More than a century after its creation, there is no visible sign remaining of the File Hills Farm Colony in southern Saskatchewan. But the painful memories of an experiment that epitomized the culture of assimilation permeating that era’s attitudes towards Canada’s Indigenous peoples still live in the collective memories of residential school survivors. Likewise for some of the racist attitudes and policies that still exist today.
Reconciling the painful past creates hope for a more promising future
The File Hills Colony near Balcarres, Sask. epitomized everything that was wrong about colonial attitudes towards Indigenous peoples. But new models for Indigenous agriculture are emerging
