Acknowledgements

Several years ago, Rick Hill brought a group of about a dozen historians together to begin discussing and sharing their work about the history of the Mohawk Institute. At that time Rick observed that, although a lot of research had been done on the school, very little of it had been published in formats that were accessible to the public. This book is the product of those early meetings, and it is important that Rick be recognized for bringing us together and guiding this project to completion.

Many of these chapters would also not have been possible without the 1997 book The Mush Hole: Life at Two Indian Residential Schools by Elizabeth Graham. For several decades, this book was (and indeed remains) the go-to source for anyone interested in learning about the history of the Mohawk Institute. We were privileged to have her join our group during one of our early meetings, and we want to formally recognize her here.

Several students and colleagues were integral to preparing this book for publication. Specifically, we would like to recognize Natalie Cross, who provided a careful proofread and counsel during the editing phase. Erdanya Anderson also helped compile the “Suggested Readings” list and reviewed several of the chapters. Special thanks to Andrew Porteus for preparing the detailed index.

It takes significant financial resources to publish a book like this, especially in an open access format. We are grateful to the Dean’s Office at Mount Royal University, the research committee at Huron University College, and Huron’s Community History Centre for providing the funding to make this publication a reality. Likewise, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada funded the research for several of the chapters in this volume.

Finally, we need to acknowledge the survivors of the Mohawk Institute, many of whom have helped shape the chapters that appear in this volume. These are the people who carried the burden of this dark history for decades before the Canadian public began to understand what had happened at this school. Their perseverance and willingness to share their experiences have helped us to better understand the history and legacy of what happened behind the bricks.