Christmas at Canada’s Indian Residential Schools

Liz Flaherty
4 hours ago
3 min read

by Maggie Blackbird

I asked my father what it was like to spend Christmas at St. Charles Garnier Indian Residential High School for Boys, which he attended in Spanish, Northeastern Ontario in the mid-fifties as a young teenager. Being so far from home, he had to stay during the holidays since my grandparents couldn’t afford to bring him back to the reserve located a good 1,200 kilometres away in Northwestern Ontario.

He mentioned the priests and staff did their best to make the day special for the remaining students who had to stay. Of course they attended midnight Mass on Christmas Eve. The girls from the sister school just across the way also joined the boys. With a laugh, Dad mentioned that if a boy crushed on a girl, he would bump her neck with the paten, a small round plate held under the person’s neck to catch the Holy Communion they received, if the sacred host fell. That bump meant, “Hey, you’re hot.” LOL.

He said there was even music and dancing for the students, and the girls were invited to join them. They put on plays and had other fun winter activities.

Instead of the standard plain porridge for breakfast, and mostly broth soup for lunch, the breakfast and lunch were festive, with delicious food they didn’t get to eat all year. They savoured every bite, he said. Then come dinner, that was even more special with turkey and all the trimmings.

On Christmas Day they didn’t wake to presents under a tree, though, and instead attended Christmas Day Mass, but they got to enjoy full bellies of bacon, fried potatoes, and other luxury goodies afterward (you can’t receive Holy Communion on a full stomach).

With a touch of sadness, he mentioned that nothing could replace being home with his brothers and sisters and parents during Christmas, though. When Dad and a couple of other boys were coming back from a hockey game with the priest, Dad sat in the back seat and “Silver Bells” was playing on the car radio. The song evoked strong memories of family and home, and a tear slid from his eye as he wondered what his parents, brothers, and sisters were doing at that moment. The feeling of homesickness consumed his heart, and he fought hard not to cry aloud since in those days, big boys did not cry, especially in front of other boys and the priest.

After listening to my father tell me about his Christmases there (he also attended another Indian Residential school as a youngster but was close enough to go home for the holidays), I was inspired to write Better Than Gold, a story set in Spanish during the fifties at a fictional Indian Residential School where a boy and girl crushing on each other learn love and Christmas are more than receiving luxury presents when far from home and missing their families. I hope you read and enjoy it.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Better Than Gold

Sometimes chocolate is better than a golden ring.

Etta Bannon must endure another Christmas at the Indian Residential School for girls. With her heart heavy for home that is a two-day train ride away, all she has is the stolen moments with her beau to look forward to, but even the boy she cares deeply about cannot erase her longing for her family.

Charlie Shawanda is also stuck at the Indian Residential School for boys. Only a mere jog away from Etta, he longs to make their last Christmas at the school special before they graduate in the spring and go their separate ways. But what he truly yearns for is to call Etta his very own.

When a golden opportunity arises for Charlie to show his love, he must make a tough decision–endure the cruel punishment of the strap or miss out on a chance to tell Etta how he truly feels and maybe lose her forever.

Purchase at: https://books2read.com/u/bzk0Gz

Author Bio: An Ojibway from Northwestern Ontario, Maggie resides in the country with her husband and their fur babies, two beautiful Alaskan Malamutes. When she’s not writing, she can be found pulling weeds in the flower beds, mowing the huge lawn, walking the Mals deep in the bush, teeing up a ball at the golf course, fishing in the boat for walleye, or sitting on the deck at her sister’s house, making more wonderful memories with the people she loves most.