Settlement Agreement Dates
The Newfoundland and Labrador Residential Schools Settlement Agreement recognized only the following as the dates of operation for St. Anthony Orphanage and Boarding School: April 1, 1949 to June 30, 1979.
Description
School history courtesy of A Long Journey: Residential Schools in Labrador and Newfoundland
The St. Anthony orphanage was officially opened in 1906 to house children from both Labrador and northern Newfoundland. The children would stay at the orphanage and attend school in St. Anthony. The number of children at the home grew steadily until 1920 when it was determined that a new, larger building was required. Completed in 1922, the new orphanage provided beds for 50 children.
The orphanage also housed children who had come to St. Anthony to continue their education. The children in the orphanage attended a Grenfell Mission school in St. Anthony. The school was opened in 1906 and was open to everyone in the community regardless of religious affiliation.
Like the boarding schools in Labrador, the St. Anthony school taught both academic subjects and practical skills such as gardening and woodworking. However, St. Anthony taught more colonial skills over traditional Inuit, land-based skills.
Over the years, the reasons children were housed in the orphanage and the length of time they stayed evolved and changed. Though originally opened to house children that were in danger of poverty and hardship, and whose parents were undergoing lengthy medical treatments, by the 1930s many children were housed in the orphanage while they attended school in St. Anthony. By 1959, the province of Newfoundland and Labrador offered bursaries to students to attend school in larger communities if their own schools did not offer higher grades. Some children were also sent to the orphanage for medical care while others were taken from their homes by social services.
The orphanage at St. Anthony closed permanently in 1969.
Only time frame after Confederation with Canada (April 1, 1949) included in Newfoundland and Labrador residential schools Settlement Agreement (Procter, Andrea. 2020. A Long Journey: Residential Schools in Labrador and Newfoundland. St. John’s: ISER/Memorial University Press).
