Agnes Benn’s death and the hidden history of Birtle residential school’s predatory principal

April 2, 2025

The night was mild and the March moon bright when Agnes Benn fled the Birtle Indian Residential School through the playroom window, a few weeks after she told a friend that the principal, Henry Currie, put his hand over her mouth so she wouldn’t scream in his office. Helen MacKay, the teacher on duty that Tuesday evening in the playroom, said the teen girl was acting up and hanging out the window, “which is strictly forbidden,” and ignoring commands to stop…