say.
According to the director of the Center for History and Dialogue on Residential Schools, Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, even though the Sisters say their archives are public, requests to consult them must be approved by a Sisters' archivist who has total control over the collection. “First Nations do not have obvious or unfettered access to the archives,” she summarizes. She adds that when the Sisters of St. Anne submitted documents to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, they did not sign a waiver, so these documents are not accessible. “It is time for the Sisters to recognize this fact and take concrete steps towards reconciliation by opening their files to First Nations who want a complete account of these systems. This should not be put off for years later,” she said.
The voices of survivors erased
The congregation sent La Converse its own 25-page account of its heritage related to the Kamloops boarding school, drawn from its 109-page report The Sisters' of Saint Ann in the Indian Residential Schools in British Columbia, Canada, Canada, British Columbia, Canada, Canada, 1868-1984: The Sisters' Story. This document was written in 2015, after the Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings. It praises the Sisters and “their tireless efforts” without mentioning the abuse the children were subjected to. Anthropologist Marie-Pierre Bousquet spent hours reading the archives of religious congregations involved in boarding schools. “I am flabbergasted. Reading that, it feels like life in Kamloops was great. There is absolutely no critical eye in light of the testimonies of survivors, the feelings of the children are not part of these stories for them,” laments the director of the Indigenous Studies program.
She notes the tendency for religious congregations to embellish their experience, and this document is no exception. “These Aboriginal children have excellent qualities of mind and heart. They have a good memory and learn easily. Their favorite subjects are drawing, arithmetic, history, and geography, but they are eager to learn about religion. The boys are hardworking, the girls are clever. Everyone has a remarkable talent for music and singing,” it reads. “I have the impression that it was written in 1935, and not in 2015,” says the researcher.
“Accomplices in a destructive system”
At the motherhouse of the Sisters of Saint Anne, in the small park near the convent cemetery, a set of human-sized statues shows the founder of the congregation playing with two children. Inside the building, on the walls of the fifth floor, there is an obituary chart showing all the sisters of the congregation who have died since 1850. Some of them worked in residential schools. The nuns let us take pictures of them, but then ask us not to publish them. “Did they participate in a genocide,” Sister Larivee is asked. “They were unconsciously complicit in a destructive system that systematically aimed to destroy a culture,” she replies. “I wouldn't go so far as to say that our sisters participated in a cultural genocide,” she tells us.
We then ask her if, after the discovery of the mass graves in Kamloops, she is ready, she, the senior sister of the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Anne, is ready to recognize that residential schools are at the origin of a genocide. “These policies, which were promoted by the Canadian government, we can now look back and say that it was a cultural genocide, I would be ready to go that far yes. In terms of calling it a genocide at all, I need more information.”
Questionable accountability
Sisters often refer to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) when asked about their responsibility. A commission created when residential school survivors filed a $12 billion class action lawsuit against Canada and the Vatican. The CVR did not have subpoena powers. Therefore, church officials or the government in court could not be named. Several experts we have spoken to question the type of justice that it has created. Marie-Pierre Bousquet, director of the Indigenous Studies Program at UdeM, believes that the TRC has limited the damage and protected religious orders.
But that could change. Lawyers from across the country asked the International Criminal Tribunal to investigate the Canadian government and the Vatican for crimes against humanity following the discovery of the hidden cemetery in Kamloops. The congregations involved could be legally accused and found responsible for crimes against humanity. Questioned for this purpose, Sister Rita Larivée answers: “We were only employees, we were not the directors.” An argument heard during numerous war crimes trials: in Yugoslavia, Rwanda and in the wake of the Holocaust. “Yes, it's true,” she admits timidly. “Can we prosecute people who followed the law? We need to find ways to move towards healing, I don't think that punitive law is the right way to adopt,” explains the nun.
The Sisters' main house will close in December. In Quebec, and elsewhere in Canada, religious vocation is increasingly rare. The nun believes that, in about fifteen years, the Sisters of Saint Anne will be nothing more than an inheritance. The average age, she repeats, is 85. Will nuns be more transparent about their past in residential schools? “It's part of our heritage, but it's not all of our heritage. It may not be perfect, but our intention is to do the best we can to ensure that history does not repeat itself. We are trying to build a better future without renouncing part of our heritage.”
What do the sisters say to the survivors in Kamloops and to the children of the survivors? After an hour and a quarter of the interview, Sister Larivee uttered these three words that many people ask to hear: “We're sorry.” “We're sorry, we're crying with you, we're crying with your children and we'll do everything we can to walk with you to heal.” So you're sorry? She is asked. “I think we should apologize, I think we should sincerely say 'I'm sorry, 'and we all apologize,” she concludes.
A few hours after our interview, the Canadian Religious Conference expressed its sadness and compassion, without apology, in a press release that Sister Rita sent us.
To go further...
The Sisters' role in residential schools
- “In these schools, the nuns are directly placed under the supervision of the male congregation in charge of the institution; very generally that of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate. In order to administer these boarding schools and to specify the roles and duties of the male and female congregations in attendance, contracts are drawn up between the two co-managing congregations. The nuns were then referred to as “collaborators.” It is specified that they must be in charge of instruction during school hours, but also of the education of children at night and at weekends, accompanying them during meals, treatments, chores or even during leisure time. Also, these contracts highlight the place of “auxiliaries” reserved for nuns in these establishments. They are responsible for the internal management of the residence: the living spaces of the children and the house of the Fathers. Through their constant presence, they are the ones who are responsible for the transformation of children, from an early age, with a view to their assimilation. They are the main actors in the transmission of the multiple knowledge, skills and interpersonal skills that young Aboriginal people must acquire according to the policy then in place. In addition to their teaching activities, nuns in residential schools become surrogate mothers in a way. Several sisters interviewed indicated that they should play “the role of parents” with school children,” Marion Robinaud, an anthropologist who signed a research entitled Indian boarding schools in Canada. Religious women and the transmission of knowledge for the assimilation of indigenous people.
- “Always eager to do good among young people, even in foreign countries that were still uncivilized, the Sisters of Saint Anne opened a mission in Kamloops in 1880”, can we read in the book The Sisters of Saint Anne, by Marie-Jean de Patmos.
- “At the call of the Oblates of the Vicariate of British Columbia, they are in charge of the boarding schools in Kamloops and Vancouver, the Indian schools in Kamloops, Kuper Island and Songhees, the Saint-Aloysius Protectorate and the Victoria Garden. And it will not be their last step,” wrote Lionel Groulx in his book French Missionary Canada.