Residential Schools in Canada

As the residential school crisis emerged back into the broader public consciousness this past summer, with the announcement of unmarked graves found at more than one of the former schools, I was taken aback.

Unmarked graves for students? The idea was monstrous. Even assuming there had a been a terrible, overwhelming outbreaks at the remote schools, surely civilized administrators would have seen to some respectful form of burial? I was offended as a human, and ashamed as a Canadian.

I’ve taken the opportunity to read articles and books to understand more about these schools, and it turns out the truth is much worse. All of the readings were difficult, some were more accessible and less intellectually heavy handed. But they told a common story: successive Canadian governments took it upon themselves to assimilate indigenous Canadians, and the residential schools were a critical plank in their strategy.

They were deliberately not built in native communities so as to keep student away from their parents, and students were fed a steady diet of Christianity and watered down reading, writing, arithmetic and trades, while working more than half the day to produce goods to help keep the schools afloat. Curriculum was tailored based on an underlying belief that the students were incapable of learning because they were savages. Students were not allowed to speak their native languages, nor practice any of their cultures as these, too, were deemed savage.

The schools were poorly funded, and built. Students were fed a meagre diet and were physically and sexually abused and, because of the poor construction of the schools, exposed to frigid weather and illness.

Federal and provincial officials squabbled over whether they could share standard school curricula. In the end, students left the schools fraught, and yet with nothing approaching a reasonable skill set on which to build a sustainable life for themselves.

Horrific. Having done more reading, I now better understand why healing with our indigenous peoples has been so difficult: they need us to understand what we did, and to sincerely make amends. Its also clear why native poverty is so rampant, in spite of the billions of dollars spent by government: our lawfully elected governments took away the very tools (land, education, tools, technology) that indigenous nations needed to build lives for themselves.

I don’t yet know what to do with this knowledge. But I intend to keep listening. And will share my reading list with anyone interested.