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Reverend Mr. John Nelson: Missionary with an Impossible Mission

by Uta H. Fox

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The new principal hired his wife to be the school matron. The initial teaching staff included Reverend Mr. R. B. Steinhauer, BA (son of Henry Steinhauer), and Sam Lougheed (brother of Senator James Lougheed), who worked as the carpenter. The farm instructor-blacksmith, the seamstress, the cook and a second teacher constituted the additional staff during the first year. Although the principal and the Missionary Board of the Methodist Church did the hiring, the government insisted on being informed about the character and family of the employees. The appointment of the farm instructor, Robert McLelland, received a full review. As the successful appointee was also adept in blacksmithing this appointment was applauded. However his large family — a wife, a 16-year-old son, and three young daughters — constituted a liability. Sutherland felt that McLelland's wife could assist in the school to compensate for the children's room and board. The Indian Department approved hiring the farm instructor-blacksmith but added that his wages "should not be more than $30 a month with rations for himself only or $40 without rations."¹¹

As at most industrial schools — a direct result of per-capita grants from which salaries were paid — the wages at Red Deer were in no way comparable to what a teacher could earn in an urban school. Industrial school teachers only received half the average salary of an Alberta school teacher. Principal Nelson received $600 per year (with an additional $70 per year for rations), while the teachers received $300 per year. Sutherland deemed the salaries insulting, stating that those receiving them were branded " as inferior or incompetent men." Sutherland also found some of the salaries peculiar. As matron, Mrs. Nelson's wage was only $12 per month, while the cook received $20 per month. Both the Assistant Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Amedee Forget, and the Deputy Superintendent General, Hayter Reed, confirmed, however, that since Mrs. Nelson had children of her own " it could hardly be expected that she would receive the same renumeration for the portion of her time which she could devote to her duties as Matron...." On the other hand, the cook was hired with the express understanding her travelling expenses would be reimbursed if she remained for two years and gave "satisfaction."¹² Perhaps the school had to offer travelling expense reimbursement as an incentive to maintain stability and preclude staff turn-over.

One salary differential instituted by the Indian Department caused problems at the Red Deer School. For some inexplicable reason the carpenter, Sam Lougheed, received $50 per month, a salary almost the same as principal Nelson. Great tension existed between the principal and the carpenter, perhaps due to the slight salary differential. After the first year at the school, Lougheed complained to Hayter Reed that Nelson would not make ice or milk available to him. He also objected to " the length of the daily service exacted of him." Sutherland acknowledged that at times:

[Principal Nelson] ... may not always have shown the best judgment ... [and] on some occasions he may have been too arbitrary alike with the pupils and the employees ... [but] his position has been a trying one... [since] some of the employees seem to have regarded themselves as virtually independent of the Principal, and have tried to make his position unpleasant ... even to secure his dismissal.... The most serious friction has been between the Principal and the carpenter, who is brother of Senator Lougheed, and the latter, as I would infer from letters of his which I have seen, has been specially bitter and active against Mr. Nelson.

Sutherland supported principal Nelson, and to resolve the conflict Lougheed was placed at the Battleford Industrial School. Nelson was also transferred that same year to the Norway House Indian mission, north of Lake Winnipeg.¹³

This was not the first difficulty John Nelson had had with instructors. In his previous position as missionary at Wolf Creek, he had experienced a particularly protracted personality conflict with Samuel B. Lucas, the farm instructor in the Hobbema area. Beginning in 1886, a disagreement over the location of a ration house resulted in a series of charges and counter charges filed by both Nelson and Lucas. Lucas claimed Nelson neglected sick natives, while Nelson accused Lucas of criminal neglect, foul language, drunkenness and incompetence. No charges were ever proven, but when hearings were finally completed in 1890, Lucas was transferred to the Sarcee Agency. His replacement at Hobbema was Daniel L. Clink. No doubt Nelson's transfer from the Red Deer School in 1895 was based on more than just the conflict with Sam Lougheed. Apparently he also lost control over at least one of his teachers. When Indian Agent Clink returned truant boys to the School he discovered that one of the teachers, Mr. Skinner, had struck a boy over the head with a stick. This same teacher shoved one girl onto the floor, and on a different occasion exchanged blows with another girl. Clink was horrified: "what I think should be done in this case would be to bring Skinner before a Magistrate and have him fined and dismissed at once; his actions in this and other cases would not be tolerated in a white school for a single day in any part of Canada."¹⁴ Clink also noted that the Indians had " frequently complained to me about their children being improperly treated at this school." Corporal punishment was an alien method of imposing control on Indian students, and many Alberta Indians objected to it and other forms of physical punishment.¹⁵ Shortly after Clink's protests to the Department about Skinner's conduct, the rules were changed. In the future, the Department stipulated that Indian Agents should report only the results of inspections, and not undermine the authority of the school administration by intervening in the internal affairs of the school. Corporal punishment, on the other hand, should only be conducted by the principal and only "resorted to for very grave offences and as a deterrent example."¹⁶

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