A Long Journey

Residential Schools in Labrador and Newfoundland

By Andrea Procter
Categories: History, Regional & Cultural Studies, Canadian Studies, Social Sciences, Anthropology, Indigenous Studies, Indigenous-settler Relations, Inuit Studies
Series: Social and Economic Studies
Publisher: Memorial University Press
Paperback : 9781894725644, 528 pages, September 2020
Ebook (PDF) : 9781894725651, September 2020
Ebook (EPUB) : 9781894725668, September 2020
Ebook (MobiPocket) : 9781894725675, September 2020
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Table of contents

Foreword by James Igloliorte vii

Acknowledgements xiii

Introduction: The Journey of Reconciliation 1

PART ONE: The Peoples of Labrador

1. The Peoples of Labrador: Life Before the Boarding Schools 17

PART TWO: The Moravian Mission Boarding Schools

2. The Moravian Church in Labrador 31

3. Early Moravian Schooling: Teaching the Gospel of Christ 45

4. The Makkovik Boarding School 63

5. The Nain Boarding School 107

6. A New Boarding School Considered 163

PART THREE: The International Grenfell Association Boarding Schools

7. Wilfred Grenfell and the Grenfell Mission 177

8. The Children’s Home at St. Anthony 197

9. The Cartwright Area Boarding Schools 247

10. The St. Mary’s River Boarding School 305

11. The Yale School and Dormitories of North West River 313

12. Boycotts and Protests: Inuit Demand More Control 367

PART FOUR: The Innu Experience

13. Labrador Innu, Roman Catholic Schooling, and the IGA Boarding Schools 383

Conclusion: Moving towards Respectful Relationships 399

Appendix 1: Record of Children at the Children’s Home, 1929 413

Appendix 2: Record of Children at Lockwood Boarding School, 1935–36 414

Appendix 3: Record of Children at St. Mary’s River Boarding School, 1935–36 415

Notes 417

Bibliography 479

Index 489

Description

Left out of the national apology and reconciliation process begun in 2008, survivors of residential schools in Labrador and Newfoundland received a formal apology from the Canadian government in 2017. This recognition finally brought them into the circle of residential school survivors across Canada, and acknowledged their experiences as similarly painful and traumatic.

For years, the story of residential schools has been told by the authorities who ran them. A Long Journey helps redress this imbalance by listening closely to the accounts of former students, as well as drawing extensively on government, community, and school archives. The book examines the history of boarding schools in Labrador and St. Anthony, and, in doing so, contextualizes the ongoing determination of Indigenous communities to regain control over their children’s education.

Awards

  • Winner, Atlantic Book Award for Scholarly Writing 2021
  • Short-listed, BMO Winterset Award 2021
  • Short-listed, The Honourable Edward Roberts History Book Award 2022
  • Winner, Clio Prize (Atlantic) 2021
  • Winner, Newfoundland and Labrador Book Award 2021
  • Winner, Peter Cashin Prize 2021

Reviews

"A Long Journey is a compelling, necessary read."

- Joan Sullivan, The Telegram

"Procter delivers the most thorough examination of its kind."

- Jenn Thornhill Verma, Atlantic Books Today

"Andrea Procter's compelling and comprehensive book...amplifies and balances the personal and scholarly to provide a compassionate and measured depiction of the impacts felt by northern residents as a result of Moravian Mission and International Grenfell Association schools."

- Jury, BMO Winterset Award

Essential reading for anyone wishing to learn about the history of residential schools in Canada and about the complexities of residential schooling across Canada…educational history of Canada is deficient without this book.

- Tricia Logan, Historical Studies in Education

"A Long Journey does not just describe a historical moment; it is a part of it.'

- John R.H. Matchim, The Canadian Historical Review