“OF THE BEST,” “large, airy and spacious,” “last word in modern equipment,” “completes the requirements,” “expert” medical attention,  “choice land,” “gives every satisfaction.” The Christian Guardian, a predecessor publication to Broadview, did not hold back its praise when describing the newly opened Edmonton Indian Residential School in 1925. “How munificently our dominion government has provided,” it gushed.

Ask a survivor about the Edmonton IRS, however, and a very different picture emerges: “mean,” “very harsh,” “always told a good Indian was a dead Indian,” “lost my Christianity,” “lonely,” “frightening,” “scarce food.” How to explain the disconnect?

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This article is the fourth in a series that examines the nature of Broadview’s historical relationship with Indigenous Peoples, from 1829 when The Christian Guardian launched its first issue, through to Confederation and the turn of the century. This story explores the Guardian’s coverage in 1925, the last year of its publication before it merged with the Presbyterian and Congregationalist church magazines to become The New Outlook, covering the newly minted United Church of Canada.

Entitled simply “Edmonton Indian Residential School” in a section dedicated to “Northern Alberta News,” the April 15, 1925, story describes the opening of the last residential school the Methodist Church in Canada would build — and the newest of the 12 schools that the United Church inherited.

The United Church would not build any more schools, though in 1926 it converted the Morley, Alta., residence for Indigenous students into a residential school. As such, the April 1925 article represents the beginning of the end of the church’s involvement with residential schools, which it continued to operate directly until 1969. It was also, in essence, The Christian Guardian’s last word on what it then called “Indian work” — a term common in church circles that carried an implicit note of cultural condescension.

The new Edmonton IRS was, in fact, not entirely new. It was a reiteration of a school that the Methodist Church had operated near Red Deer, Alta. The Red Deer Industrial Institute, founded in 1893, was built to take in about 50 Cree and Saulteaux children. Students cleared around 120 hectares of land to grow food, raise animals and provide for their own needs.

Soon after its opening, new buildings were added to allow the student........

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