Residential school group searches for identities of 2 boys who drowned while attending Shingwauk

Aresidential school survivors group is seeking help to findthe identities of two boys who drowned in a pond near their residential school in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., over 100 years ago.

The Children of Shingwauk Alumni Association wants to erect a plaque in memory of the two boys at Snowden Park in Sault Ste. Marie. The association represents survivors who attended the Shingwauk and Wawanosh residential schools.

"Nobody seems to know what their names are," said Irene Barbeau, 76,vice-president and one of the founders of the association.

"We think there may be some relatives of the boys that are still alive and don't really know the true story of what happened to those boys."

No records surviveidentifying the boys who drowned between 1914-1915. Barbeau said while the deaths were noted by the school's principal at the time, there were no accompanying details as to their names or home communities.

"I don't feel good about it and neither do any of our colleagues," said Barbeau, who is from the Cree community of Wemindji in Quebec, but now lives in Ottawa.

"It goes back to the principal that was running the school at the time. He didn't bother to try and retrieve their bodies and give them a proper burial."

A paper by researcher Edward Sadowski pieced together bits of the story from the remaining records and video interviews from a 1981 Shingwauk reunion.

At the time of the drownings, staff at Shingwauk tried to retrieve the bodies of the boys from the marsh area around the pond using a long pole to no avail, according to Sadowski's research, based on accounts from Margaret Mclean, who was the daughter of Seymour Hayes, a staff member at the Shingwauk, and Angus Abram, who attended the school in 1915.

Hoping for community help

Sadowski's researchlisted the home communities ofchildren attending Shingwauk at the time of the drowning. The association hopes someone in these communities can help identifythe boys.

The communities listed are:

• Kahnawake
• Chapleau Agency
• Chippewas of Georgina and Snake Island
• Chippewas of Walpole Island
• Chippewas of Saugeen and Saugeen Agency
• Fort William Band
• Garden River Band
• Gore Bay Agency
• Manitou Rapids Band
• Manitowaning Agency
• Oka Band (now known as Kanesatake)
• Oneidas of the Thames
• Akwesasne
• Six Nations of the Grand River
• Sturgeon Falls Agency

The city of Sault Ste. Marie filled in the pond in the early 1960s after the drowning of a local boy.

Nellie Mitchell, now 71, from Brunswick House First Nation, and three other girls from Shingwauk were walking near the pond in February 1960 when they heard yelling and screaming.

"We ran down the hill to see what was going on," MitchelltoldCBC News.

They found two boys in the pond.

"By the time we got there, one was further out and the youngest one was close to the bank," she said.

Mitchell, who was nineat the time, said she ran over to a man who had just arrived at his home. He gota rope. The three other girls told the boy near the bank to grab a branch to stay afloat.

According to Sadowski's research, based on reports in the Sault Daily Star, a local resident named John Wiskin grabbed the younger boy, Robert Crossman, in the pond and he was pulled out with a rope by two neighbours.

Soon, the fire department and police arrived, but it was too late to save Gerald Crossman, who had gone into the pond to help his younger brother. Diversrecovered Gerald's body.

Barbeau said the plaque the Children of Shingwauk Alumni Association wants to erect should also include Gerald's name alongside those of the two boys from Shingwauk who drowned at the pond.

"We would like to see the relatives of the two non-Indigenous boys be present when we do the ceremony, when we unveil the plaques that will also include their names," said Barbeau.

"That is the least we can do for this unfortunate event."