Community members are concerned this piece of history could be torn down and forgotten. Although "suffering from neglect," the property comes with "30s style" outbuildings, including a dairy barn. Although the images on the post allude to the property's history, the listing does not explicitly say that the property was a residential school attended by aboriginal children from the s until it was closed in According to the Manitoba Historical Society , students were taught farming techniques while boarded at the school.
However, as with other residential schools, former students have said Birtle's methods also included abuse. One former student, Isabella Whiteford, told the commission that when she couldn't give proper answers in English, staff would pull her ears and shake her head.
In , two boys were injured when a truck packed with 70 students on its way to the fields got into an accident. In , a run-away from the school told an Indian Affairs official that students had been made to work "too hard," having to work at the school barn several hours a day.
The official recommended an investigation. He said he's also received some backlash from people who say the listing is timed poorly around the release of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's report. Waywayseecappo First Nation councillor James Cote attended Birtle, as did his father and grandfather. He'd like to see the property preserved as a reminder of what he and others endured.
He told APTN that Birtle is "a heritage building for Canadians to look at it and say, hey, we can tell them this is where we lived. Demolition of St. Michael's Indian Residential School.
