Raymond Frogner says that when he found images of residential school students in the archives of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate in Rome, he knew he was looking at something important. “It had a very historical feel, very deep,” said the chief archivist of the Winnipeg-based Center for Truth and Reconciliation in a recent interview with The Canadian Press. Few archivists are able to explore the religious order’s private archives in the Italian city, Frogner said. But he spent five days early last month poring over the archives at the Oblate General House, where photographs, personnel files and manuscripts describe the group’s actions around the world since its founding in 1816. This legacy includes a significant presence in Canada. The Oblates operated 48 residential schools, including the Marieval Indian Residential School on the Cowessess First Nation in Saskatchewan and the Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Columbia, where the discovery of unmarked graves last year prompted calls for justice and transparency. Frogner dug through the archives at the former residence of an Italian nobleman. He worked in front of a statue of the Virgin Mary and a large fresco depicting Jesus and the founder of the Oblates, Eugene de Mazenod. But what sparked his interest was what was inside a set of metal drawers. “The big find for me was in the photos.” There were 20 photo drawers and three of them contained images from the battalion’s missions to Canada. Many depicted children in residential schools in the early 20th century. Frogner said he suspects there are as many as 1,000 photos that could be important to understanding what happened in Canada. “Not to my surprise, the archivist at the archives there had no idea of the significance of what they held,” he said. The next step is to work quickly to digitize the photos, the National Center for Truth and Reconciliation and the Oblates said in a recent joint statement. The images will then be transported to central Manitoba. “The records we reviewed will help compile a more accurate timeline of Oblate members in residential schools across Canada,” Stephanie Scott, the center’s executive director, said in a statement. Frogner said the hope is to work with the communities to identify the students in the photos. “For us, as we go through records and try to uncover the fate of missing children, these are photographs that may indicate at certain points in time where these children were,” he said. Frogner brought with him a list of priests known to have committed crimes against children. He reviewed the personnel files for the actions and locations of the priests. While none of those records contained information about crimes, Frogner said they showed priests frequently moving locations, having difficulty working with children or advising a priest to marry and leave the order. “(The information) was very vague..” Frogner said he did not have enough time to fully analyze those records. After the images are digitized, he hopes to examine the staff documents more fully. The order’s longstanding practice is to keep personnel records sealed for 50 years after a member’s death. The command said it is taking steps to speed up access to records. The order’s records currently in Canada likely contain more complete information, Frogner added. The Oblates have already provided the national center with over 40,000 records and 10,000 more have been digitized. The Royal British Columbia Museum received about 250 boxes of materials, a third of which are residential schools, from the Oblates that began in 2019. There are also agreements between the Oblates and other archives for the transfer of related archives. Frogner said he knows his recent findings have particular significance as Pope Francis visited Canada last week to apologize for the role members of the Roman Catholic Church played in residential schools. Throughout the papal visit, indigenous leaders demanded that all documents related to the institutions be made public. The Oblates have previously apologized for their involvement in residential schools and the harm they caused to indigenous people. The Rev. Ken Thorson of Ottawa-based OMI Lacombe Canada said in a press release that transparency is critical to truth and reconciliation efforts. “While it has been a constructive year of working together, I know these steps are only the beginning of an ongoing journey toward truth, justice, healing and reconciliation.” This report by The Canadian Press was first published on August 1, 2022.
