Indian Residential Schools Part 1 - The Report

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Indian Residential SchoolsPart 1 - The Report

• Presented by Gail Smith

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The History Pre-residential Schools

• Early 19th century Mission Schools
• Goals
• Teach native people to read English so they could
  read the bible
• Convert natives to Christianity
• Catholic, Anglican, United and Presbyterian
  Churches involved
• Indian Act governments responsibility to
  educate native children Treaty Rights

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Churches and Governmental Assumptions

• Aboriginal culture were unable to adapt to modern
  Canadian society
• Without intervention, native people would be left
  behind
• Children were easier to mould than adults
• Children must be removed from family/cultural
  influence
• Residential schools far from homes were the answer

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Governance

• 1890 -1950s Parents had no choice but to send
  children to a residential school.
• Many parents wanted this schooling as they
  thought it best for their childrens future.
• All Aboriginal people wards of the state.
• Indian Agents (white men) employed by Dept.
  of Indian Affairs recruited students and ensured
  native students went to school.

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Where did they go?

• To Residential Schools
• Here are a few of them.

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Gordon Anglican Residential School
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Curriculum

• Children aged 5 16 to attend
• School day
• Half time classroom study
• Half time learning a trade
• Girls sewing, cooking and domestic skills
• Boys blacksmithing, carpentry, and auto
  mechanics
• Added duties milk cows, clean dorms, chop wood
  (provide labour to run schools cheaper)

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Canadian Indian Residential Schools Statistics

• Total Indian Residential Schools 135
• None in NB, PE or NL
• AB 29 BC 28 SK 20
• ON 18 MB 17 NT 8
• QC 6 YT 6 NU 2 NS 1
• Department of Indian Affairs funded all
  residential schools.

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Assimilation Plan

• Goal To prepare Native children for white
  society
• Began consideration in 1928
• Geared to end the Indian Problem
• Guesstimated time for success was two generations
• Church run
• Government funded

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Results of Residential Schools

• Children were removed from their homes
• Forced assimilation of white societal cultures,
  values, religion and languages
• Some children subjected to physical, emotional
  and sexual abuse
• Devastation of families and cultures

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Aboriginal Reaction

• Decades later, Aboriginal people begin to share
  their stories
• Accuse government of systematic racism
• Demand governmental acknowledgement
• Want compensation for lost childhoods and abuse
• Abuse also affects the next generation

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A Move towards Healing

• 1990 Phil Fontaine, Grand Chief of Manitoba
  Chiefs, first leader to tell the story of his
  abuse at a residential School
• Calls for recognition of the abuse, compensation
  and an apology for racism
• 1991 Lawsuits are launched, groups are formed
• 1996 Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples
  recommends public inquiry

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• 1997 Phil Fontaine negotiates out of court
  settlement with federal government
• 1998 Statement of Reconciliation -Settlement of
  350 Million Healing Fund Govt admits
  wrongdoing and apologizes
• 2001 Dept. of Indian Residential Schools

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• Resolution Canada formed
• 2003 Alternative Dispute Resolutions (ADR)
  process formed
• 2004 U of A Law School and Assembly of First
  Nations (AFN) find ADR process flawed
• 2008 Apology from Stephen Harper

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Mission StatementAssembly of First Nations

• To address the expedient resolution of the
  residential schools claims filed in court by the
  survivors with the emphasis on the elderly and
  sick and to ensure an effective process is
  identified and carried out for healing strategies
  in relation to the loss of languages and culture
  of First Nation people and their communities.
• http//www.afn.ca/residentialschools/index.h
  tml

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Report on Canadas Dispute Resolution Plan to
Compensate for Abuses in Indian Residential
Schools

• Lump sum all survivors 10,000
• 3,000 for every year attended
• Early payment for elderly
• Truth Commission
• Healing Fund
• Commemoration Fund
• Individual settlement of abuse claims

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Summary of School Statistics

• An estimated 80,000 people alive today attended
  Indian Residential Schools
• Over 150,000 children attended Indian Residential
  Schools

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Timeline How it Happened?Assembly of First
Nations - http//www.afn.ca/residentialschools/his
tory.html

• 1857 Gradual Assimilation Act passed to
  assimilate Indians.
• 1870 1910 Period of assimilation by
  government and missionaries to assimilate
  Aboriginal children into the lower fringes of
  mainstream society.
• 1920 Compulsory attendance for all children
  ages 7 15. Children forcibly taken from
  families by priests, Indian agents and police
  officers.

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• 1931 80 residential schools in Canada.
• 1948 72 residential schools with 9,368.
• 1979 12 residential schools with 1,899
  students.
• 1980s Students disclose forms of abuse.

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• 1996 Last residential school in Canada (Gordon
  Reserve in SK) closes
• 1998 Assembly of First Nations (AFN) establishes
  the Indian Residential Schools Resolution Unit
• 2009 Less than half of the settlements completed

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Indian Residential Schools Resolution Unit
includes

• Independent Assessment Process
• students who suffered serious abuses that caused
  serious psychological effects
• Truth and Reconciliation Commission
• Commemoration initiative
• Aboriginal Healing Foundation - other health
  support programs.

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Discussion Questions

• Why is this a historically significant event?
• Who did it affect?
• How many people did it affect?
• What view did the church take?
• What was the result?
• Was an apology necessary?

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File Hills Residential School
SK-7 File Hills Indian Residential School (File
Hills Colony School) (MD) Okanese Reserve
opened 1889 closed 1949 A Letter of Remembering
- Home
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Resource Websites

• Assembly of First Nations -
• www.afn.ca/residentialschools/index.html
• www.afn.ca/article.asp?id2586
• Turtle Island - turtleisland.org/resources
• The Anglican Church - www2.anglican.ca/rs/history
  /schools/old-sun.htm
• The United Church - www.united-church.ca/aborigina
  l/schools/faq/history
• Where are the Children? www.wherearethechildren.ca
  /en/remembering2.html

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Inquiry Questions

• What effects did the loss of languages and
  culture of First Nation people and their
  communities have as a result of living in Indian
  Residential Schools?
• What is being done to facilitate healing for
  former residents?
• What did we learn from this?