Item R00001008 - Quarterly Return

File Hills Indian Residential School (IRS) was located outside the boundaries of the Okanese reserve adjacent to the File Hills Agency within the limits of Treaty 4 territory approximately 75 miles northeast of Regina and 12 miles north of Balcarres. It operated from 1889 - 1949 (60 years) under Presbyterian United Church administration.

Other names identifying it were File Hills Boarding School (no dates identified).

The Government of Canada was responsible for its funding which was managed and operated by the Presbyterian Church Foreign Mission Committee (1889 - 1912), the Presbyterian Church Board of Home Missions and Social Services (1912 - 1925), and the United Church of Canada, Board of Home Missions and Social Work/Women’s Missionary Society (1925 - 1949).

A 1911 agreement between the Foreign Mission Committee of the Presbyterian Church in Canada and the federal government for the operation and management of the school was reached, and although the United Church took over the administration of the school in 1925, no agreement between the United Church and the Department of Indian Affairs was found.

No information is available regarding which grades were taught.

Students came from other reserves and agencies. The evidence of such includes a letter dated November 13, 1913, which notes that it was initially thought that File Hills Boarding School would serve the Pasqua, Muscowpetung, and Piapot reserves; however, the parents argued that the school was too far away. In the two years prior to1913, only three children from these reserves attended File Hills Boarding School. A 1939 report indicates that pupils attending File Hills were recruited from several agencies, including File Hills, Qu’Appelle Pelly, and Duck Lake.

Student enrolment statistics are very inconsistent as only 9 years of 60 are available and are as follows: 1889 – 8 students, 1892 – 12, 1902 - 15, 1908 - 25, 1914 - 49, 1928 - 90, 1939 – 95 to 99, 1943 - 98, 1948 - 100.