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‘Two Young Ladies in Connection with a Certain School:’ The Watson-Ketcheson Affair of 1952–53 and the Remains of Eugene R. Fairweather
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 March 2018
Abstract
Two young teachers posted at an Indian Residential School in Saskatchewan, Canada, sought to act as whistleblowers regarding abuse there in 1952–53. Theologian Eugene R. Fairweather of Trinity College, Toronto, acted as their advocate and spiritual advisor. A significant correspondence, mostly purged from the official record, considered the reports of the whistleblowers, their fate, and the fraught place of the Residential Schools in Canadian Anglicanism in the decades before the era of Truth and Reconciliation. This article examines the relevant correspondence, retained only in the archival remains of Fairweather at Trinity. The correspondence, which adds to existing narratives of Anglican complicity in and responses to abuse at the Schools, suggests that future research must scrutinize official as well as previously overlooked sources of information, particularly the archival repositories of universities and theological schools, in search of the truth.
Keywords
- Type
- Research Article
- Information
- Copyright
- © The Journal of Anglican Studies Trust 2018
Footnotes
1.
I wish to gratefully acknowledge the indispensable assistance of the following in preparing this article: Professor Alan L. Hayes of Wycliffe College, Director of the Toronto School of Theology; Ms Nancy J. Hurn, General Synod Archivist of the Anglican Church of Canada; Ms Sylvia Lassam, Rolph-Bell Archivist of Trinity College, and my supervisor Professor W. David Neelands, Dean Emeritus of Divinity, Trinity College. I also owe a debt to the late Ms Patricia Watson for her hospitality and her willingness to share her terrible story.
2.
Dr Jonathan Lofft is adjunct instructor in the Faculty of Divinity, Trinity College, University of Toronto.
References
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4. Woods, A Cultural Sociology of Anglican Mission, p. 125.
5. Woods, A Cultural Sociology of Anglican Mission, p. 128.
6. Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada: Calls to Action (Winnipeg: Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, 2015).
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31. Trinity College Archives, Eugene R. Fairweather fonds, F2010, ‘Indian Schools Admin.’ file in unprocessed records, temporary box 2, PW & TK to E.R.F., 12 October 1952.
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37. WB to E.R.F., 4 December 1952.
38. Trinity College Archives, Eugene R. Fairweather fonds, F2010, ‘Indian Schools Admin.’ file in unprocessed records, temporary box 2, PC to E.R.F., 4 December 1952.
39. Carrington, Philip, ‘Forward in Faith, 1942–1951’, in Thine Is the Glory: The Story of Fifty Years of Service by the M.S.C.C., the Society Formed in 1902 to Unify the Missionary Work of the Church (Toronto: MSCC, 1952), pp. 79-98 (83) Google Scholar.
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43. Trinity College Archives, Eugene R. Fairweather fonds, F2010, ‘Indian Schools Admin.’ file in unprocessed records, temporary box 2, PC to E.R.F., 15 December 1952.
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49. Trinity College Archives, Eugene R. Fairweather fonds, F2010, ‘Indian Schools Admin.’ file in unprocessed records, temporary box 2, TK & PW to PC, 30 January 1953.
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