Fort William (St. Joseph's) Indian Residential School

• Fort William (St. Joseph's) Indian Industrial School
• Fort William Residential School
• St. Joseph's Indian Industrial School
• St. Joseph's Indian Boarding School
• St. Joseph's Orphanage
• Fort William (St. Joseph's) IRS
• St. Joesph's IRS
• St. Joseph's Indian Residential School
• Fort William IRS

Fort William (St. Joseph's) Indian Residential School was originally founded as a school and orphanage on the property of the Roman Catholic Mission in Fort William in 1870 under the direction of the Daughters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. In 1885, the Sisters of St. Joseph’s of Toronto took over and then once again by the Sisters of St. Joseph’s of Peterborough. The orphanage was made up of two separate buildings. One of the buildings was used as the schoolhouse and had two rooms that could hold between 23 and 72 students. At the time, the convent/school was a mixture of both white and Indigenous orphans as well as white boarders. On April 10, 1895, a fire broke out in the convent bake oven and destroyed the structures. No one was killed during the fire but the Sisters were forced to find other buildings to use while the school was reconstructed. The Sisters decided to use the First Nations Council House as a chapel and schoolhouse until reconstruction of the school could take place. The school formally applied with the Department of Indian Affairs to become an Indian Residential School in 1895 after the fire in order to increase funding to cover the costs of the rebuild. However, the new designation did not actually increase the school’s funding. By the end of November of 1895 the convent, orphanage, and church were rebuilt. In 1907, the Grand Trunk Railway bought the land that the school was on necessitating a new building. Construction of the new school took place in 1908 on the corner of Franklin and Arthur in Fort William. The school’s new site occupied 3.5 acres of land and had a total cost of $30,500. The new location officially opened on February 14, 1909. With the new location, the school operated as an Indian Industrial Day School as well as the orphanage, and boarding school for non-Indigenous children that it had already done. The school did not continue operating as an Indian Residential School again until 1936.

The school averaged 84 students per year between 1943 and 1952 and faced frequent outbreaks of illness and multiple reports of abuse. The school had a policy of not turning children away, which resulted in constant overcrowding problems. The school stopped formally operating as a residential school in 1964 but still operated as a residence for students attending local day schools. The school closed completely in 1966.

The school has various names throughout its history including: Fort William Residential School, St. Joseph’s Boarding School, St. Joseph’s Indian Residential School, St. Joseph’s Indian Boarding School, St. Joseph’s Indian Industrial School, and St. Joseph’s Orphanage.

Fort William, Ontario
Thunder Bay, Ontario

“For a period of more than 150 years, First Nations, Inuit and Métis Nation children were taken from their families and communities to attend schools which were often located far from their homes. More than 150,000 children attended Indian Residential Schools. Many never returned. The first church-run Indian Residential School was opened in 1831. By the 1880s, the federal government had adopted an official policy of funding residential schools across Canada. The explicit intent was to separate these children from their families and cultures. In 1920, the Indian Act made attendance at Indian Residential Schools compulsory for Treaty-status children between the ages of 7 and 15. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) concluded that residential schools were “a systematic, government- sponsored attempt to destroy Aboriginal cultures and languages and to assimilate Aboriginal peoples so that they no longer existed as distinct peoples.” The TRC characterized this intent as “cultural genocide.”
The schools were often underfunded and overcrowded. The quality of education was substandard. Children were harshly punished for speaking their own languages. Staff were not held accountable for how they treated the children. We know that thousands of students suffered physical and sexual abuse at residential schools. All suffered from loneliness and a longing to be home with their families. The schools hurt the children. The schools also hurt their families and their communities. Children were deprived of healthy examples of love and respect. The distinct cultures, traditions, languages, and knowledge systems of First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples were eroded by forced assimilation. The damages inflicted by Residential Schools continue to this day. For a great many Survivors, talking about their experiences in residential schools means reliving the traumas they experienced. For years, many told no one about what they had endured. In 1996, the landmark Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples drew attention to the lasting harm that was done by the residential schools. A growing number of Survivors and their descendants came forward to tell their stories and demand action.”

History is taken from “Residential School History” by the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (https://nctr.ca/education/teaching-resources/residential-school-history/)

Updated July 8, 2022

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