Little has been written of either parochial or
integrated educational history in northern British
Columbia. Prince George College, founded in 1956 by Bishop
Fergus O'Grady of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate,
represents a. particular attempt by the Catholic community
of the Diocese of Prince George to offer a Catholic
education for both Aboriginal and white students in
northern British Columbia.
Using the personal and professional files of the late
Bishop O'Grady and other documentary evidence made
available to me by the Archives of the Diocese of Prince
George an attempt has been made to construct an image of
Bishop 0'Grady's "vision" for Prince George College. Using
letters, memos, minutes, personal notes, and a number of
available monographs on the subject of parochial,
Aboriginal, integrated,- and northern Canadian education,
this thesis begins the process of piecing together some of
the bishop's plans and visions for the school from its
founding to its change of name in 1989 to "O'Grady Catholic
High School" and eventual closing in June, 2001.
Chapter One details the bishop's construction of not
only the school's financial groundwork, but more
importantly its ethos - a narrative rooted in century's old
stories of the Oblates and their pioneering efforts to
establish Christianity in northern B.C. The second chapter
examines the role of volunteerism and parental support in
staffing the school. In'particular, much credit must be
given to the Frontier Apostles - a lay, volunteer
organization started by Bishop 0'Grady - for the day-to-day
running of the school for most of its thirty years. The
third chapter looks specifically at the "integrated" nature
of the school - the supposed presence of integration of
both Aboriginal and white students.
What is constructed is an image of the bishop's vision
that finally provides some context to his plans for the
school. The school lay on a foundation of a carefully
constructed ethos, the sacrifices of hundreds of lay
volunteers, and the involuntary financial subsidies
provided by Aboriginal students from approximately 1960 to
1989.
The school finally closed its doors in 2001 citing
both financial difficulties and a lack of local parental
support. Much can be learned from the mistakes of the past
in any future attempts to re-open the institution.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:BVAU.2429/12753 |
| Date | 11 1900 |
| Creators | Beliveau, Kevin Edward Vicente |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Relation | UBC Retrospective Theses Digitization Project [http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/retro_theses/] |
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