MOHAWK INSTITUTE: Plan to renovate former residential school

CANADA
Brantford Expositor

By Michelle Ruby, Brantford Expositor

A $5-million fundraising campaign soon will be launched to renovate the deteriorating Mohawk Institute, a former Indian residential school on Mohawk Street.

The Saving the Evidence campaign was kicked off Sunday by Six Nations Elected Chief Coun. Ava Hill.

The Anglican Church ran the former Mohawk Institute, now the Woodland Cultural Centre, from the 1830s until 1970, housing children from Six Nations, along with some from reserves including New Credit, Moraviantown, Sarnia, Walpole Island, Muncey, Scugog, Stoney Point, Saugeen, Bay of Quinte, and Kahnawake.

In an effort to assimilate them, about 150,000 aboriginal children were forced to leave their communities to attend residential schools across the country, which were funded by the Department of Indian Affairs.

Many former students have described suffering physical, sexual and emotional abuse at the school. Many died while attending the schools. The poor quality of food served to students at the Mohawk Institute led to the school’s nickname, the Mush Hole.

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