Kris could barely contain his excitement when he told his mother he had found the perfect school to attend: a boarding school for boys near Niagara, Ontario, named Robert Land Academy. It was 1996, and Kris, whose last name is being withheld to protect his privacy, was fourteen years old, struggling in middle school in British Columbia. He had dreams of joining the Canadian military, and he became convinced that RLA—its structure mirrored that of the military, with students wearing uniforms and everyone being given military-style ranks—would help him prepare to eventually enlist. Kris and his mother visited the school and were impressed by the sprawling grounds, with a campus modelled after a nineteenth-century British fort, and the administration’s dedication to discipline and academic rigour.
Unbeknownst to them, many students at RLA weren’t there by choice but were sent there by their parents and caregivers as a last resort. Its founder billed the school as a place that could reform young boys into “good citizens,” a place that would help troubled teens who weren’t wanted anywhere else.
