The United Church of Canada Archives

The General Council Archives contains records for the following Indian Residential Schools included in the Settlement Agreement. The schools were initially operated by the Methodist and Presbyterian churches before 1925. Following union, The United Church of Canada inherited administration of the schools.

• Ahousaht, British Columbia (1904–1939)
• Alberni, British Columbia (1891–1973)
• Port Simpson, British Columbia (1874–1948)
• Kitimaat, British Columbia (1893–1941)
• Coqualeetza, British Columbia (1888–1940)
• Red Deer, Alberta (1893–1919)
• Morley, Alberta (1925–1969)
• Edmonton, Alberta (1923–1966)
• Round Lake, Saskatchewan (1886–1950)
• File Hills, Saskatchewan (1889–1949)
• Cote Day School, Saskatchewan (1928–1940)
• Norway House, Manitoba (1900–1967)
• Brandon, Manitoba (1895–1969)
• Portage la Prairie, Manitoba (1886–1970)
• Mount Elgin & Muncey, Ontario (1849–1946)

Locating Residential School Records and Photos

Please search our online databases to locate relevant records.

Photos: With funding from the Residential Schools Steering Committee we have put our photos online for searching—they can be accessed at The Children Remembered.

• The bulk of relevant records in our archives are part of the Board of Home Missions and the Women’s Missionary Society fonds. These records are not complete—there are many gaps as well as many related records in other series and collections in other United Church, government, and community archives.
• The General Council Archives also holds photographs, correspondence, reports, publications, a small number of quarterly returns, and written accounts of the schools (published and unpublished). The records are all open for access; please visit our holdings and services page for information on how to access them.
• Records also exist in Conference archives for the provinces that had United Church schools. Please contact individual archives for further information on their holdings.
• For records of Presbyterian-run schools (Birtle and Cecilia Jeffrey), The United Church of Canada Archives holds pre-1925 records. The Presbyterian Archives holds post-1925 records.
• The largest collection of records is held in the National Archives, records created by the Department of Indian Affairs. You can search the National Archives online or contact an archivist for assistance in locating and accessing these records.

For more information about The United Church of Canada’s response to the residential school legacy, including the church’s apologies to First Nations peoples and residential school survivors, please visit the Indian Residential Schools section of this site.