The purpose of this thesis is to identify the names of the students who died while attending the Brandon Indian Residential School (BIRS) and determine the location of the school’s burial grounds along with the number of unmarked graves on the school property. My research project uses mixed methods including; archival research, qualitative interviews, Ground-Penetrating Radar (GPR), Electromagnetic Ground Conductivity (EM38), control burns, and aerial photography to systematically survey the school’s burial grounds. My investigation into the deaths and burials of BIRS students aligns closely with a larger project being conducted by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s (TRC) Working Group on Missing Children and Unmarked Burials (n.d.). This Working Group attempts to locate the burial grounds for the Indian residential schools across Canada and identify the names of the students who died at the schools in the archives. This research was conducted in collaboration with Sioux Valley Dakota Nation, the University of Manitoba, Brandon University, the United Church of Canada, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), and in consultation with the TRC, Manitoba Historic Resources Branch, and Brandon Research Centre. By using an applied anthropological approach my thesis works to contribute to the ongoing TRC’s Missing Children’s Project. It is my hope that this research can assist the Sioux Valley Dakota Nation with future restoration, protection and commemoration plans. / May 2015

This paper demonstrates, through Sagkeeng First Nation narratives, how the Fort Alexander Indian Residential School (FAIRS) is a micro-instance of genocide. An understanding is offered from the perspective of a settler colonial academic, in consideration of decolonizing principles. Using relational theory, namely Actor-Network Theory, this paper discusses how FAIRS’s practices were designed and operated to disrupt relations between Anishinaabe children and their community, and the ways children and their families negotiated and undermined these practices. Data was collected through critical narrative analysis and sociohistoric inquiry to identify and unpack themes of "language," "space/place," and "the natural environment" as identified in FAIRS Survivors’ testimonies, interviews, stories, and memoir.

This thesis looks at the stories of second-generation survivors of residential school. Storytelling is the methodology utilized in this research. The practice of Indigenous storytelling is a way to transfer knowledge to the younger generations. It is also a way to ensure history is not lost. Using a storytelling methodology is a healing method for the writer and the storyteller. A storytelling approach to methodology honours the words of the one sharing their story within this thesis. Included is an overview of the oppressive policies that forced Indigenous children to residential schools, how survivors of residential school were impacted with an overview of research on the intergenerational effects. The research identifies how these storytellers were impacted by their parents’ attendance at residential school and the themes are shared. / Graduate

The re-curated Canadian History Hall (CHH) opened at the Canadian Museum of History (CMH) in Gatineau, Québec, on July 1st, 2017, becoming the first Canadian national narrative to exhibit the history, experiences, and aftermath of Canada’s genocidal Indian Residential School (IRS) system. Through interviews and participant observation, this case study considers experiences of CHH curatorial engagements between Alberni IRS Survivors and museum professionals. Their experiences illustrate practical challenges, structural limitations, and complementary interests of Western museums and Indigenous source communities attempting to collaboratively curate difficult history. Despite having limited capacities for indigenization or decolonization, this thesis demonstrates that museums like the CMH can be complicated but beneficial partners for some Indigenous source communities and their anti-colonial engagements with Canadian society. / Graduate

Using Indigenous methodology and a story telling method this thesis is the result of research that looks at the benefits of traditional Indigenous ceremony and healing practices as a way to heal from traumatic experiences. A thematic analysis technique was employed to reveal four themes that emerged from the stories told by Indigenous Knowledge Keeper participants. The first theme is the importance of our connection to all living things including our own selves. Another is recognizing our greatest teachers nature and animals. Cleansing emerged at the center of all traditional healing strategies and the final theme encompasses all that we are as life on this planet spirit or energy. Trauma can be understood as any event that creates difficulty for the individual to cope whether the event that caused the experience was purposeful or accidental. While people do find amazing ways to cope with circumstances that are overwhelming, neurobiology tells us how trauma is processed and impacts the workings of the brain. Trauma in the nervous system can be understood as the result of a person or group or community’s inability to stay safe or to feel safe during the experiences. Indigenous people live with the ongoing effects of intergenerational trauma caused by colonization including the Indian Residential School experience, as well as ongoing systemic oppression. All traumas can activate the deeply held traumas that have been transmitted trans-generationally. In essence we carry intergenerational traumas. I believe that Indigenous people were practicing healing on a regular basis within their traditional ceremonies, dances and practices before contact and these practices may inform a model of health and wellness that could be useful in healing the effects of trauma that impacts Indigenous people today. Ceremonies and traditional teachings were shared communally before contact and are now being revived as we embrace the cultural practices of our ancestors across this land. Within our Indigenous ways of knowing we recognize that we are related to everything in creation we are connected and depend on one another. In 1884, under the Potlatch Law & section141 of the Indian Act our ceremonies, spiritual practices and traditional knowledges were made illegal; our people were imprisoned for practicing them (UBC First Nations Studies, 2009). Today we are in a state of desperation for healing strategies that work for who we are as a people. The Elders in this research shared how this can be done. / Graduate / 0452 / 0622 / 0347 / sheilanyman@shaw.ca

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