| I first visited the old
school at St. Eugene's Mission on the St. Mary's Reserve near
Cranbrook in 1995 and was struck by the beauty of the massive old
building and its dramatic siting with the Rocky Mountains in the
distance. The other notable building on the reservation is the St.
Eugene's Church, one of two (the other being at Moyie) built with
the proceeds of a galena mine discovered by a Kootenay Indian
named Pierre, assisted by the resident missionary of the Oblates
of Mary Immaculate, Father Coccola. The church was completed in
1897. This is an unusual residential school for the period in that it didn't use standard plans developed by Indian Affairs departmental architect Robert M. Ogilvie. Instead, a private Ottawa architect, Allan Keefer, designed it. (Source: Dana J. Johnson, Indian Affairs 1887-1962 in Building the West: the Early Architects of British Columbia, ed. Donald Luxton, 2003) My understanding at the time was that the Ktunaxa First Nation wanted to preserve it and use it as a cultural interpretation centre in the middle of a golf course and resort: one quote I recall was from a local woman who said that "it was here where they attempted to take away my culture, so it is fitting that it is here I should get it back," or words to that effect. The building is now rehabilitated and incorporated into the St. Eugene Golf Resort and Casino. There is a "backgrounder" on the economic viability of the process on the Government of Canada website. (Tom Annandale of Toby, Russell, Buckwell and Partners, the project team that worked to incorporate this building into the golf course development, gave me regular updates on the project.) |
