The Cecilia Jeffrey Indian Residential School was built in 1901 and opened in 1902 at the request of the Shoal Lake First Nation who entered into an agreement with the Presbyterian Church to establish the school. Despite several clauses in the initial former agreement that limited proselytization and the amount of labour children would be required to perform, as well as stipulating that students would, one at a time, be allowed to leave to participate in traditional ceremony, abuse was rampant.[3]
Many former attendees at the school have reported physical and sexual abuse, as well as medical experimentation suffered by students. Medical experiments conducted on students included experimental treatment for ear infections, as well as nutritional experiments.[2][4]
It was common for many children to attempt to flee Indian Residential Schools. There are several recorded instances of students who die while escaping.[5]Chanie Wenjack is one such example of a student who died while attempting to escape the Cecilia Jeffrey School. Wenjack was an Anishinaabe student from Marten Falls First Nation.[6] On October 16, 1966 Wenjack, accompanied by two friends, escaped from Cecilia Jeffrey School. His body was found over 60 kilometers away from the school by a Canadian National Railway engineer along the train tracks. Wenjack died of hunger and exposure.[7][8]
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