Law Society of Saskatchewan
Find Legal AssistanceMember ProfileMember ResourcesContact
  • 0
    Cart
  • My Account
  • About Us
      • slider_1Latest News
      • PPSA 1101 (Survey Course) – Free Enrolment for Articling Students in Saskatchewan
      • Family Law Help Sessions – Moose Jaw
      • Articulating a Framework for Cultural Competency in Law: Links between Education and Practice
      • News
        • Legal Sourcery
        • Podcast
        • Re:Source Mail
        • Videos
        • Benchers’ Digest
        • Case Mail
      • Mission and Values
      • Committees and Task Forces
      • Convocation
      • Benchers
        • Bencher Election 2018
        • Bencher Election 2021
      • Annual and Financial Reports
      • Contact Us
  • Initiatives
    • slider_1Initiatives
      The Law Society is seeking to identify legal service providers for new initiatives. This unique approach, the first of its kind in Canada, enables the Law Society to expand access to appropriately regulated legal services in a responsible and sustainable manner. The overall goal is to balance the need for enhanced access to legal services for underserved Saskatchewan citizens while ensuring public protection. For more information, click below. Consultation
      • Access to Justice
        • Future of Legal Services Initiative
        • Limited Scope Legal Services
      • Equity
      • Legal Information
        • Legal Information Guidelines
        • Saskatchewan Access to Legal Information
      • Innovating Regulation
      • Truth and Reconciliation
        • Additional Resources
        • Notice to Day School Survivors
      • Saskatchewan Justicia Project
  • Regulation
    • slider_1Remote Executing Of Certain Documents And Remote Witnessing Of Wills By Electronic Means Legislation Now Permanent
      We are happy to announce that today, the Government of Saskatchewan repealed the temporary emergency regulations related to remote execution of certain documents and wills and replaced those regulations with permanent regulations allowing for remote execution of documents via electronic means (i.e. video calls) to continue long-term beyond the end of the public emergency period. Practice Directives
      • Definition of the Practice of Law and Unauthorized Practice of Law
      • Firm Regulation
        • Designated Representative (DR) Hub
      • Act, Code and Rules
        • The Legal Profession Act, 1990
        • Code of Professional Conduct and Amendments
        • Law Society Rules, Amendments and Practice Directives
        • Rules Concordance – Read More
      • Hearings, Decisions and Rulings
        • Pending Discipline Matters
        • Discipline Decisions
        • Conduct Review Database
        • Ethics Rulings Database
        • Pending Admissions and Education Matters
        • Admissions and Education Decisions
        • Disqualification and Reinstatement
      • Lawyers with Practice Conditions/Restrictions
      • Lawyer Trusteeships and Successors
      • Potential Complaint Outcomes
        • Ethics Committee
        • Competency Committee
        • Conduct Investigation Committee
  • Public
    • slider_1New Law Society Complaint Form
      The goal is to assist and encourage complainants to provide clear and concise descriptions of their concerns, and reduce confusion by removing technical terms that may not be fully understood by members of the general public (i.e.: “conflict of interest”). Complaint Form
      • Finding Legal Assistance
      • Find Legal Assistance Search Guidance
      • What to Expect From Your Lawyer
      • Looking For Lost Wills
      • Making a Complaint
        • Complaints Process
      • Common Client Concerns
        • Understanding Lawyers’ Fees
        • Quality of Service
        • Conflict of Interest
        • Confidentiality
        • Withdrawal
        • File Transfers
      • Common Client Concerns
        • Role of an Estate’s Lawyer
        • Role of Opposing Lawyer
        • Breach of Trust Conditions/Undertakings
        • Lawyer’s Conduct in Court
        • Lawyer’s Outside Interests
  • Lawyers and Students
    • hiring sign resizedCareer and Volunteer Opportunities
      • Becoming a Lawyer in Saskatchewan
        • Students-at-law
        • Transfer Lawyers
        • International Applicants
      • Becoming a Principal
      • Career And Volunteer Opportunities
        • Students Seeking Articles
      • Membership Services
      • Awards, Bursaries, Scholarships
      • Consultation
      • Locum Registry
      • Practice Advisor Program
      • Forms and Fees
        • Law Society Forms
        • Trust Account Forms
      • Western Conveyancing Protocol
        • Protocol for Saskatchewan
      • Practice Resources
        • General Resources
        • Queen’s Bench Rules
      • Health and Wellness
  • Legal Resources
  • CPD
    • slider_1Continuing Professional Development
      • CPD Activities
        • CPD Calendar of Activities
        • CPD On Demand (Subscription)
        • Recorded Versions Shop
        • Study Group Resources
      • CPD Policy
        • Reporting CPD Hours
        • Eligible CPD Activities
        • Approved Providers
        • Remedial CPD Plan Information
        • FAQs
        • Transition to One-Year CPD Term
      • Contact Us
      • Volunteers
      • Presenter Section
  • Shop
Law Society of Saskatchewan Lawyers and Students The Efforts of Two Saskatchewan Lawyers to Preserve the Battleford Industrial School Cemetery

The Efforts of Two Saskatchewan Lawyers to Preserve the Battleford Industrial School Cemetery

June 23, 2017

Kelly Laycock, Publications Coordinator

A cairn at the Battleford Industrial School in Battleford, SK, erected in 1975 after more than 70 unmarked graves were excavated in the cemetery. (Photo credit: Jim Cairns/Wikimedia Commons)

Saskatchewan lawyers Benedict Feist and Eleanore Sunchild are helping in the fight to gain heritage status for the graveyard at the Battleford Industrial School, a former residential school site that operated from 1883–1914. Hundreds of Indigenous students attended the school during that time, but not all of them survived it.

The cemetery was opened in 1884 because of student deaths at the school. Tuberculosis and influenza, among other illnesses, were an issue at that time.

The cemetery was almost forgotten, until a group of archaeology students and staff from the University of Saskatchewan took an interest and excavated more than 70 graves. Fifty bodies were identified as students named in school records. At that time, a small memorial was erected to commemorate those students.

But the cemetery is once again the topic of conversation, as it was named in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s report[1] in 2015:

Many of the cemeteries in which students were buried have long since been abandoned. When the Battleford school in Saskatchewan closed in 1914, Principal E. Matheson reminded Indian Affairs that there was a school cemetery that contained the bodies of seventy to eighty individuals, most of whom were former students. He worried that unless the government took steps to care for the cemetery, it would be overrun by stray cattle. Such advice, when ignored, led to instances of neglect, with very distressing results. [footnotes omitted]

Ben and Eleanore, along with members of First Nations communities in the area and the Battlefords’ Historical Society, are spearheading a commemorative project after reading the recommendations of the TRC’s Calls to Action Report. The group held a public information session at the North Battleford Public Library on May 3 to outline the history of the school and the cemetery site, and there seems to be community support in pursuing the project.

The goal is to have the graveyard and cairn recognized with official cemetery status, and Ben wants permanent preservation, protection and accessibility of this and other residential school cemeteries in the Battlefords area.

“I would like it to be a historical site, so that it’s preserved and it can be used for educational purposes,” Eleanore told the Battlefords News-Optimist in an article from May 8, 2017. “There’s a lot of schools that want to see it because it is part of the whole history regarding residential schools and calls to action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, so it is something that is important to the community.”

They have a lot of work yet to do, and they want local First Nations communities and residential school survivors to lead the movement. The information session was a good first step in bringing awareness to their project and the importance of recognizing the legacy left from residential schools, which goes beyond just the Battlefords region.

“It is very important because we all suffer the effects of Indian residential schools, whether we are native or non-native,” Eleanore says. “We deal with the intergenerational effects in our society. We see it in this community. I think there is a divide between our people, and a lot of that stems from the schools.”[2]

To read more about the cemetery and the importance of preserving it, please see an article by Eleanore Sunchild and Benedict Feist, published on page 10 of the Summer Issue of the Benchers’ Digest.

[1] Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Canada’s Residential Schools: Missing Children and Unmarked Burials, in The Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, Vol. 4 (Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2015), 10.

[2] Quoted from “Battleford Industrial School cemetery project discussed” by John Cairns, in Battlefords News-Optimist, May 8, 2017.

Share this:
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Archives

Categories

Subscribe Now

Subscribe for the latest news from our blog "Legal Sourcery".

Submit News Post

Submission Guidelines

Online Tools

  • Search
  • Contact Us
  • Terms of Use

Quick Links

  • About Us
  • LSS Initiatives
  • For Lawyers & Students
  • For the Public
  • Regulation
  • CPD

Subscribe Now

Subscribe for the latest news from our blog "Legal Sourcery".

Stay Connected

Twitter
Facebook
Linkedin

© 2022 Law Society of Saskatchewan. Website & Hosting by OmniOnline