Photograph: Cree Family Guides, 1935. SPRA 177.070 Part of Ann Macklin fonds
The South Peace Regional Archives initiated a survey of the region’s holdings in response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s (TRC) call to actions to locate records within their holdings related to Indian Residential Schools. We found very few records related to residential schools, but we did find several records related to Indigenous people and communities in our region. We decided to expand the scope of our research to look for any records related to Indigenous peoples within our holdings.
Thanks to the efforts of staff and volunteers, we now have a small database of material to share. While we pursue avenues of access, we would like to start sharing some of these images and documents.
This photo (SPRA 177.070) is captioned “Two Cree families accompanied us on our trip. They killed our meat–moose, deer, bear, porcupine and skunk–and picked cranberries and blueberries for us. They pitched our tents and packed our horses. Last, but not least they were our guides.” This photo is part of the Ann Macklin fonds; Ann Macklin (nee Roberts) was born at the Kathryn Prittie Hospital and grew up on her parents homestead in the Clairmont area. Ann Roberts, Violet Jebb, and Mr. Bredin took a trip to Nose Mountain in September 1935 and had two Cree families join them as their guides. The guides in these photos are not identified.
If you know who they might be, or have any stories to share about Indigenous people in the area, we would love to hear from you! Please contact us at info@southpeacearchives.org or 780-830-5105 to share any memories or information you have!