Item R00000888 - Quarterly Return

Marieval Indian Residential School (IRS) was located in the Qu’Appelle valley, south of Crooked Lake, near the community of Marieval, about 165 km east of Regina and about 85 km south Yorkton. The IRS was operated from 1899 - 1997 (98 years) under Roman Catholic administrative control. The IRS officially closed on June 30, 1997.

Other names identifying the residential school were Crooked Lake Boarding School (1899), Cowessess Boarding School (1909), Cowessess Indian Residential School (1924 - 1968), Cowessess Student Residence (1969), Marieval Student Residence (1969 - 1981), Marieval Community Education Centre & Student Residence (1977), Marieval Community Education Centre (1981 - 1987), Cowessess Community Education Centre (1987), and Cowessess Student Residence (1997).

The Government of Canada was responsible for funding the school. It was managed and operated on behalf of the government by the Roman Catholic Church from 1899 - 1969 through the Oblate Fathers of Mary Immaculate, then later the Oblate Indian and Eskimo Commission. The federal government assumed full responsibility for the operation and management of the IRS on April 1, 1969. In April 1987, the Cowessess Indian Band established the Cowessess Board of Education, which assumed responsibility for the IRS’s operation and administration.
On March 20, 1911, the federal government and the Oblates of Mary Immaculate signed an agreement for the IRS’s operation and management. On September 25, 1962, the federal government and the Oblate Indian and Eskimo Commission (INDIANESCOM) signed an agreement for the operation and management of the IRS.

Grades taught at the IRS were as follows;
1899 - 1933 primary and elementary
1933 - 1937 primary, elementary, and junior high
1937 - 1939 primary and elementary
1939 - 1940 information missing
1940 - 1975 primary, elementary, and junior high
1975 - 1976 primary, elementary, junior high, and high school
1976 - 1977 information missing
1977 - 1978 primary, elementary, junior high, and high school
1978 - 1987 information missing
1987 - 1988 primary, elementary, junior high, and high school
1988 - 1989 information missing
1989 - 1990 primary, elementary, junior high, and high school
1990 - 1993 information missing
1993 - 1994 primary, elementary, junior high, and high school
1994 - 1997 information missing
therefore, 18 years of information out of 98 years of operation is missing, of which the majority (17 years) since 1976.

Student enrolment statistics are available every year from 1899 - 1979 except 1939-1940 (80 years), and statistics for nine years are missing from 1979-1980 to 1996-1997 (18 years) for approximately 90% overall available. Day students also attended the IRS, and student enrolment statistics are available from 1952-1953 to 1971-1973.