The Former Muscowequan Indian Residential School - Lestock, Saskatchewan   

TAKING CARE:  We recognize this comes at a difficult time for many and that our efforts to honour victims and families may act as an unwelcome reminder to those who have suffered hardships through generations of government policies that were harmful to Indigenous peoples. A National Residential School Crisis Line is available to provide support to former residential school students. You can access emotional crisis referral services. Please call the Crisis Line at 1-866-925-4419 if you or someone you know is triggered while reading this. We encourage all those who need some support at this time to reach out and know that support is always there for you through the Hope for Wellness Help Line at 1-855-242-3310 (toll-free) or the online chat at hopeforwellness.ca, open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week You can also find information on how to obtain other health supports from the Government of Canada website.

The Former Muscowequan Indian Residential School is located on the reserve lands of Muskowekwan First Nation in Treaty 4 Territory (southeastern Saskatchewan). This site was nominated for designation as a national historic site under the National Program of Historical Commemoration by Muskowekwan First Nation. Parks Canada and Muskowekwan First Nation worked collaboratively to identify the historic values of this former residential school, and co-developed the report on the history of the school and the experiences of students, which was reviewed by the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada.

The large, three-storey former school building was built in 1930-31 to replace residential school buildings dating to the late-19^th century, and remained open until 1997. It was once part of a large school property that included a working farm, outbuildings, playgrounds, and skating rinks. At least 35 unmarked graves have been found on the former school grounds since the 1990s. It is the only standing residential school in Saskatchewan, and one of the few remaining residential school buildings in Canada.

Muscowequan Indian Residential School functioned within the system of residential schools in Canada that was imposed on Indigenous Peoples by the federal government and certain churches or religious organizations, who worked together in a deliberate effort to assimilate Indigenous children and convert them to Christianity by separating them from their families, cultures, languages, and traditions. Until 1969, Muscowequan Indian Residential School was operated by the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, a Roman Catholic missionary congregation, and staffed by the Sisters of Charity of Montreal (Grey Nuns) and the Missionary Oblate Sisters of the Sacred Heart and of Mary Immaculate. In the 1980s, the site came under the administrative control of a local First Nations organization and was among the last residential schools to close in Canada.

For over a century, First Nations and Métis children from Treaty 4 Territory, across Saskatchewan, and elsewhere in Canada were forced to attend this residential school. They faced severe discipline, punishment and abuse, harsh labour, inadequate nutrition, poor living conditions, separation from siblings and cousins attending the school, the attempted suppression of their language and cultures, and isolation from their families and home communities. Many children ran away, some to be later returned by force. Some children died while attending the school. In the face of threats by government officials of fines or imprisonment, Indigenous families engaged in acts of resistance such as refusing to send their children to school, withdrawing them without permission, and writing letters to government officials protesting the poor treatment of their children. The far-reaching effects of the residential school experience continue to have significant impacts on former students, their families, and communities today.

The school building has been saved from demolition by Muscowequan Indian Residential School survivors and community members who see it as an important site that bears witness to the history of residential schools, and wish to repurpose it into a place of commemoration, healing, and cultural learning, and a site of memory for all Canadians.

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