Former Portage La Prairie Indian Residential School National Historic Site

The former Portage La Prairie Indian Residential School – DESCRIBED TEXT

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This video deals with topics that may cause trauma involved by memories of past abuse. A 24-hour National Residential School Crisis Line has been set up to provide support for former residential school students and their families.

Please call the Crisis Line at 1-866-925-4419 to access emotional and crisis referral services.

[A drone view of the former Portage La Prairie Indian Residential School building fades on screen, faint symphonic music plays in the background.]

[Title appears]

The former Portage La Prairie Indian Residential School

National Historic Site

Portage La Prairie, Manitoba

On the reserve lands of Long Plain First Nation, the traditional homeland of the Anishinaabe and the Métis

(DENNIS MEECHES, former Long Plain First Nation Chief)

The building itself is a living memorial,

[Transitions to Dennis Meeches speaking to the camera.]

with so much history behind it and a dark chapter really in Canadian history, and needed to be told and needed to be shared with the world community. The global community.

[Archival photographs of the exterior of Portage La Prairie Indian Residential School are shown, including one with a commemorative plaque and one with a monument in front of the building.]

(DENNIS MEECHES)

For me, it's been a very long journey. I served in the Long Plain public service for 26 years. 20 of them as the chief of Long Plain.

[A drone view of the former Portage La Prairie Indian Residential School building transitions to Ernie Daniels, former Long Plain First Nation Chief and residential school Survivor, speaking to the camera.]

(ERNIE DANIELS, former Long Plain First Nation Chief and residential school Survivor)

As a young chief at that time, I didn't know much about what had happened other than that I attended four residential schools, and I know personally the experiences that I had.

[Several archival photographs of children who attended Portage La Prairie Indian Residential School are shown.]

But it sure touched hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of families, communities, children, some that never made it home.

[Ernie Daniels reappears talking to the camera.]

My name is Ernie Daniels, former Chief of Long Plane, and also a survivor of residential schools. My oldest sister was only two years old when she was placed here.

[Several archival photographs of young girls who attended Portage La Prairie Indian Residential School are shown.]

She was the youngest here. The older girls would look after her as she was growing up here. So she's, she's passed on now but thousand cases like that, that people that have passed on and didn't tell their story they didn't get justice and fairness in terms of recognition and compensation.

[Transitions to photos of the exterior of the school and a close-up of a monument. Meeches reappears talking to the camera.]

(DENNIS MEECHES)

My uncle was quite sick and as a young child in this school, he possibly had pneumonia. And they put him out on a grate on the second floor where the boy's dormitory is because they thought he was going to pass away.

[Archival photographs of the exterior of the school are shown. Footage of archival photos on display that show children in beds.]

To me, that's really inhumane treatment at the hands of people that we're supposed to trust. But of course, we all know there is a different agenda. He had a friend of his join him and kept him company through the night and he survived.

[Meeches reappears talking to the camera.]

His fever broke and he was able to walk out of that. And then remarkably, he goes on to serve the Canadian Army as a peacetime veteran.

[Photos of Meeches’ uncle in army uniform and another photo of him in regalia are shown.]

And he's still alive today. And my mum also attended the school.

[A photo of Meeches’ mother appears on screen.]

And she ran away from the school. Long plane is not far from here, the main reserve.

[A drone view going over the water towards the school building far in the background.]

And her and her friends were following the river, Assiniboine River, because it passes through the Long Plane. They were caught, brought back here. Matrons came, just horrible what they did to them.

[Footage from inside the school, which is now a museum including a mannequin in a school uniform with short hair. Transitions to footage of children’s shoes beside a bed.]

They cut their hair off and then they put paper bags over their heads and then they went out for supper. And there my mum and her friends were quite ashamed of what happened to them.

[Meeches reappears talking to the camera.]

And then the matrons come along and just rip the paper bags off their heads to, to expose, you know, that, okay, if you run away, this is what can happen to you.

[Archival photograph of a group of children with nuns and a priest is shown.]

(ERNIE DANIELS)

We were happy children growing up. Then somebody comes along from government, takes us away, puts us in a place of confinement, containment.

[Ernie Daniels reappears talking to the camera.]

I almost call it a glorified concentration camp. Which I call cultural genocide myself.

[Footage of museum displays showing several archival photographs including children praying in bed and a photo of children sitting at desks in a classroom.]

To assimilate us, to get rid of our… the spirit of an Indian in us, to get rid of our languages, get rid of our culture, our ceremonies, our lodges, which we had a very strong attachment to.

[Ernie Daniels reappears talking to the camera.]

And we were tortured. We were physically, sexually, and emotionally, and psychologically abused. Because they thought our language, our ceremonies were evil.

[Footage of museum displays including an archival photograph of children praying, a child holding a doll, and a painting of a priest with distressed children surrounding him. Faint sounds of children can be heard.]

Their language was more or less destroyed by this process. We had a number of our children, our people right now, they don't have a clue about their language. That's kind of a testament of what happened.

[Drone footage circling around a statue of an eagle perched on a tall tree in the foreground. In the background, starting with a sunset over the water panning around to the exterior of the school.]

As a young chief, I asked myself: what am I going to do with this building? What am I going to do with this land? One of the thoughts about it was to destroy it because of its legacy.

[Ernie Daniels reappears talking to the camera.]

But I went back to the elders at that time. And I asked them: should we blow up that place? We get rid of it?

[A drone view of the school building, washed in golden light from the sunset.]

They said to me: No, we keep it because we want to tell the world what happened here. This is a testimony.

[Ernie Daniels reappears talking to the camera.]

The black history of Canada regards to Indigenous People on the residential school issue, colonization, assimilation.

[A series of modern photographs of the school building and surrounding land are shown.]

Chief and Counsel, I, and the staff, my advisors, we all worked together to acquire this land and we did. This was our, our land. So it became to be in 1981 was declared a reserve status, part of Long Plain.

[Archival photo of the school building is shown. Meeches reappears talking to the camera.]

(DENNIS MEECHES)

Back in 1981, it did become a school, the Yellowquill College.

[Ernie Daniels reappears talking to the camera.]

(ERNIE DANIELS)

So where our kids came and learned and empowered themselves, and capacity building. And a lot of people graduated here, through this building here.

[A collection of photos are shown of students and graduates of Yellowquill College and the exterior of the college building.]

And went on to work and became leaders, became administrators, and became workers. But the Yellowquill college moved to Winnipeg and is still doing good work.

[Ernie Daniels reappears talking to the camera.]

After the Yellowquill College left, through the leadership of former chief Dennis Meeches started working on a museum.

[Camera focuses on the commemorative plaque in front of the school building pans over to the steps leading up to the door of the building and then up towards the sky. Dennis Meeches reappears talking to the camera.]

(DENNIS MEECHES)

We felt, you know, at the time that we need to preserve the history of what happened at the school and schools across Canada.

[Several photos of museum displays are shown, that include archival photographs, a model of the building, artwork, and artifacts.]

So there was a big effort to create a space where people could really, truly appreciate the challenges people had to endure during the residential school era. We're very, very, blessed in many ways that we are the caretakers and that we can showcase to the world the history of Indigenous People through this museum.

[Archival photographs of Indigenous members of the military from various eras.]

Although it'll capture primarily the residential school era, but also pre-contract the treaty time, even Canada's greatest time of need in the world wars, Korean conflict, our indigenous warriors enlisted in the greatest numbers.

[Dennis Meeches reappears talking to the camera.]

Even after, even after the devastating experience that they've had to go through here.

[A drone view of the school building, starting far away and getting slowly closer to the building. Text fades in over the top of the footage.]

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The Former Portage La Prairie Indian Residential School was designated as a national historic site in 2020.

[Dennis Meeches reappears talking to the camera.]

(DENNIS MEECHES)

Our work is almost in some ways just beginning, because now that it has historic site status, it's our responsibility to make sure we preserve that history, work with our Indigenous relatives across the country to tell the story through Indigenous lens, Indigenous eyes.

[A collection of photographs of artifacts on display at the museum are shown.]

So people could truly understand what the Indigenous population faced in this country because of colonial imposition on our way of life.

[Drone footage coming from the water up to the school building. Music changes to a more optimistic tone. Dennis Meeches reappears.]

We've been able to pick ourselves up and begin that sacred journey of repatriating our way of life, our culture, our traditions, our languages. So there is so much work to do and the museum represents that promise to be able to do that by working towards getting the support of Canadians in general across the country and also the global community.

[A montage of photos and videos of exhibits and displays from the museum is shown.]

Because I think I think Canadians do want to help, they do want to assist. They understand now the true history of what's happened to Indigenous People in this country. It's not, history that people want to hear and see, but they have to, just to understand and to be able to walk with Indigenous People on that road to reconciliation.

(ERNIE DANIELS)

I'm glad our people have survived, they’re resilient.

[Ernie Daniels reappears talking to the camera.]

We are practising our ways now. We're trying our best to retain our language for our kids, for them to understand our history as a spiritual, cultural people.

[Several archival photographs of children who attended Portage La Prairie Indian Residential School are shown doing various activities including a hockey team, watching television, and young girls sewing. Transitions to a drone view circling around a statue of an eagle perched on a tall tree in the foreground. In the background, starting with a sunset over the water panning around to the exterior of the school. Music transitions to an Anishinaabe spiritual song and text fades on screen.]

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With deep appreciation, this film features former Long Plain First Nation Chiefs Ernie Daniels and Dennis Meeches.

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[Anishinaabe spiritual song continues to be heard.]

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[Logo of the National Indigenous Residential School Museum of Canada Inc. appears below text]

This video is brought to you through a collaboration between the National Indigenous Residential School Museum of Canada Inc. and Parks Canada.

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Parks Canada is supporting the efforts of Survivors and communities to commemorate residential schools.

Learn more: parks.canada.ca/residential

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Anishinaabe spiritual song credit

Thank you to Dennis Meeches for sharing an Anishinaabe spiritual song for this video.

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Photo Credits

The archival photos used in this video come from the National Indigenous Residential School Museum of Canada Inc. and the United Church of Canada Archives and are used with permission.

[A collection of archival photographs of children who attended the school are shown while the Anishinaabe spiritual song continues to be heard.]

[Fades to black as song ends.]