The second Lac La Ronge All Saints Residential School was built on the site now located in downtown La Ronge. (Library and Archives Canada (PA- 020295))

By Derek Cornet

ancestors

Found footage shows rare look at life at Lac La Ronge All Saints Residential School

Mar 15, 2022 | 3:10 PM

Film reels recently found in the collection of Library and Archives Canada provides a unique window into the past on those who attended the Lac La Ronge All Saints Residential School.

The footage was obtained by Lac La Ronge Indian Band (LLRIB) member Teron Roberts, who enjoys researching local information and history with his friend John Irving. The four reels of film he located documents life at the residential school some time between 1930 and 1942, but the exact date is unknown.

The video was captured by Reverend George W. Fisher, who was the school principal during that time. It shows footage of children attending school, in costume and dancing. It also exhibits the arrival of provisions, hauling firewood, staff and scenes with and without snow on the ground.

“It speaks more than just one picture would,” Roberts said, noting he has never seen footage like it before. “You see people actually moving and doing their everyday thing. It looks like he was just walking along. I don’t know if he staged it, but it looked like it was every day happenings going on that he just caught on camera at that time.”

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The first Lac La Ronge All Saints Residential School, which was operated by the Anglican Church of Canada, opened in 1907 but later burned down in 1920. A replacement school was built afterwards and it too was destroyed by fire in 1947. The space was later occupied by a hospital before it became an urban reserve located downtown La Ronge.

Research by Irving shows the second school was built for 80 students, but it fluctuated as high as 126.

Roberts explained Library and Archives Canada required him to receive permission from the film’s donor to be sent a copy. He contacted a relative of Fisher living in Nova Scotia, who granted permission for it to be shared publicly. What Roberts posted online is about half of the footage he accessed.

“I wanted to focus on the local people, the lives,” Roberts said. “That’s why right off the bat I put it in the very front because there are three ladies who are working the moose hide. I wanted to show less of the school and more of the people who were around that area at the time.”

Roberts is currently in contact with a photography company in Winnipeg, who reached out to him offering to enhance stills from the footage. He mentioned the goal would be to increase the quality enough in hopes of local people being able to identify their ancestors.

“It probably is very important because for lots of people the knowledge isn’t known,” Roberts said. “They do have oral history from the students who actually lived there. We do have a few survivors of that school alive in our territory today.”

Public interest grew in the former site of the Lac La Ronge All Saints Residential School in 2021. The LLRIB deployed ground penetrating radar there last year and located unmarked graves.

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derek.cornet@pattisonmedia.com

Twitter: @saskjourno