The first boarding institution, the Shingwauk Home, was completed and opened in September 1873, only to be destroyed by fire six days later. The following year a new location was selected on the north shore of St. Mary’s River, closer to the village of Sault St. Marie. The new Shingwauk Home that opened in 1875 expanded through the 1880s and 1890s, adding a hospital, a structure for industrial instruction, and numerous farm buildings. A Wawanosh Home for girls was also set up a few miles away to run much as the Shingwauk did. Not even the departure of the disillusioned Wilson in 1893 terminated the experiment in residential schooling, although Shingwauk experienced frequent problems and occasional disasters. The Wawanosh and Shingwauk operations were combined on the latter’s site, and in 1934 a new Shingwauk Hall was constructed to replace the dilapidated and deteriorating structure from the nineteenth century. Finally, in 1971 the Shingwauk building, Algoma University College developed. Its grounds were the site for reunions of former students and staff in 1981 and on a warm July day in 1991.

      Most of the reminiscences and discussions at the second Shingwauk reunion were devoted to the less happy parts of the residential school legacy. During the exchange of views that followed the formal opening ceremonies on 4 July, numerous returning students took the opportunity to emphasize that residential school experience for them meant dark as well as sunny memories. Throughout the reunion - in intimate discussions in ‘healing circles,’ during the opening festivities, and in private conversations with other former students and outsiders - they complained of the rigidity,