High on the hill above the town of Birtle, Manitoba, the former residential school slowly crumbles.
A residential school for the local Indigenous communities operated in Birtle from 1889 to 1972. The tragedy of the residential schools across Canada is well documented.
This three story brick building was completed in 1931. The federal government sold it in 1975, and the owner started to reconfigure the building but stopped. It was sold again in 2016 and so far it continues to stand derelict. It is private property.
Opinions are divided as to whether it should be demolished or preserved. Until then, it will continue to rot . . . maybe that is for the best.
Steve Boyko
Such debates are taking place all over Canada in this time of Truth and Reconciliation.
ReplyDeleteThat's a lot of bricks. I bet there are fine Maple hardwood floors too.
ReplyDeleteOpinion is also divided about the degree of tragedy with regards to "mass graves" found via ground penetrating radar. The academic who published it identified them as "anomalies" and the press translated that as "undocumented graves".
ReplyDeletehttps://nypost.com/2022/05/27/kamloops-mass-grave-debunked-biggest-fake-news-in-canada/