Current Volunteer Research Opportunities

This task is a co-initiative led by the Children of Shingwauk Alumni Association, the Community Support Team of the Nordik Institute,  as well as Algoma University.

This project intends to showcase the life stories and successes of Indigenous peoples who survived the Canadian residential school system at the Shingwaulk Institute (Currently Algoma University). Based on information gathered by our volunteers from the internet, open databases, or from family histories, Achiever Stories will highlight those who went on to start families, had successful careers, and perservered against a systemic policy of cultural erasure.

Potential data leads can be accessed through a shared Google spreadsheet containing a list of survivors.

As a volunteer, your task is to analyze this existing data, and infer what information would prove suitable for a potential achiever narrative.

With this relevant information, your next task is to search that indigenous survivor’s name online, and find out more about them. Consider the following questions while researching:

• Did they go on to get married?

• Did they have children or grandchildren?

• Did they recieve a post-secondary school degree?

• Did they start up their own business?

• Did they become a notable member of their community?

• Are they featured in local newspapers?

Q: Where do I search for more information about an Indigenous survivor?

A: Along with our shared Google spreadsheet, information can be found on sites like Ancestory.ca, news sites, blogs, social media.

Q: What is the Google Sheet?

A: Once you become a volunteer, all members will have access to a spreadsheet containing a list of Indigenous survivors who attended residential schools. This sheet contains names, dates of birth, their date of discharge from the residential school, and more.

Q: How do I know who makes a good candidate for an Achiever Story?

A: It is up to the volunteers to collectively decide together on who will be proposed for an achiever narrative. The CSAA will then approve.

Q: What counts as an Achiever Story?

A: Given the broad differences encompassing the lives of survivor’s, someone’s achieverments may not be universally applicable to others. What counts as an achievement is a collective decision decided by volunteers.

The Survivors’ Council of St. Joseph’s IRS leads the search for children who went missing during the 96 years that a residential school operated in Fort William First Nation.

By the time the Truth and Reconciliation Commission completed its work in 2015, only four of the children were confirmed to have died. By 2021 that number had grown to nine, still far below what the community remembers.

The Office of the Chief Coroner of Ontario is lending its expertise to the search, and that is unearthing the fate of many more children. But they have their hands full with the sources they are investigating.

That is why the Survivors’ Council has invited the Remembering Project to review thousands of archival documents stored at the First Nation’s band office over the decades. Compiled by a retired priest in an act of penance, these documents are organized in dozens of blue binders.

Now scanned and available for research in pdf format, these documents may include invaluable clues about the disappearance of students.

Remembering Project volunteers are methodically reviewing each document, populating a spreadsheet with clues. These are then fed to the Office of the Chief Coroner to advance their investigation