When I heard that the McDougall Church had burned down, my immediate thought was that the Stoney people, not an individual would be blamed. The racist person will want to hold my three-year-old niece responsible for the actions of others.
I was relieved to learn that the fire was accidental although many have implied otherwise on social media.
To the non-Native society, the church represented faith, exploration, and societal progress. It represented the imperial and subsequent pioneer culture that this country was built on. Non-Native people have a right to be proud of their heritage. To this end, I respect that it is a devastating loss.
It is a loss in terms of Canadian history. However, it could also be an opportunity.
Situated at the border of the Stoney Indian Reserve, the McDougall Church represented both prosperity and oppression.
After the signing of Treaty 7 in 1877, the Stoney people were to receive land for the purpose of farming. However, much of the land outlined in the treaty had been claimed by settlers. Therefore, huge tracks of land were set-aside for individual families. Conversely, one track of untenable land was set-aside for an entire community.
Prosperity was represented in the acquisition of valuable prime land for pioneering families east of the church. West of the church, the Stoney people faced oppression, hopelessness and despair.
The Stoney people were expected to adopt a pastoral culture farming on rocky terrain. We were expected to develop as a society confined to a reservation. For those who do not know, the Stoney people once required passes to leave the reservation.
Stoney children were then placed in the Morley Orphanage and later the Morley Indian Residential School which was operated by the United Church of Canada. It is in this religious institution where countless children were subjected to horrific abuses.
As a historic church, it served to remind many people in our community, many of whom identify as Christian, that religion was misused to advance Canadian settlement. Survivors of the residential school are reminded how they were beaten or abused in the name of religion.
I do not deny that the Rev. George McDougall and his son, John, are very much part of Alberta’s heritage and made lasting contributions to this country. However, I also cannot deny the fact that this building represented the dual realities of Native and non-Native people.
Stoney people living in abject poverty as a result of inter-generational trauma are reminded to this day how prosperity seems to end at the reservation border. It always has. That old church served as a daily reminder to our people because it stood where prime land ends.
Elder Tina Fox was quoted in the Cochrane Eagle as stating that reconciliation programs would be beneficial. In the rebuilding of this historic site it is my hope that perhaps the United Church and the McDougall Society will involve members of this community to honor both Canadian heritage and the Stoney Nakoda experience.
