page_title: Basil H. Johnston
section_title: Biography
hierarchical_section_title: Basil H. Johnston / Biography
caption_attribution_description: English: Photograph of the Spanish Indian Residential School for boys in Spanish, Ontario, 1913.
context_page_description: Basil H. Johnston OOnt was a Canadian writer, storyteller, language teacher and scholar.
context_section_description: Johnston was born July 13, 1929 on the Parry Island Indian Reserve to Rufus and Mary (née Lafrenière) Johnston. He was a member of the Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation, formerly Cape Croker (Neyaashiinigmiing), in the Bruce Peninsula.
  Johnston was educated in reserve schools in Cape Croker and later sent, along with his sister Marilyn, to residential school in Spanish, Ontario. He wrote about his experience as a student at St. Peter Claver School for Boys in his 1988 book Indian School Days. After graduating high school as class valedictorian, he earned his B.A. with Honours from Loyola College (1954) and a high school teaching certificate from the Ontario College of Education (1962). In 1959, Johnston married Lucie Desroches, with whom he had three children – Miriam, Tibby and Geoffery.
  Johnston died in 2015 at Wiarton, Ontario. Before his death he donated his papers, including photographs, correspondence and manuscripts to the McMaster University Library for use by researchers in the William Ready Division of Archives and Research Collections.
caption: St. Peter Claver School for Boys
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