Returning Home Society is a community-led project rooted in truth, healing, remembrance, and cultural revitalization. Our work is guided by Survivors, Elders, descendants, families, and the communities impacted by the Beauval Indian Residential School.

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We support the ongoing search and investigation of the former school site while also creating spaces for ceremony, wellness, education, and community healing. Our work includes Ground Penetrating Radar research, oral history, archival research, cultural events, youth and Elder engagement, sharing circles, retreats, and truth and reconciliation education.

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          Our History: Beauval Indian Residential School

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The Beauval Indian Residential School (originally known as the Lac La Plonge boarding school) operated for a century in Northern Saskatchewan. Run primarily by the Roman Catholic Church,specifically the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate and the Grey Nuns, and later by the federal government, the institution forcibly separated First Nations and Métis children from their families, languages, and cultures.

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Located on Treaty 10 territory, the school impacted communities across the northwest. Today, we honor the strength and resilience of the survivors, their families, and the children who never made it home. By acknowledging the painful truths of the past, we continue the vital work of community healing and reclaiming this land.

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Establishment & Relocation

1895 – 1906

The school originally opened in 1895 in Île-à-la-Crosse, becoming an official boarding school with government funding in 1897. In 1906, the Roman Catholic Mission moved the school to its permanent site at Lac la Plonge, across the Beaver River from Beauval.

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The Tragic Fire

September 19–20, 1927

During the night, a devastating fire started near the furnaces at the center of the wooden building. Flames quickly blocked the hallways and inside staircases. While older girls heroically guided younger girls to safety, the fire trapped the boys' dormitory. Nineteen young boys, between the ages of 7 and 12, including Marcel Lemaigre, Jimmy Iron, Alex Opikokew, and Simon Sayers, and their teacher, Sister Lea Bellerose, perished in the flames. The tragedy highlighted severe negligence, including a lack of safe fire escapes, and though it prompted a national directive on fire safety, severe fire hazards persisted at Beauval for decades.

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The Brick School Rebuild

1931 – 1932

A new brick school was constructed to replace the destroyed building. The structure was made from bricks manufactured and prepared locally, utilizing the physical labor of the school’s own students. Opening in 1932, this residence served up to 140 students at a time over the following decades.

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The Winter Epidemic

1936 – 1937

A severe epidemic of influenza and measles swept through the northwest, striking the Beauval area with devastating force. The school and rectory were converted into temporary hospitals. Despite these efforts, the epidemic claimed 60 lives in the community, including 20 students at the school.

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The Push for Community Control

1969 – 1985

In 1969, the federal government assumed direct control of the school from the Catholic Mission. Throughout the 1970s, First Nations leadership, a Board of Directors comprising Chiefs from the Meadow Lake District, advocated strongly for autonomy. By the mid-1970s, the government transferred control of the residences to a First Nations parent group. In 1985, the Meadow Lake Tribal Council formally took over operations, renaming it the Beauval Indian Education Centre.

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Closure & Demolition

1995

After operating for a century, the Beauval Indian Education Centre officially closed. In the summer of 1995, in a powerful act of reclaiming the land and severing ties with the trauma of the past, former students physically demolished the school's main buildings.

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Initial Ground Searches

2021 – 2023

Led by the English River First Nation and guided by survivor testimony, extensive ground searches began. In August 2023, leadership announced the heartbreaking discovery of 93 areas of interest, believed to be unmarked graves of 79 children and 14 infants, in and around the mission cemetery.

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Continued Searches & Uncovering the Truth

May 2025

In May 2025, Ashihk Research Services delivered a report detailing an additional 60 areas requiring further investigation, identified through Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) during the 2024 search season. This search focused on the cemetery and the lower fields where both the original wooden school and the later brick building stood. These areas of interest, which correlate directly with survivor accounts, are now protected with visible barriers and security as the difficult work of searching continues using GPR, Shallow Subsurface Soil Spectroscopy (S4), and specially trained Human Remains Detection Dogs (HRDD).

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The Returning Home Society: Healing & Moving Forward

The investigation at the Beauval site is being conducted by the Returning Home Society (RHS), a special project born from the English River First Nation. As RHS Project Manager Dawn McIntyre has stated, "We need to know the truth before reconciliation. How do we know what we're reconciling if we don't know the truth?"

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The Society recognizes that uncovering this history brings immense grief and sorrow to the community, as nearly everyone involved is a descendant of survivors. Because of this, the Returning Home Society does not just search the grounds, it actively fosters community healing.

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Through holistic wellness retreats, cultural gatherings, and on-site support from mental health workers provided by ERFN, RHS focuses on kinship and connection. By bringing Elders, adults, and families together for Sharing Circles, ceremonies, and time spent on the land, the Returning Home Society ensures that the community is supported as they face these truths together, rising up stronger just as their ancestors taught them.