* Household tasks: Cleaning dormitories, bathrooms, kitchens, and other common areas. This included sweeping, mopping, scrubbing floors and toilets, washing dishes, laundry (including washing and ironing), and making beds. These tasks were often performed with inadequate supplies and for long hours.
* Maintenance and groundskeeping: Chores could extend to outdoor work such as cleaning grounds, tending gardens, shoveling snow, cutting grass, chopping wood, and making repairs to buildings. This often involved heavy physical labor unsuitable for children.
* Food preparation and service: Older children might assist in preparing meals, which often involved processing and preparing large quantities of food. They might also serve meals to other students and staff.
* Sewing and mending: Girls were often tasked with sewing, mending clothes, and doing other forms of needlework for the institution.
* Caring for younger children: Older children were sometimes made responsible for caring for younger children, a task far beyond their capabilities and maturity level.
It's crucial to understand that these chores were often used as a form of punishment, control, and exploitation. Children were denied adequate rest and recreation time due to the excessive workload. The demanding nature of these tasks, coupled with the emotional and physical abuse prevalent in many residential schools, had devastating and long-lasting effects on the children.