Krista McCracken

Last updated
Krista McCracken
Occupation archivist, curator
NationalityCanadian
Education
Website
kristamccracken.ca

Krista McCracken is a Canadian public historian, educator, curator and archivist known for their work raising awareness about the history of the Canadian Indian residential school system.

Contents

Career

McCracken holds an MA in public history from the University of Western Ontario. [1] They work Researcher/Curator at Arthur A. Wishart Library and Shingwauk Residential Schools Centre, an archival repository and cross-cultural education centre within Algoma University where they have worked since 2010. [1] McCracken's research focuses on community archives, residential schools, research and access. [2] In their role they have supported former attendees of the Shingwauk Indian Residential School in developing survivor-driven art exhibits like Reclaiming Shingwauk Hall which opened in 2018. [3] [4]

A book about archival practice and the work being done by the Children of Shingwauk Alumni Association and staff at Shingwauk Residential Schools Centre co-authored by McCracken and former Shingwauk Residential Schools Centre student employee Skylee-Storm Hogan was announced in January 2021. [5] In July 2023, McCracken's co-edited publication Trans and Gender Diverse Voices in Libraries with Kalani Adolpho and Stephen G. Kruger was published Library Juice Press. [6]

Beyond their work at Algoma University, Krista is an editor of ActiveHistory.ca and has served on the board of directors of the National Council on Public History. [2] They also served as president of the Archives Association of Ontario from 2021 to 2022. [7]

Awards

In 2021, McCracken was the first winner of Sault Ste. Marie's Community Builders Award (Education) in recognition of their achievement in education related the outputs of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. [8] The same year they won the best article prize for the article "Challenging Colonial Spaces: Reconciliation and Decolonizing Work in Canadian Archives" Canadian Historical Association's Indigenous History Group. [9]

Select publications

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canadian Indian residential school system</span> Schools to assimilate Indigenous children

The CanadianIndian residential school system was a network of boarding schools for Indigenous peoples. The network was funded by the Canadian government's Department of Indian Affairs and administered by Christian churches. The school system was created to isolate Indigenous children from the influence of their own culture and religion in order to assimilate them into the dominant Canadian culture. Over the course of the system's more than hundred-year existence, around 150,000 children were placed in residential schools nationally. By the 1930s, about 30 percent of Indigenous children were attending residential schools. The number of school-related deaths remains unknown due to incomplete records. Estimates range from 3,200 to over 30,000, mostly from disease.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Algoma University</span> University in Ontario, Canada

Algoma University, commonly shortened to Algoma U or Algoma, is a public university with its main campus located in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada. With a particular focus on the needs of Northern Ontario, Algoma U is a teaching-focused and student-centred post-secondary institution, specializing in liberal arts, sciences, management and professional degree programs. Located on the former site of the Shingwauk Indian Residential School, Algoma U has a special mission to provide and cultivate cross-cultural learning between Aboriginal populations and other communities. Algoma U also offers satellite programming in Brampton and Timmins, Ontario.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grey Nuns</span> Canadian Roman Catholic institution

The Sisters of Charity of Montreal, formerly called The Sisters of Charity of the Hôpital Général of Montreal and more commonly known as the Grey Nuns of Montreal, is a Canadian religious institute of Roman Catholic religious sisters, founded in 1737 by Marguerite d'Youville, a young widow.

The Diocese of Algoma is a diocese of the Ecclesiastical Province of Ontario of the Anglican Church of Canada. It comprises nearly 182,000 square kilometres of the Ontario districts of Algoma, Thunder Bay, Sudbury, Manitoulin, and parts of the districts of Nipissing and Timiskaming. The diocese forms a wide band stretching from just west of Thunder Bay on the northern shore of Lake Superior east to the border of Ontario and Quebec. Neighbouring Anglican dioceses are Rupert's Land to the west, Moosonee to the north, Ottawa to the east, and Ontario, Toronto, Huron to the south.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada</span> Investigated harm to indigenous students

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada was a truth and reconciliation commission active in Canada from 2008 to 2015, organized by the parties of the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shingwauk Kinoomaage Gamig</span> Indigenous institute in Ontario, Canada

Shingwauk Kinoomaage Gamig is an Indigenous led institute, with Algoma University in Sault Ste. Marie as one of its main partners. Shingwauk Kinoomaage Gamig is one of nine Indigenous Institutes in Ontario's post-secondary system and collaborates with other colleges and universities to offer post-secondary programs geared specifically toward Indigenous students.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frederick Fauquier</span> Canadian Anglican priest

Frederick Dawson Fauquier was an eminent Canadian Anglican priest in the second half of the 19th century.

Christian Provenzano is a Canadian politician, who was elected mayor of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, in the 2014 municipal election. He served as mayor until 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battleford Industrial School</span> Defunct Canadian residential school

The Battleford Industrial School was a Canadian Indian residential school for First Nations children in Battleford, Northwest Territories from 1883-1914. It was the first residential school operated by the Government of Canada with the aim of assimilating Indigenous people into the society of the settlers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shingwauk Indian Residential School</span> Residential school in Sault Ste Marie, Ontario

Shingwauk Indian Residential School was a Canadian residential school for First Nations, Métis, and Inuit children that operated in Canada between 1873 and 1970 in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, by the Anglican Church of Canada and the Government of Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spanish Indian Residential Schools</span>

The Spanish Indian Residential Schools was a set of single-sex Canadian Indian residential schools for First Nations, Métis, and Anishinaabe children that operated in Spanish, Ontario from 1913 to 1965 by the Jesuit Fathers, the Daughters of the Heart of Mary, and the Government of Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shingwauk Residential Schools Centre</span>

The Shingwauk Residential Schools Centre (SRSC) is an archival repository and cross-cultural education centre within Algoma University with a special mandate to collect and preserve material relating to the legacy residential schools in Canada, healing and reconciliation, and Indigenous communities. The Shingwauk Residential Schools Centre is jointly governed by Algoma University and the Children of Shingwauk Alumni Association. It is a partner with the Engracia de Jesus Matias Archives and Special Collections which is also located at Algoma University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shirley Fletcher Horn</span>

Shirley Fletcher Horn is the first chancellor of Algoma University. Born in Chapleau, Ontario Horn attended the St. John's Indian Residential School and the Shingwauk Indian Residential School. She is well known for her advocacy work relating to the legacy of residential schools in Canada. She is a member of Missanabie Cree First Nation and she served as Missanabie's Chief for six years.

The Engracia de Jesus Matias Archives and Special Collections is a department of the Arthur A. Wishart Library at Algoma University in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. It is the official repository for the university's records as well as those of the Anglican Diocese of Algoma and the Ecclesiastical Province of Ontario. It is a partner with the Shingwauk Residential Schools Centre, also located at the university. The archives collects private records of individuals, families, organizations and businesses with a focus on northern Ontario.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Cachagee</span>

Michael (Mike) Cachagee was a prominent Indigenous rights activist, speaker, and community leader. He was a member of Chapleau Cree First Nation and was one of the founding members of the Children of Shingwauk Alumni Association. He is a well known residential school survivor and has been an advocate for residential school rights, healing, and reconciliation. Mike passed away at the Sault Area Hospital on July 15, 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Children of Shingwauk Alumni Association</span> Canadian organization

The Children of Shingwauk Alumni Association (CSAA) is a grassroots, community based intergenerational residential school survivor organization based in Sault Ste Marie, Ontario.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aboriginal Healing Foundation</span>

The Aboriginal Healing Foundation was established in 1998 as an Indigenous managed, non-profit corporation dedicated to responding to the legacy of residential schools in Canada and the associated community health impacts. Funding for the Aboriginal Healing Foundation ceased in 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Day for Truth and Reconciliation</span> Canadian day of remembrance for victims of residential schools

The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, originally and still colloquially known as Orange Shirt Day, is a Canadian holiday to recognize the legacy of the Canadian Indian residential school system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paulette Steeves</span>

Paulette F. C. Steeves is the Canada Research Chair in Healing and Reconciliation at Algoma University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Statue of Alexander Wood</span> Former statue in Toronto, Ontario

A statue of Alexander Wood was erected in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, by the Church Wellesley Village Business Improvement Area (CWVBIA) and the municipal government of Toronto on May 28, 2005. Designed and constructed by artist Del Newbigging, the 244-centimetre-tall (8 ft) bronze sculpture was installed at the corner of Church and Alexander Streets in Church and Wellesley, the gay village of Toronto. It was the first LGBT monument in Canada. The statue was removed and destroyed by the CWVBIA on April 4, 2022, amid renewed focus on Wood's ties to a group that raised funds for a mission school that later became the Shingwauk Indian Residential School.

References

  1. 1 2 "The SRSC Team". Algoma. Shingwauk Residential Schools Centre. Retrieved 21 January 2022.
  2. 1 2 "Scholar - Krista McCracken". Women Also Know History. Retrieved 21 January 2022.
  3. "Residential school survivors help transform Shingwauk Hall into art". CBC News. 7 August 2018. Retrieved 21 January 2022.
  4. Duggal, Sneh (20 September 2018). "New Algoma University exhibit marks site of former residential school". University Affairs. Retrieved 21 January 2022.
  5. Kelly, Brian (29 January 2021). "Algoma U pair plans book about archives". saultstar.com. Retrieved 21 January 2022.
  6. "Trans and Gender Diverse Voices in Libraries". Litwin Books & Library Juice Press. 2023-07-04. Retrieved 2023-07-18.
  7. "Message from the President". Off the Record. Archives Association of Ontario. 37 (3): 3. Summer 2021. ISSN   2370-1099.
  8. "Community Builders Awards: Krista McCracken's leadership supports widespread learning about Canada's residential school system". SooToday.com. 21 December 2021. Retrieved 21 January 2022.
  9. "2021 Winners". University of Toronto Press. Retrieved 21 January 2022.