Author Floyd Favel discusses “Ashes and Embers: Stories of the Delmas Indian Residential School" at last week's gathering. (Angela Brown/battlefordsNOW Staff)

By Angela Brown

"Ashes and Embers"

Book on Delmas residential school fire to be available next month

Nov 29, 2022 | 5:04 PM

A new book, called Ashes and Embers: Stories of the Delmas Indian Residential School will be available in the Battlefords area in a couple of weeks.

Written by Poundmaker Cree Nation author and educator Floyd Favel, the book is about the fateful night in January 1948 when the school was destroyed in a fire.

A book launch was set to take place on Nov. 25. But due to shipping delays, the book will now be ready in mid-December.

Those attending the launch gathering at the Allen Sapp Gallery instead took in a screening of the 2021 documentary Ashes and Embers that inspired the book.

Favel is also the founder of Miyawata Culture, and is the film’s producer and writer.

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The residential school was reportedly deliberately burned down by some boys who attended it at the time.

Favel said the stories in the book and film were based on several interviews conducted with people from the area.

He is encouraging people to pick up the book to read more about the history surrounding the Delmas residential school.

“If you drive around many parts of Saskatchewan, such as around Battleford and Delmas, you don’t see any signs of what happened,” he said. “There is very little sign of anything that there was a residential school in Delmas, for example.”

Favel noted there is a large billboard sign that says “Jesus Saves” in the area. If people look just below that sign they can see the remnants of where a statue once stood near the site of the former residential school.

“Other than that, there is no plaque, no signs,” he said. “I think this is common of how history in regards to Indigenous people in this province and this country was erased, and is still erased.”

Favel said both the film and the book Ashes and Embers look at some of the “difficult truths” in Canada’s history.

Leah Garven, curator and manager of galleries with the City of North Battleford, said she appreciated Favel’s presentation, and the opportunity for people to see his film at the same time, and hear about some of the history as well.

“We’ve been really looking forward to Floyd’s launch of Ashes and Embers,” she said. “The film came first, followed by the book. So I am happy to finally premiere the film here in the gallery.”

Garven said that the stories in are an important addition, and belong here in this territory.

She added that Favel is a “wealth of knowledge,” so his visit to the gallery was a great offering for the community.

People can order the book Ashes and Embers through the Miyawata Culture website.

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Angela.Brown@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @battlefordsnow