A new book examining the controversial history of St. John’s Cathedral Boys School — once located just north of Selkirk — is drawing renewed attention to one of Manitoba’s most debated educational legacies.
A map showing the location of St. John’s Cathedral Boys School, which operated just north of Selkirk from 1958 until its closure in 1990
God’s Paddlers, written by veteran journalist Stephen Riley, traces the rise and fall of a network of Anglican-affiliated boarding schools that operated in Manitoba, Alberta and Ontario from 1958 to 2009.
Riley, a Manitoba native and graduate of the Selkirk school, spent decades researching the institutions, which were founded with the goal of radically reforming Canadian education through discipline, self-sufficiency and outdoor endurance.
“My hope was to provide a fair and accurate account and a sense of justice for those boys who survived the brutality and abuse of the St. John’s schools, as well as for the 13 young people who died in the 1978 Lake Temiskaming disaster,” Riley said.
The original school, St. John’s Cathedral Boys School, operated near Selkirk for more than 30 years before closing in 1990. Over the schools’ 50-year existence, more than 5,000 boys participated in demanding outdoor programs that included long-distance snowshoe treks and canoe expeditions through remote parts of Canada.
While proponents viewed the program as character-building, God’s Paddlers documents a darker legacy that includes corporal punishment, student-on-student violence, allegations of sexual abuse and fatal accidents — most notably the 1978 Lake Temiskaming canoe tragedy that claimed 13 lives.
Riley first became involved with the story in the late 1980s while producing a CBC Manitoba current-affairs documentary that focused on the Selkirk school. Interviews conducted at the time, combined with later revelations and school closures, convinced him a broader accounting of all three schools was needed.
Drawing on dozens of original interviews and extensive internal records — including minutes, correspondence and reports not previously made public — Riley said the research revealed serious internal doubts within school leadership that were never shared with staff, parents or the public.
“Unobserved by their employees or the public, the leadership at various meetings were alarmingly blunt, wondering if certain policies, programs or even the whole enterprise was worth it,” he said.
Riley said he was struck by the willingness of former students, staff and supporters to speak candidly, even when recalling harmful or painful experiences.
“It was clearly quite difficult and emotional for them at times,” he said. “It was a privilege to know them, and I remain humbled by their consent.”
Two central figures — Frank Wiens and Ted Byfield — are examined for their lasting influence on education, journalism and conservative political thought in Western Canada.
“What’s disturbing,” Riley said, “is that after all these years, the arrogance and teachers’ tragic mistakes, many people feel the founders and their supporters were right.”
The book also revisits long-standing legal and social questions surrounding the schools, including abuse cases that have continued to surface decades after the institutions closed.
Riley brings more than four decades of journalism experience to the project, having worked at the Winnipeg Free Press, Winnipeg Tribune and CBC Winnipeg, where he produced current-affairs programming for more than 20 years. He now lives in Northern Ireland.
God’s Paddlers was published in October 2025 by Ennui Press and is available worldwide through Amazon.
