Rich history of Cowessess First Nation comes to life through digital photo library

From black-and-white images of children in uniforms backed by sombre-faced nuns to vivid colour photos of a teenager leaping into a swimming pool, a new project is capturing the history of life on Cowessess First Nation. 

"The goal is to preserve all these moments in time for the community, for the people now, the generations now, and those yet to come  — because it will be lost otherwise," said Eleanor Agecoutay, a project assistant for Listen, Hear Our Voices: A Digital Library of Photographs for Cowessess First Nation.

That project is supported through Library and Archives Canada, which helps First Nations Inuit and Métis communities to digitize and preserve language and culture materials.

Agecoutay's involvement goes back to 2005, when the former teacher was asked to put together a history of Marieval Indian residential school. As part of that project, she began collecting several historical pictures showing life on Cowessess, going as far back to the early part of the 20th century.

In 2021, then-Chief Cadmus Delorme asked her to fix up and display those photos for the first ever commemoration of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

"When I first saw them, huge and printed, like they were for the display, it was really emotional, unexpectedly, because it was just beautifully done," she said.

"The people were just amazed by it all and it was really, really a nice sight to see."

She began digging around, looking for more of the story and the names behind the photos that were gathered by various people, including by the nuns and priests of Marieval Indian Residential school as part of their records.

Other community members helped in tracing the stories and names behind the photos, with some describing those efforts as therapeutic, she said. 

Fellow band member Annette Frazier approached Agecoutay with the idea of digitizing the photos, and has since taken on the role of project lead with Listen, Hear Our Voices. Now people can visit Cowessess' website, and scroll through the hundreds of photos gathered there.

The response from the community has been tremendous, Agecoutay said, noting people have been messaging her, describing the efforts as a treasure and a gift.

Seeing the photos from a residential school era is bittersweet for Ty Sparvier, but the band member noted that somewhat sad notes are vastly overpowered by feelings of joy. 

"I'm happy about it because like I get to see family that went on to the next life already, and I finally get to see the faces of family that I haven't met and what they look like," she said 

"For our younger people and millennials like myself, it gives us a face to all the people we heard about or [to] see pictures of our moms or dads or aunties, uncles, our grandmothers, our grandfathers when they were all younger."

That feedback warms Agecoutay's heart. 

"That's what it's all about, is to share all these pictures and the past histories with the community. It's really awesome."