We welcome you to the Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre.

The records on our site emerge from the cultural and physical genocide that the Canadian government and churches conducted through the Indian Residential School System, including the ongoing impacts.

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Wellness Resources
Convent Notre Dame des Victoires / Lac La Biche Mission (unknown date). Source: Canada's Historic Places.

Lac la Biche (AB)

Dates of Operation
September 1, 1893 - June 30, 1898
Description
Missionaries established a residential school in Lac la Biche in present-day Alberta in the early 1850s. In 1862 a new school and orphanage opened, but the school was closed in 1872 due to poor enrollment numbers. In 1877 federal funding was provided for a new school, and by 1894 the government recognized the school as an industrial school. In 1898 the industrial school was transferred to the Blue Quills reserve, and in 1905 a new boarding school opened at Lac la Biche. The school buildings were renovated in 1941, and closed in 1963. (National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation)
Denomination
Catholic Church

More Information

Alternate Name(s)
Notre Dame des Victoires
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Map Information

Location
"Point is on the site of the convent building that was used as the Lac La Biche school. The convent is located on the Lac La Biche Mission property" (Orlandini, 2019).
Location Credit
Rosa Orlandini. The school/hostel location data was collected by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission / National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, Morgan Hite (Atlas of Indian Residential Schools of Canada), Stephanie Pyne (Residential Schools Land Memory Mapping Project) and Rosa Orlandini (Map and GIS Librarian, York University Libraries). The location data and associated attribute data was enhanced, revised and updated by Rosa Orlandini, in consultation with the Archivists at the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation.
Location Source
Orlandini, Rosa, 2019, "Residential Schools Locations Dataset (Shapefile format)", https://doi.org/10.5683/SP2/FJG5TG, Borealis, V3, UNF:6:TTc1mMvx2BlBqBgIN05xVw== [fileUNF]

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