The Presbyterian Church in Canada’s involvement in the residential school system for aboriginal people spanned almost nine decades from the mid-1880s until 1969 when the residential schools became the full responsibility of the Federal Government.
The following article written by Rev. Peter Bush and published in the May 2004 issue of “Presbyterian History” provides an informative introduction to the history of the residential school system with special focus on our Church’s involvement.
To read the article, just click on the button below. The article will open as a PDF document in a new window.
In addition to photographs, The Presbyterian Church in Canada Archives also holds hundreds of files containing tens of thousands of documents relating to our Church’s administration and operation of both the Birtle Residential School and the Cecilia Jeffrey Residential School after 1925.
The Archives’ staff has created a comprehensive listing of all of these files. If you are interested in doing research into The Presbyterian Church in Canada’s involvement in the residential schools system, we encourage you to contact us, and we encourage you to browse through the Guide.
In 1994, the 120th General Assembly of The Presbyterian Church in Canada adopted a document titled “The Confession of The Presbyterian Church in Canada”.
This confession was formally presented by Rev. George Vais, Moderator of the 12th General Assembly, at the Forks National Site in Winnipeg on October 8th, 1994. Phil Fontaine, Grand Chief of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs at the time, received the confession on behalf of First Nations people.
Copyright held by The Presbyterian Church in Canada Archives, 2013
If you would like copies of any of the photographs in this exhibit, or if you know the names of any of the individuals in the photographs, please contact us at 1-800-619-7301 or by email at karnold [at] presbyterian [dot] ca
