Johnny Kiyawasew was 11 years old when he died in a small town hospital in northern Alberta in 1943, a world away from his Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation family.
Forced to enroll at Catholic-run St. Francis Xavier Residential School in Calais, Alta., Johnny never returned home, and it was decades before his brothers and sisters learned what happened to him.
“My parents, like my dad, was never told about nothing. They wrote a death certificate without his knowledge or nothing,” said Robert Kiyawasew, Johnny’s younger brother.
“It’s not right… the church should have told my dad that he had passed away.”
After years of unanswered questions, Robert Kiyawasew said his older sister Roseann, with the help of a private investigator, found Johnny’s gravesite in 2013.
“That caretaker said, ‘I know exactly where he’s buried and I’ll show you where,'” said Robert Kiyawasew.
According to provincial records, Johnny died of pulmonary tuberculosis in a hospital in High Prairie, where he is buried, over 75 kilometres away from the residential school.
Now, Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation and the University of Alberta say they’re undergoing extensive research to uncover the stories of children like Johnny, including many of his relatives, who went to residential school but never made it home.
Sheldon Sunshine, chief of Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation, said research shows many children enrolled at St. Francis Xavier died from tuberculosis and malnutrition.
“It’s not data, it’s people,” said Sunshine.
“When you see the names and, you know, it’s saddening, what our people went through, having perished because of the results of the living conditions in that school, having perished because of the results of the living conditions in that school. It is heartbreaking.”
Robert Kiyawasew said he’s thankful his sister was able to track down Johnny’s grave before she died.
“I visit every time I have a chance now,” said Robert Kiyawasew.
“To see that lonely little grave, out there all alone.”
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A day school survivor himself, Robert Kiyawasew said he experienced harms similar to his siblings who attended St. Francis Xavier, and was punished for speaking his language.
“To treat us Natives like we don’t exist… no,” said Robert Kiyawasew.
“We belong in our culture. Our heritage is our right to be like that.”
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According to the Sturgeon Lake residential school narrative at the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR), a summary of the school’s history prepared by the Government of Canada as part of its response to litigation, at least five children died at the school in 1943.
It quotes a 1943 document saying the school “is falling to ruin and has become a source of danger for the health of Indian children as well as a fire hazard,” adding some student deaths “last winter” had been said to be due to “the lack of comfort” resulting from poor heating.
Raymond Frogner, senior director of research and head of archives at the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, said residential school records were disorganized, inconsistent and unreliable.
“It was managed by church groups, which are private, provincial governments, federal governments, and all of these organizations never talked to each other,” said Frogner.
“It’s like putting a jigsaw puzzle back together when the pieces are missing.”
Frogner said many church records are not available, have incorrect or different dates from provincial or federal documents, and when they are tracked down they are often withheld.
Sunshine said several times Sturgeon Lake researchers have been told by church officials they will only release the documents of a student to someone with family ties.
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“How do you have family ties when a lot of them are passing away?” said Sunshine.
“That really shuts the door on finding that information…. It’s going to limit us to finding all of our children.”
Sunshine said the First Nation will continue to work to piece together the stories of children who were enrolled at St. Francis Xavier and never came home.
“If we don’t know where these children are, how can we find closure for some of our families?” said Sunshine.
“Talking about intergenerational trauma? That’s part of it.”
