Residential schools were not only in distant parts of Canada. One operated here in central Alberta.
The Red Deer Industrial School operated from 1893 to 1919. Children were taken there from Indigenous communities, and some never returned home. The term “industrial school” referred to a type of residential school that combined classroom instruction with manual and vocational training.
Learning about this school reminds us that the residential school system is part of our local history, too.
Understanding what happened close to home is part of reconciliation.
