Experiences of girls at Good Shepherd Homes similar to residential schools, say survivors

WARNING: This story contains details of sexual abuse.

Indigenous children at Catholic-run Good Shepherd Homes had experiences similar to children at residential schools and the homes need further investigation for potential missing children, according to the final report of the Special Interlocutor for Missing Children and Unmarked Graves and Burial Sites Associated with Indian Residential Schools. 

It was common practice to transfer girls who were deemed "troubled" or "delinquent" from residential schools to the homes, the report said. 

"I wanted to deliver the message clear to Canada that it's not enough that you're funding these searches to find missing and disappeared children from Indian Residential Schools because we know they've … disappeared from all these other institutions," said Kimberly Murray, the special interlocutor.

Cree Elder Taz Bouchier says she remembers April 19, 1971 — the day she was taken to the Mapleridge Residential Treatment Centre for Girls — because it was her birthday. 

"I was called out of the classroom by the principal and he was standing there with some other people I didn't know," said Bouchier.

Bouchier never attended residential school, and says despite her best efforts to figure out how she ended up at Mapleridge, she can only assume it's because she was skipping school.

"It's like we were kidnapped, stolen from our schools, stolen from the community … no different than residential schools where Indian agents went along and just stole the kids," said Bouchier. 

"They were trying to assimilate the … Indigenous teenager." 

She said she met Indigenous girls from across Canada there and their stories were similar — they were brought to the home, no explanation given. 

Home's history

Perched on the south bank of the North Saskatchewan River in Edmonton's Forest Heights neighbourhood, the city's  Good Shepherd Home was opened in 1912 by nuns from the Our Lady of Charity of Refuge Order. 

Over time, the home housed orphans, "neglected children," rural girls attending high school and girls in trouble with the law.

In 1958, wards of Alberta's Juvenile Offenders Branch living at the Good Shepherd Home moved to the province's new maximum-security institution for children. The nuns petitioned to keep the girls of the Juvenile Offenders Branch who were Catholic; they were allowed to keep those who were also wards of the Indian Affairs Branch.

The home was renamed Mapleridge Residential Treatment Centre for Girls in 1967. 

Barb Beaulieu says she ended up at Mapleridge after running away from an abusive foster home and being caught by police with a fake ID.

Her mother, who was Dene and living in the Northwest Territories, put Beaulieu up for adoption as a baby. 

"I just thought, well, I'm going to go all the way up into the Northwest Territories to find my mother," she said.  

Beaulieu says she sees similarities between her experiences at Mapleridge and the stories she heard told to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission about residential schools. 

"You're segregated and mistreated … children were made to be seen and not heard," she said.

"I've learned to be silent, so now I want to talk."

Abuses at the home 

The Special Interlocutor report said the history of the Good Shepherd Homes in Canada isn't well documented and there remains many gaps in what is known.

Good Shepherd Homes that sprung up in Canada were run by one of the Orders that ran the Magdalen Laundries of Ireland, which were homes for unwed pregnant women, and prostitutes in Ireland. 

At these homes, the women were used as forced labour at church-run laundries and many survivors told an inquiry they were abused. In 2013, the Irish government apologized for the laundries.

Murray said, in Canada, residential schools and the Good Shepherd Homes were connected by the abuse many Indigenous girls experienced.

"We know with all the sexual abuse that was happening in the institutions, many girls were impregnated and they would be sent away, and that's where they would be sent to, to these Good Shepherd Homes," said Murray. 

"The whole idea of what behaviour is appropriate for women and girls during … the era of residential schools, [was] quite harmful to Indigenous girls, and they had this extra layer of punishment that was on them." 

For some girls sent to the homes, the abuse didn't stop.  

Bouchier says that when she arrived at Mapleridge she was excited to see a swimming pool because it reminded her of swimming in Lesser Slave Lake as a child. But she was assaulted at the pool by a male worker.

"The last time I remember going swimming and he was the one who escorted [me] … he had a towel ready for me when I came out of the pool," she said. 

"He wrapped the towel around me and then proceeded to touch my hair … lifted my hair up and started kissing my neck, and that's the last thing I remember." 

Beaulieu said she remembers seeing other girls abused by male workers at the home.

"Some of the male staff would be kissing girls, some of the girls actually got pregnant by men … working [at Mapleridge]," Beaulieu said. 

Not part of residential schools settlement

In a statement to CBC Indigenous, the Archdiocese of Edmonton says it is aware of the building's history and is not aware of unresolved complaints regarding the home. The organization is reviewing the interlocutor's report.

"Historical abuse at Catholic institutions is a tragedy and we are deeply sorry for the pain and suffering caused," Andrew Ehrkamp wrote in a statement on behalf of the Archdiocese of Edmonton. 

"The Archdiocese continues to be committed to responding to any reports of abuse by any of its clergy, staff, lay volunteers, or priests and religious sisters operating within its boundaries." 

CBC Indigenous has reached out to the Our Lady of Charity of Refuge Order for comment, but did not hear back before time of publishing.

Under the Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement, survivors could request to add institutions to the settlement but most of those requests were rejected. 

Bouchier says she tried to have Mapleridge added to the settlement, but it was rejected on the grounds it was a provincially run home. 

Now, the women plan to file a class action lawsuit, but Beaulieu says that can't make up for what she's already lost. 

"I lost my childhood through foster care and I know I could have probably been what I wanted to be," said Beaulieu.

"I wanted to be a police officer and [that] never happened."