“Sugarcane” details tragic experiences in Indigenous Canadian schools

The title “Sugarcane” suggests a sweet indulgence. That is decidedly not the case in the identified location, the Sugarcane Reserve, where investigation uncovers Indigenous men’s and women’s unmarked graves discovered in 2021 at the nearby Indian residential school. At facilities run by the Catholic Church, physical and sexual abuse, deaths, and murders were common and ignored when reported.

In their poetic documentary, directors Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie pursue the truth of the horrendous circumstances that prevailed at British Columbia’s St. Joseph’s Mission, adjacent to the Sugarcane Reserve on Williams Lake, a place intended, as the founder of U.S. Native American boarding schools, Richard Henry Pratt, proclaimed, “to kill the Indian, and save the man.”

The beautiful environment belies the brutal treatment of the children housed there, including the lasting impact on survivors who still carry the emotional burden of their victimization. With an admirable sensitivity, NoiseCat, Kassie, and other investigators, especially community leader Charlene Bellaeu and Whitney Spearing, research archival documents, including black-and-white film footage. With one hundred thirty-nine such inhumane, federally funded, residential facilities across Canada and hundreds in the U.S., the brutal, merciless treatment affected thousands of Indigenous people. In press notes, co-director Julian Brave Noisecat noted his reluctance to become involved because of his personal connection, noting “We don’t talk about it.” In fact, Noisecat learned that the St. Joseph’s Mission school was where his Salish family was sent, and “it is where my father was born . . . and abandoned.” He added, “Families that survived this genocide are often silent about their own background, their own truth, their own experience, because that was how we coped with it.” As the ugly history emerges and NoiseCat discovers his father’s trauma, their interaction anchors the revelations in profoundly moving scenes.

More reserved, Rick Gilbert, former chief of the Williams Lake First Nation, travels to the Vatican for an audience with Pope Francis, a profoundly unsatisfying event. Additionally, horrifying information details deaths of children who tried to escape, numerous suicides, and babies thrown into incinerators. With poignant empathy, with interlaced calm moments of lovely terrain, “Sugarcane” chronicles an important, devastating history. The National Geographic documentary “Sugarcane” is available now.

Footnote: St. Louis also housed such a school, the St. Regis Seminary in Florissant, Missouri, active from 1818 to 1971. Under various names (St. Ferdinand de Florissant, Florissant Mission School, and St. Stanislaus Seminary) the Jesuits employed eight teachers for twenty-three residents. According to the National Register of Historic Places, St. Stanislaus Seminary, established in 1823, suspended Indian instruction in 1830, with only thirty Indian guides and interpreters trained. Source: U.S. Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative Investigative Report Volume II.