For those who survived the Grandview Training School for Girls, the Galt area holds painful memories.
Even though it shut down half a century ago, this provincial boarding school near Isherwood Avenue in Cambridge, Ont., which housed young girls labeled as delinquents from 1933 to 1976, left deep scars and trauma for many who were sent there.
After it closed, numerous allegations were made against staff members involving serious crimes like rape, assault, and sexual abuse. Ultimately, eight former employees faced charges and two guards were found guilty.
In 1994, about 140 former students reached a settlement with the provincial government. Five years later, Ontario Attorney General Jim Flaherty issued an official apology acknowledging the terrible harm done to these women and their communities.
Hannah Foulger is trying to bring their stories forward. She’s a playwright and theatre artist working on a project called The View From Here that draws on firsthand accounts from Grandview’s former students.
Foulger actually lived at the school in the 1990s when it was used as a performing arts school and theatre space.
She chatted with CBC Kitchener-Waterloo’s The Morning Edition host Craig Norris about her work on this project.
You can listen to that interview at the bottom of this page. We’ve edited it here for clarity and brevity.
Craig Norris: Can you start by telling us what went on at the Grandview Training School for Girls?
Hannah Foulger: It opened in 1933 aiming to “reform” girls considered unruly. So basically girls got sent there for stuff like skipping school, having sex, using drugs or just not fitting into what society or their parents expected. Many of them were already dealing with trauma or tough situations because they were poor or had really hard lives.
Craig Norris: What about your own story made you want to tell theirs?
Hannah Foulger: I actually grew up in that building after the school closed in ’76. A missionary group called Youth Mission bought it to create a performing arts mission school. My family was living in Amsterdam then but we’re originally from the UK.
We moved to Cambridge so my dad could work at this arts training center – we literally lived right inside that building.
So my earliest memories are from ages one through five or six spent there.
In fact toward the end of our time there we were living alone because the mission group went bankrupt and even cut off our water supply!
We had to go somewhere else just to shower.
People started coming into our place stealing things like blackboards and chairs and pulling out plants – some visitors we expected but others surprised us.
As part of the play we’ve got old family videos exploring this empty building. My mom did this BBC architecture segment showing off spaces like what they called hospitality while squirrels scampered around behind her.
WATCH | New play brings survivors’ stories of Galt training school:
New play brings survivors’ stories of Galt training school
Though it’s been decades since Grandview Training School for Girls shut down and was torn down, survivors’ pain still echoes in Cambridge. Hannah Foulger wants their voices heard through her play The View From Here. A reading will happen during Kitchener’s IMPACT festival on September 27th and 28th.
Craig Norris: Did you know anything about its past before living there?
Hannah Foulger: No clue until then – during our time living there investigations started happening plus civil and criminal trials took place.
An interview included in my play has my parents talking about meeting two survivors who came back hoping for closure.
There are also stories from missionaries involved too.
The investigators sometimes showed up checking out every corner including inside our apartment; once they even looked through my brother’s room which was actually more like a hallway leading towards other dorm rooms,
This led us kids into trouble because his room was messy – he was just fifteen!
Craig Norris: Tell me more about your project.
Hannah Foulger: It’s kind of a mix between documentary theatre and an exhibition curated alongside Interarts Matrix with artistic director Sheila Mcmath involved.
I’ve spent ten years developing this documentary piece based on interviews with survivors, community folks, my family plus historic documents – including old video footage like I mentioned earlier.
The exhibition runs alongside too featuring artifacts both original ones & recreated items animated throughout performances giving extra life to their history.
And when fully staged people can visit gallery days separate from watching just one personal view shared during showings.
Craig Norris: Are people open talking about all this? Or do some avoid discussing what happened at Grandview?
Hannah Foulger: Survivors generally want their stories heard but some I spoke with said it’s too painful reopening wounds so they keep quiet day-to-day; however there’s definitely someone willing now to speak out publicly.
Community members who lived under mission care have also been eager sharing experiences related beyond survivor tales.
Craig Norris: How do you protect yourself emotionally hearing such difficult stories?
Hannah Fou l ger : I’ve got good support with therapy plus chatting openly within my family helped loads.
What really grounded me was sharing those memories with parents & sister-also remembering my brother who drowned same year building finally demolished brought everything home strongly.
Craig Nor r i s : Any particular story stay etched inside you ?
Hannah Fou l g e r : One survivor told me she spent one-and-a-half years locked away as isolation after failing escape attempts when she first arrived aged thirteen,
She said that experience affected her so deeply she couldn’t trust love until well into adulthood around age forty.
Craig Nor r i s : Why do these survival stories matter today, in 2025 ?
Hannah Fou l g e r : Because many survivors still live among us along descendants carrying intergenerational pain,
One survivor’s daughter kindly gave me letter read aloud at legislature describing how mother’s trauma touched whole family line.
I also feel communities are ready now facing past wrongs openly adding them honestly into local histories much like reckoning over residential schools has been necessary;
There were Indigenous girls among students too, many Indigenous folks see training schools as linked closely or even part-extension residential system despite different backgrounds mixed together inside grandview.
LISTEN | Local playwright gathers survivor accounts from Grandview Training School:The Morning Edition – K-W7:28Local playwright gathers survivor accounts from Grandview Training School for GirlsIt’s been decades since Grandview Training School closed but wounds remain raw locally around Galt & Cambridge areas.  Local playwright Hannah Foulger wants these girls’ voices amplified sharply.
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