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EDUCATOR and Archival Researcher- INDIAN RESIDENTIAL SCHOOLS
Her Story
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Lisa Muswagon is Nakoda Cree member of the Pimicikamak Cree Nation also known as Cross Lake, in Northern Manitoba, where her mother Isabel Scribe (nee Muswagon) roots from. Her father Charles Scribe is from the Kinosao Sipi Cree Nation (Norway House Cree Nation) and both her parents instilled cultural values, beliefs and knowledge of her ancestral history, of hunters, trappers and medicine people. Her late paternal grandmother Mary Scribe (nee Rider) reigned from Carry the Kettle, SK who found solstice with her late grandfather Murdo Scribe in Northern Manitoba.
Lisa's education background began at Day School at Jack River School in Norway House for kindergarten and grade one. The school was provincially operated by Evergreen School Division as her cousins in the next community attended federal day school in Cross Lake. Her parents Charles and Isabel Scribe the attended Indian Residential Schools (IRS) and Day School. She is an Intergenerational Indian Residential School Survivor of Cross Lake, Norway House, Guy Hill IRS and Assiniboia IRS.
Education:
- Certified Aboriginal Financial Manager Diploma - Yellowquill College
- Bachelor of Business Administration - University of Winnipeg
- Bachelor of Rhetoric, Writing and Communications - University of Winnipeg
Background:
- Data Entry and Administration for IRS Projects - All Nations Healing Centre
- Transcriber - Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada
- Lead Researcher - Winahwinikewin Project - Cross Lake Search Team - St Joseph's IRS
- Special Projects Policy Analyst - Unmarked Burials and Missing Children- Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs
- Archival Researcher and Facilitator - A Scribe Production
Archiving our Ancestors
When launching a search team for an IRS site, documentation is an important factor to the crucial framework and understanding to navigate a complex skill can be achieved. Archival research plays a vital role in understanding the history and lasting impacts of Indian Residential School system in Canada. It involves retrieving and studying preserved records such as government documents, school registers, photographs, letters, survivor testimonies and church records. This research investigation and materials help researchers, Indigenous communities and the public uncover the truth about how these institutions operated and the harm they caused to Indigenous children, families, and our culture.
Proper data management is critical in this work as it ensures sensitive material is handled with care and respect, especially when they involve personal or community information. Ethical practices include following cultural protocols, protecting privacy and working collaboratively with Indigenous communities to ensure records are interpreted and used in ways that support healing, truth-telling and reconciliation. Archival research is not just about documenting history - it is a step toward justice and acknowledging the strength and resilience of survivors.
If you are interested in booking a presentation for your community event or to assist in IRS Search Team capacity building, don't hesitate to contact me. My presentation covers an array of topics with experience in Indigenous-led project management related to search teams for Indian Residential School Sites.
Topics:
Workshop/Presentation
- Work Flow Process
- Documentation
- Toolkit
- Data Management
- Community Interviews
- Archival Investigations
- Ground Search Planning and Community Preparation
Elders, Youth and Community:
- Understanding the impacts of Intergenerational Trauma
- Balancing Truth and Resilience Building
- Uncover the Silence, Unmarked Burials, Why We Remember
- Reading the Records: What do the Archives Tell Us
- Honoring our Ancestors
- You Are the Firekeepers: A Path Forward
Contact
What is Orange Shirt Day? What is Truth and Reconcilation?
Orange Shirt Day
Phyllis Webstad, was a child when she had to attend the Indian Residential School. She remembers to this day clearly, how the Indian Residential School removed her clothing on her first day, including the orange shirt her grandmother gave her, which was never returned. The traumas faced by the children, still carry these heavy wounds and ripples to their families. This inspired Orange Shirt Day in Canada.
More than 150,000 children were taken to the Indian Residential Schools, in the US they are called Indian Boarding Schools, where the children attended as young as 6 years old, most of the time missing their language, culture and family bonds which was removed from them. The Government of Canada stripped the "Indian" from the Child with harsh assimilation policies and colonization. Many children never returned home from these schools, launching communities to begin searching for their missing children and unmarked graves across Turtle Island.
Visit the National Truth and Reconciliation to learn more about the history of Indian Residential Schools: https://nctr.ca/education/teaching-resources/residential-school-history/
Orange Shirt Day Society
The Orange Shirt Society is a non profit organization based out of Williams Lake, BC. The society formed in 2015 to create awareness of the intergenerational impacts of Indian Residential Schools while promoting the truth and concept of EVERY CHILD MATTERS. This team works all year around to spread awareness.
Feel free to make a donation to this important organization: https://orangeshirtday.org/support/#publicspacehttps://orangeshirtday.org/support/#publicspace
Truth and Reconciliation
The mandate of the Truth and Reconciliation was to inform all about what happened in Canada at the Indian Residential Schools. The testimonies of survivors who were children were documented through statements, and many began their healing initiatives. The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR) was birthed from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to provide a place of learning and dialogue while preserving the statements and records of the children.
September 30th is now recognized as the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation to recognize, those students who went away to school and to the families of those who never made it home. In order for us to allow reconciliation, we must accept and understand the dark history of Canada's truth. It was our parents that went there, our relatives, including ourselves who attended the Day School.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission have 94 calls to action, please learn about them here: https://ehprnh2mwo3.exactdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Calls_to_Action_English2.pdf
United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People Act (UNDRIP)
UNDRIP affirms the right of Indigenous Peoples to create and manage their own affairs and is a tool to lay out the rights of the Indigenous Peoples around the world. These can include important instruments such as declarations, conventions and treaties that are intended to define and uphold Indigenous Human Rights in International Law. This also entails the protection and preserving Indigenous cultures and languages. To learn more, please visit the website to learn how this impacts you.
Read the document here and save it to your files: https://www.un.org/development/desa/indigenouspeoples/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2018/11/UNDRIP_E_web.pdf