The St. Eugene Mission is the only residential school in Canada to be converted to a fashionable resort.
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North of Cranbrook, beside the St. Mary River, with the soaring Rocky Mountains in the background, lies a little cemetery. Simple wooden crosses with peeling white paint, some fallen over, look lost amongst the tall untended grass and weeds. It’s as though this graveyard and those buried here have been abandoned, forgotten.
Simple wooden crosses serve as a reminder of days past at the St. Eugene Mission Red Brick Schoolhouse.
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About 200 metres away, across an immaculately mown green fairway, sits an elegant three-story red-brick building with ivy on the walls and a simple cross high on top: the St. Eugene Golf Resort & Casino. One couldn’t imagine a greater contrast. The resort is attractive and distinctly upscale with an 18-hole championship golf course, a casino, a hotel with 125 rooms, meeting spaces, fine dining and well-stocked bars. The resort, which also includes a spa and first-class entertainment, is a sought-after destination for weddings and other high-end functions.
A number of former residents lie in the wind-blown graveyard at St. Eugene Mission, never having returned to their families.
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It’s a bittersweet story, for the cemetery and the resort are connected, and in a heart-rending manner. The St. Eugene Mission, also known as the Red Brick Schoolhouse, was operated by the Catholic Oblates Order from 1908 to 1970 as a residential school for Native children. It was the first Indian ‘Industrial and Residential’ school to be built in the Canadian west and during its lifetime about 5,000 children passed through its hallways. In reality, it was more a house of horrors where thousands of children were forced away from their homes, traumatized and abused. And a number of them lie in the wind-blown graveyard, never having returned to their families.
An elegant entranceway today belies a troubled past at the St. Eugene Mission Red Brick Schoolhouse.
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But a dramatic and inspirational transformation took place. After the facility sat derelict for two decades, decaying and frequently vandalized, the St. Mary’s Band of the Ktunaxa Nation decided it was time for a change. As Elder Mary Paul said in 1984 …
“Since it was within the St. Eugene Mission School that the culture of the Kootenay Indian was taken away, it should be within that building that it is returned.”
A movement to preserve the school was led by former Chief Sophie Pierre. Although some wanted to eradicate the building along with its bad memories, a referendum voted in favour of restoration.
Renovated interior of the Red Brick Schoolhouse – An icon of a wretched time has been transformed into an international destination resort.
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Between 2000 and 2003, the resort and the adjacent golf course and casino were built. The school was gutted, stripping the interior back to its brick walls. The old red bricks, fired in neighbouring Fernie more than a century ago, were tastefully enhanced with rich, dark woodwork and are a major feature of the renovated facility. After some initial difficulties the resort is now thriving, and has recently been expanded to include a RV park. As Chief Pierre said, “We’re creating new memories for our children.”
Historical interpretive displays inside the St. Eugene Mission
– Photo courtesy of the Ktunaxa Interpretive Centre
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Although the St. Eugene Mission is the only residential school in Canada to be converted to a fashionable resort, old memories have not been erased. Instead they are preserved and intertwine with the modern features. The three-storey building is like a museum, a memorial to the past. Paintings show historical figures. Ghosts walk the corridors and sigh in the former classrooms.
At the Ktunaxa Interpretive Centre, which is located in the Mission building and includes an arts and crafts shop, displays explain the Ktunaxa First Nations art, culture and history, which stretches over 10,000 years. On display are historic photographs, scale models of traditional tipis, a sturgeon-nosed canoe and other artifacts. The Centre shows how Native culture is in close harmony with nature.
View of the soaring Rocky Mountains from the St. Eugene Mission Red Brick Schoolhouse
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A must-see video, Survivors of the Red Brick School, vividly reveals the traumas inflicted at the mission, and how, even today, many survivors are still struggling to overcome the psychological and physical damage that was inflicted. No one leaves with a dry eye.
Now the Ktunaxa Nation is taking another innovative step. An experiential program called The Speaking Earth is being launched where guests, by participating in native customs led by band members, learn how native traditions are deeply connected to the land. Over two days and nights guests will hear stories and legends, scrape hides, learn to bead, play traditional games, and will sleep in tipis. It is hoped the program will be expanded to include tours to nearby First Nations cultural and natural sites such as the Ainsworth Hot Springs.
Efforts are being made to educate guests of the resort in native customs and traditions through stories and legends, crafts and traditional games.
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The Ktunaxa First Nation is proud of the St. Eugene Resort, and they have every right to be. It represents an innovative and powerful step forward in curing the deep wounds caused by colonialism. An icon of a wretched time has been transformed into an international destination resort. The spirits in the cemetery have not been abandoned.
If You Go:
St. Eugene Golf Resort & Casino information and bookings: steugene.ca
The Ktunaxa Experience: speakingearth.ca
Ktunaxa First Nation: ktunaxa.org
Regional tourism: tourismkimberley.com and cranbrooktourism.ca
Very interested in learning more.
I visited a few years ago the school in Yale, BC with semilar stories as such now public thank God for this. My heart sunk didn’t have to look at the pictures very long to find out what happened to girls and boys in the white system, hair cut off, little white dresses parade, same for boys. When i exit the building i sat on the front stairs and cryed my eyes out it’s like i felt everything they went through… I am deeply sorry for a? the misery intensionaly done by white man to your people. When we had the immigration going through and still are i observed and said to myself this is exactly what the native of Canada experienced when the white man invaded this country. It also explained the modern abuse of alcohol and drugs by DNA the horrific memories live in these DNA they dont know why but they are compell to escape by these poisons. I once ask a girl working at the interpretation center At StEugene if i could take a picture of the grand mother in a photo on the wall there and she asked me why and I replyed because she beautifull she looked at me like I had 3 heads. I know it’s difficult to trust the white man even more now with everything coming out. Beleive me when I say we are not made of the same cloth. Deeply and truly sorry for all you have loss
Karol, thanks for sharing your story with us.
My work required me to visit Cranbrook two or three times a year in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s. I played golf at the Mission course a number of times. Loved the course. I recall how impressive the old brick building looked when it came into view as I was driving to the clubhouse.
On one occasion, in 2003 or 2004 (sic) – shortly after the hotel & casino opened, myself and three co-workers were in Cranbrook for two or three days and decided to go for dinner at the restaurant at the recently opened hotel & casino.
When dinner was over my three co-workers decided to go for a stroll through the casino and I asked the hostess if I could go for a walk through the former Residential School. The hostess was very accommodating and showed me a doorway which I passed through and entered into a long hallway. The hostess explained that there was an exit door at the far end of the hallway which led back into the hotel complex and she returned to work.
There I was…looking down a long, wide hallway with a solid brick wall to my left (which was the exterior wall to which the hotel complex was attached). On my right were rooms. I assumed the rooms were bedrooms. I recall the ceilings were very high and floors were wood. It was utterly silent in that hallway and there were no doors on the rooms. I stood still for a few minutes to get a ‘sense’ of the place.
I started walking along the hallway and as I passed each doorway I could hear / sense screaming and crying. The noises would fade and then start up again as I passed another doorway. The hairs on the back of my neck were bristling and I was feeling very un-nerved and distressed. I then looked into one of the rooms – didn’t go in – just looked through the doorway to get a sense of the size of the room and it looked to be about eight feet wide by twelve feet long. I wondered how my beds (or bunk beds) would have been in each room. It appeared that five beds would have fit along the walls. I continued to hear / sense the screams and cries as I hurried along the hallway to the exit door. The solidness of bricks and mortar seemed to be softening and releasing it’s sad and painful memories. I had to get out of there. My physical and emotional senses were on ‘overload’! I don’t recall much after that.
I felt I needed to write this story after listening to many personal accounts of Residential School survivors in the wake of the Kamloops Residential School discovery. (Why are Indigenous peoples referred to as ‘survivors’? My children were referred to as ‘graduates’ when they finished school). That is a whole other topic.
Keith, thank you for sharing this incredible memory. – Glenn, Editor, Roadstories.ca
I’ve just found out that my great uncles son died here in 1968 Do you have records if people that possibly worked there? His father moved to Canada from England in 1907.
I’m a former resident of the Cranbrook area and enjoyed the above article and the use being made of the old school.
i grew up in the early 50s and 60s living in the area i hung out with indigenous boys my age and we played games at the mission school gym i soon learned how difficult it was for them to blend in to a white society and still maintain their tradition it prepared me for my future in policing as i spent the better psrt of my service working on reserves i had a better appreciation of the culture a d the ways of their people
Thanks for this perspective.
I encourage everyone to read the Truth and Reconciliation Report
Interesting story of a place that will always hold a special place in my soul. Not for any obvious reason, but as a lead worker in the construction early days. I oversaw, as a trade instructor, general foreman, every major demolition, the rebuilding of every room, the sand blasting of every brick, duplicated several construction pieces, such as block surface of exterior blockwork, asbestos removal was a big one, excavating all the holes for the elevators, casino footing and foundation…I could go on and on.. I came home from holidays one winter in ’97, and found the barn near collapse from a wet heavy snowfall. The roof was saddle-backed two feet at its center and the walls had bulged out darn near a foot either side.. Saving it and getting it back to shape is a story in itself. Anyway, true story, I will also say there was very thorough care, concern and precautions taken with every aspect of that entire build. Especially excavating inside and out. Thanks for reading Doug Moran – retired carpenter
I would love to hear more about the process of renovations, Doug.
I am writing a novel about the building of a similar hotel.
If you don’t mind telling me the story email me mjmartinejohn@gmail.com
Thanks