Information about the Vancouver Island residential schools compiled by the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation at the University of Manitoba.
For more information, see memorial.nctr.ca.
Ahousaht Residential School
Location: Ahousaht
Religious Entity: Presbyterian United Church
Operating Dates: 1904-1940
13 LISTED DEATHS
The Ahousaht School was located on Flores Island, on the western side of Vancouver Island. Originally a Presbyterian-run day school, it received federal government funding starting in 1904. It was taken over by the United Church in 1925. It was “an offence to speak either Chinook or Siwash” at the school.
An inspector’s report from 1936 noted that every staff member carried a strap and that the children “never learned to work without punishment.” When the school was destroyed by fire in 1940, a decision was made to replace it with a United Church day school that opened in June of that year.
Alberni Residential School
Location: Port Alberni
Religious Entity: Presbyterian United Church
Operating Dates: 1900 -1973
30 LISTED DEATHS
In 1893, the Presbyterian Church built the Alberni Girls Home on Vancouver Island a few miles outside Port Alberni. It was taken over by the United Church in 1925.
The school was destroyed by fire in 1917, 1937, and 1941 and rebuilt following each fire. The West Coast Council of Indian Chiefs campaigned for the school’s closing in the 1960s, charging that children in need of care were being dumped into the school.
The school was eventually closed in 1973. In 1995 a former supervisor at the school from 1948 to 1968 was convicted of 18 counts of indecent assault against Aboriginal students and sentenced to 11 years in jail.
Christie Residential School
Location: Meares Island / Tofino
Religious Entity: Catholic
Operating Dates: 1900 -1983
23 LISTED DEATHS
The Christie Roman Catholic school opened in 1900 on Meares Island. Overcrowding was common throughout much its history. Six children died of tubercular meningitis between 1939 and 1941. Over a period of years in the 1950s, a school maintenance worker sexually abused a student.
In 1971, the school was closed and students moved to the Christie Student Residence in Tofino. In 1974 the residence was transferred to the West Coast District Council of Indian Chiefs, closing in 1983.
Kuper Island Residential School
Location: Kuper Island
Religious Entity: Catholic
Operating Dates: 1890 -1975
121 LISTED DEATHS
The Kuper Island School on Kuper Island near Chemainus, Vancouver Island, British Columbia opened in 1889. Students set fire to the school in 1896 when holidays were cancelled.
A survey carried out in that year showed that of 264 former students 107 had died. Two sisters drowned while trying to escape the school in 1959 and another student committed suicide in 1966.
The federal government took over the administration of the school in 1969 and closed it in 1975. In 1995 a former employee pled guilty to three charges of indecent assault and gross indecency.
St. Michael’s Residential School
Location: Alert Bay
Religious Entity: Anglican
Operating Dates: 1894 -1974
15 LISTED DEATHS
The Anglican Church established a day school at its mission in Alert Bay in 1878. It opened a small boarding school there in 1882 and an industrial school in 1894. In 1929, a new building was constructed. The school was known for the arts and crafts produced by the students and the two large totem poles in front of the school building. In 1947, two-dozen children ran away from the school.
The subsequent investigation into conditions at the school led to the resignation of both the principal and the vice-principal. By 1969, when the federal government assumed administration of the school, all residents were attending local schools. The residence closed in 1974.
