Honouring the Truth Reconciling for the Future

The history • 123Running away could be risky. At least thirty-three students died, usually due toexposure, after running away from school. 547 In a significant number of cases, parentsand Indian Affairs officials concluded that the deaths could have been prevented ifschool officials had mounted earlier and more effective searches and notified policeofficials and family members. 548 In the case of Charles and Tom Ombash, two brotherswho ran away from the Sioux Lookout school on October 5, 1956, school officialswaited until November before informing police or Indian Affairs. 549 The boys werenever found—community members continued to search for their remains decadesafter their disappearance. 550These deaths date back to the beginning of the twentieth century. However, the firstsystem-wide policy outlining the procedures to be taken when a child ran away fromschool that the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada has located in thedocuments it has reviewed dates from 1953. This was seventy-five years after the governmentbegan its residential school system. That policy simply stated, “The principalshall take prompt action to effect the return to school of any truant pupil, and shallreport promptly to the Superintendent, Indian Agency, every case of truancy.” 551 Thenature of the prompt action was undefined. In particular, there was no requirementto contact either the child’s parents or the police. It was not until 1971 that a moreencompassing, nation-wide, policy was announced. 552In pursuing children to their parents’ homes, the actions of school employeescould be both invasive and disrespectful. 553 In the town of Lebret, Saskatchewan, “allthe houses were checked” by the police as part of a search for two runaways from theFile Hills school in 1935. 554Running away was not in itself a crime. However, most students were wearingschool-issued clothing when they ran away, and, in some cases, principals tried,and even succeeded, in having them prosecuted for stealing the clothing they werewearing. 555 Students who ran away numerous times also could be charged under theJuvenile Delinquents Act. In such cases, they could be sentenced to a reformatory untilthey turned twenty-one. 556The 1894 Indian Act amendments made parents who did not return truants toschool subject to prosecution. The Mounted Police were often called in to force parentsto send their children to school. 557 The Blue Quills, Alberta, school journal entryfor May 1, 1932, reads: “The savages having received the order to bring their childrento school unless they want the police to get involved, some parents did obey the ordertoday. But there are still those who turn a deaf ear.” 558 In 1937, a father who refused toreturn his son to the Sandy Bay, Manitoba, school was sentenced to ten days in jail. Toprevent him from running away again, the boy was sent to a school in Saskatchewan. 559Parents were often outraged at having to return runaways. Wallace Hahawahi’sfather was reported as being “very indignant” at the prospect of sending his son backto the Brandon school in 1936. The boy was over sixteen and needed to help out at