We are pleased to invite you to attend the next public meeting of the West Toronto Junction Historical Society:
Thursday, May 7 @7:00 pm – Annette Branch, Toronto Public Library, 145 Annette Street.
Alison will be discussing the history of the first and longest-running residential school in Canada.
Alison Norman is a settler historian, researcher, and historical consultant. She is a member of the Mohawk Institute Research Group, and is co-editor of a recently published book on the history of the Mohawk Institute entitled “Behind the Bricks: The Life and Times of the Mohawk Institute, Canada’s Longest-Running Residential School.”
Published in September 2025, “Behind the Bricks” tells the story of Canada’s first and longest-running residential school which operated from 1828 to 1970 in Brantford, Ontario. Many consider the Mohawk Institute to have been a model for the entire residential school system. “Behind the Bricks” brings together Indigenous and non-Indigenous experts to examine the policies and motivations that shaped the experiences of all three parties involved with the school—the government, the church, and the students and their communities.
Alison earned her Ph.D. and B.Ed. from OISE/University of Toronto, where her dissertation focused on Six Nations women’s work in the early 20th Century. She held a SSHRC postdoctoral fellowship at Trent University in which she began research into the history of Indigenous teachers in 19th century southern Ontario, and she worked as a researcher for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Alison also worked in the Ontario Ministry of Indigenous Affairs as a historian for six years, and is currently a Senior Historian at Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada.
West Toronto Junction Historical Society 