I worked at Cecelia Jeffery Residential School in November 1959 as a counsellor. I was assigned to the senior girls (ages 12-17); there were about 25-30 in the group. We were located on the second-floor dormitory and the junior girls were on the third floor. This was the same arrangement for the boys' side of the school.
Cecelia Jeffery opened in January 1902 on land at Shoal Lake which the Women's Foreign Missionary Society had bought from the Province of Ontario. It was named after Mrs. Cecelia Jeffery, the first secretary of the Presbyterian Church's Foreign Missionary Society. In 1929, the federal government built a new residential school in Kenora, Ont. In 1961, some of the students went off to the public schools in the area, but before this, they were educated at the residential school.
That September morning in 1961 was very traumatic for everyone: our students, the bus driver, the teachers and the non-native students. The children of Cecelia Jeffery had never been on the same bus or even in the same classroom as non-native students before.
One of the happiest moments was picking out the new clothes – trying to find just the right skirt, blouse or sweater for the first day of a new school. The excitement was so great, it took until after the Christmas holidays for the students to settle down into their new routine.
There was more space in Cecelia Jeffery with the empty classrooms. The senior girls received a bigger room because of this. They had more room to do homework, watch TV or even do girly things. When I first arrived there, the girls were always asking for bread wrappers (wax paper) to curl their hair. We bought clips and bobby pins and other hair accessories for the older girls. What a difference it made to them. This was very important to the older girls. No more bread wrappers!
I remember a junior girl who arrived at Cecelia Jeffery with beautiful long black hair. It was school policy to cut the junior girls' hair short since it was easier to maintain. But in this case the senior girls approached me and asked if I would keep the girl's hair long and they would be the ones to look after her. They did just that.
My final days at the school were in 1969. I was then the matron, my husband was the principal and our family lived at the school. My younger sister was there at one time and she and her husband also met at CJ. They were both counsellors. I often didn't know who was harder to handle: the students or the staff.
With great sadness, I have to tell you that Cecelia Jeffery was eventually no longer needed as a student residence. It closed in 1975. The building was taken down in 1979-80. For me, the school was a good thing. Children need to be educated and the residential schools allowed them an education. Without the school, they would not have had that. Education was only a small part of life in the school. The staff tried to understand the needs of the children, love them and wanted only the same things their parents wanted by sending their precious children there. That said, I am so thankful that reserves have their own schools now, so children may stay at home with their families.
