Truth and Reconciliation

I would like to offer for your interest the following account from the autobiography of The Rev Canon P.L. Spencer, of his trip to the Residential Schools across Canada in 1892. This has impact upon the ongoing Truth and Reconciliation process in Ottawa Canada. I have added a number of lantern slide pictures from this period to illustrate the text. (Picture of Sitting Bull's Camp #1856 to right)

Canon Spencer emigrated with his family from England to Hamilton, Ontario as an eight year old boy in 1853 and became one of the five founding clergy of the Diocese of Niagara. He had a great interest in photography and left a legacy of over 2300 glass lantern slides (many of them hand painted) of his visits and experiences all over the world. He became a popular speaker and writer and gave lectures before the advent of cinema on topics such as "Ship and Shanty in the Early 50's", "Olden Days", and "Around the World in an Hour and a Half" illustrated by these same magic lantern slides. He served in Parishes for over half a century in Niagara Diocese before passing away on May 25th 1932 at the age of eighty six. (see his biography at http://www.tellout.com/finalwebsite/biography.htm) (Photo of Canon Spencer in Egypt at right.)

It is not often that we can read the actual accounts, hear the thoughts and see pictures of the Residential Schools and native peoples in Canada from 118 years ago. These extracts are offered without comment on my part, but it seems to me that they do illustrate the deep concern that Canon Spencer and other supporters in England had for native people in the Canadian mission field at that time. Here is a partial transcription of Canon Spencer's autobiography, (p. 115-122) provided courtesy of his family. (Photo #1826 "Indian Passenger and Conductor" at right.)

"In 1892, I was able to carry into effect a long-cherished desire to visit my native land (England). Having by correspondence with the venerable Society for the Propagation of the Gospel learned that I could be useful in England if I could give the latest information regarding the churches' mission among the Indians and Orientals of Western Canada, I resolved to make a journey through the prairie region and go as far as the coast of British Columbia in order to see with my own eyes the chief mission establishments situated within convenient reach of a passenger traveling by the then slow trans-continental, The Canadian Pacific Railway." ( Photo #1862 "Touchwood Hill Boarding School" at right)

"Having explained my object to the officials of that great railway corporation, I obtained a remarkably favourable concession, the favour enabling me to travel at a minimum cost and allowing me to break the journey at any desired point. At several places, I gave a lantern lecture on Eastern Canada. I also took a fairly large number of photographs of natural scenery, mission-buildings, Indian men, women and children, besides some views of Chinese life and worship." (Photo #1867 "Young Crowfoot" at right.)

"Among the places to which I gave attention were: Winnipeg and St. Peter's Reserve, Broadview and Grenfell villages, Crooked Lake Reserve, Fort Qu'Appelle, and the Touch Wood Hills Reserves, Calgary City and the Sarcee and Black Foot reserve, Lytton with its Christian Indian settlement, Vancouver and Victoria, each with its Chinese mission and Nanaimo, my farthest point of observation, with its relic of a Hudson' Bay Fort and its coal-mines of untold value." (Photo #1799 "Blackfeet School at Study" at right.)

"In Broadview I met "old auntie", a well-known Indian woman of many summers. She looked like a walking mummy, except that her garments and hair were not as tidily arranged as those of a real mummy. How old she was could only be guessed, but an approximation of her age was afforded by the fact that she had a daughter who was known to be 80 years old. I was able to obtain a photograph of this poor degraded relic of paganism, but not with my own camera, for I should have feared to point the eye of that little box towards her, lest she in anger, suspecting the presence of "bad medicine" in the instrument might have attempted its destruction." (Photo #1800 "Old Auntie" at right)

"I procured the photograph from the local artist who, in order to secure the negative, entered into a secret agreement with the local butcher that the latter should lure "old auntie" into his shop with the promise of a liberal present of bones, the man with the camera setting up the instrument in the street and awaiting the exit of the ancient dame at the shop's front door. This arrangement worked admirably, for an excellent likeness of "old auntie" was obtained without her being aware of the clever artifice of the white man with the "bad medicine" box. " (Photo # 1863 "Touchwood Hills at Study" at right.)

"The picture which I purchased and which afterwards served as a basis of a lantern slide, has never failed to produce amazement, and oftentimes it has created sincere pity. It shows better than words that depth to which paganism allows its adherents to sink in the slough of ignorance, misery and repulsiveness. Such a spectacle is the strongest possible argument in favour of the elevating and purifying influence of Christian missions. The condition of "old auntie" saddens and disgusts the beholder, while the clean tidy and bright appearance of the girls in the mission-schools produces satisfaction and thankfulness." (Photo #1791 "Aged Indian Woman" at right.)

"... A few days afterwards when the C.P.R. train was waiting at Swift Current, I saw on the station platform several Indian women engaged in the mercantile pursuit of exchanging highly polished Buffalo horns for their equivalent in silver coins, proferred by the interested passengers. I thought the scene worthy of a snapshot; and, accordingly, I took a position on a step of the car to which I belonged and which at the moment was opposite the group. Taking aim with care and deliberation, I was about to press the button when a final glance directed towards the women of the Wild West revealed the fact that they were not willing partners in the intended photographic enterprise, their unfavourable mental attitude being indicated by the concealment of their heads in the folds of their gaily coloured blanket shawls." (Photo #1860 "Swift Current Indian Women" at right.)

"Baffled but not discomfited I made a flank movement to the last car of the train and, raising a window-sash, sat down and awaited an opportunity for obtaining my desire without attracting the attention of the merchant princesses of the prairies or arousing their fear of the influence of "bad medicine". As the train slowly moved away from its stopping-place, my car and then my window came into proper position for action. The camera was handled, pointed, and operated. As I took a farewell look at the group I perceived that faces had emerged from folds; and I returned to my former carriage and seat, hopeful of success. A day or two later I developed the film in the mission-house in Yale, B.C. and learned with much satisfaction that I had indeed succeeded in my harmless endeavour, the negative showing several particulars of great interest." (Photo #1821 "Indian Head (Portrait)" at right.)

"Lest I forget, I will here state that when returning from the coast a fortnight later, I made a closer acquaintance of the same buffalo horns vendors and purchased from them a pair of the prairie souvenirs, thus showing my good-will and assuring myself that no evil had happened to the open-air traders by reason of my previous unappreciated effort to obtain a permanent memento of them." (Photo #1864 "Who's Afraid" at right.)

The Lantern Slide Photographs described here and many others can be viewed in the HiVu Photos Gallery in the my collection (100 Native Indian pictures displayed) at http://www.tellout.com/ and go to HiVu Photos Gallery. The titles, by the way, are the exact ones written on the magic lantern glass slides by Canon Spencer himself, and I have not edited the autobiographical account in any way, not even to modernize some of the quaint English terms no longer in use and strange views expressed as typical of the Victorian era. I wanted it to be as authentic as possible. I hope that this is both enlightening and helpful to us all in our own quest for truth and reconciliation. (Photo #1807 "Chief Pash-I-Pa Ho" at right.)

That's what I think anyway.

Rev Ron