IRSHDC : School : St. Mary's (AB) [18833]

St Mary's Roman Catholic School (unknown date). Source: Deschâtelets-NDC Archive.

St. Mary's (AB)

Dates of Operation

October 31, 1898 - June 30, 1988

Description

The Immaculate Conception Boarding School opened in 1898 on the Blood Reserve in what is today Alberta. It was replaced in 1926 with a new school, known as St. Mary’s, near Cardston, Alberta. By the mid-1930s the school was experiencing overcrowding. In 1930, a government inspector said that the boys at both the Catholic and Anglican residential schools on the reserve were being worked like “slaves” from morning to night to support the schools. The school had a severe outbreak of measles in 1935 and an outbreak of spinal meningitis in 1956. The federal government took over the operation of the school in 1969 and closed it in 1988. (National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation)

Denomination

Catholic Church

More Information

Alternate Name(s)

Blood
Cardston
Immaculate Conception

Permalink

Map Information

Location

First location, 1898-1926: "Point is on the site of St. Mary's Mission Site, the first location of St. Mary's (Blood Roman Catholic) Indian Residential School. The school and mission was located to the west of the Standoff on the south side of the river. There were several school building on this site" (Orlandini, 2019).

Second location, 1926-1988: "Point is on the second site of St. Mary's (Blood Roman Catholic) Residential School, specifically the main school building that opened in 1926 and closed in 1988. The buildings were recently used as the Red Crow Community College and the building burnt down in 2015" (Orlandini, 2019).

Location Credit

Rosa Orlandini and the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation. 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]
Orlandini, Rosa, 2019, "Residential Schools Locations Dataset (Shapefile format)", https://doi.org/10.5683/SP2/FJG5TG, Borealis, V3, UNF:6:TTc1mMvx2BlBqBgIN05xVw== [fileUNF]