A new exhibition at Art Windsor Essex will bring together existing works and new commissions by First Nations artists on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
The 'Nii Ndahlohke / I Work' explores the forced labour of students at Mount Elgin Industrial School between 1851 and 1946.
Located on the Chippewas of the Thames First Nation near the Thames River, Mount Elgin is the closest residential school to Windsor.
Mount Elgin was part of system of federal education that sought to assimilate First Nations people by removing children from their parents and communities.
This exhibition sheds light on an overlooked but important aspect of daily life shared by all residential school students - forced labour - and reflects on the role it played in furthering inequality and injustices faced by First Nations in Canada.
This exhibit was curated by Mary Jane McCallum, Canada Research Chair in Indigenous People and History and Archives and Professor at the University of Winnipeg, and Julie Rae Tucker of Art Windsor Essex.
McCallum wrote the novel 'Nii Ndahlohke: Boys' and Girls' Work at Mount Elgin Industrial School, 1890-1915', which was part of the inspiration for the exhibit.
Speaking on AM800's The Shift, Mary Jane McCallum, says it was important to point out that the students spent half the day in school, and the other half working.
"We had one chapter on boys work that focuses on the work that they did in the barns and the fields. And then a chapter on girls work that they did in the laundry and in the kitchen. And so, we used that language again as much as we can, and kind of understanding those places and the kinds of work that they did."
McCallum says the schools continued to run because of the labour the students were doing.
"All the time that they spent in the fields, heading the hay to feed the animals, to take the slaughter, to sell, to bring money into the schools to pay the principal's and the staff. It was absolute fundamental to running the school."
Julie Rae Tucker says this is Canadian history.
"I think it was important for us to point out that residential schools are not Indigenous history, it shouldn't just be relegated to that, but this is Canadian history. And I think that labour would resonate, and labour rights would resonate with audiences in Windsor."
This exhibition can be seen on the third floor of Art Windsor Essex from now until June 25, 2024.
The art presented in this exhibition explores different types of work done by Mount Elgin students and the impacts that it had on their well-being at the school and beyond its walls.
Participating artists are Kaia'tanoron Dumoulin Bush, Jessica Rachel Cook, Nancy Deleary, Gig Fisher, Vanessa Dion Fletcher, Judy McCallum, Donna Noah, Mo Thunder, and Meg Tucker.
-with files from AM800's The Shift