Residential Schools

MONSTER: The Residential-School Legacy

  • Overview of Residential Schools in Canada

    • Definition: Residential schools were government-sponsored religious schools established to assimilate Indigenous children into Euro-Canadian culture.

    • Historical Context:

    • The last residential school in Canada, Gordon Indian Residential School, located in Saskatchewan, closed in 1996.

    • Residential schools operated across Canada from 1831 to 1996, a span of 150 years.

    • Approximately 150,000 Aboriginal children attended these schools during this period.

    • A minimum of 6,000 Aboriginal children died while enrolled in residential schools.

    • School Management: 67% of the residential schools were run by Catholics, 20% by Anglicans, 3% by Presbyterians, indicating the involvement of various religious organizations in the implementation of these institutions.

    • The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) conducted 7,000 interviews with survivors, resulting in six volumes of findings published (p.171).

  • Regina Indian Industrial School

    • Operated from 1891 to 1910 by the Presbyterian Church of Canada through the Foreign Mission Committee.

    • Location: Built on 320 acres of farmland on Wascana Creek, located 4 miles (6.44 kms) northwest of Regina (Treaty 4).

    • Institutional Evolution: After closing in 1910, it became a jail and later a home for delinquent boys, eventually destroyed by fire in 1948.

  • Saskatchewan Residential Schools: A list of the residential schools in Saskatchewan includes:

    • Beauval (Lac la Plonge)

    • Beauval Crowstand, Kamsack

    • File Hills, Balcarres

    • Fort Pelly (two schools)

    • Gordon's and Gordon's Reserve

    • Lebret (Qu'Appelle, Whitecalf, St. Paul's High School)

    • Marieval (Cowesess, Crooked Lake)

    • Muscowequan (Lestock, Touchwood)

    • Prince Albert (including Onion Lake Church of England and others)

    • Regina

    • Round Lake, Stockholm

    • Multiple others as detailed, showing the extensive reach and network of residential schools across Saskatchewan.

HOBBESIAN NOTIONS by David Groulx

  • Reflects on the perception of pre-colonial Indigenous life, challenging the views that it was “nasty, brutish, and short” by contrasting them with contemporary experiences of Indigenous peoples (https://www.onethrone.com/hobbesian-notions).

Legacy and Historical Impact

  • An exploration of the wider awareness regarding the abuses within the residential school system, triggered partly by media representation (e.g., a television series). This awareness has continued to grow, notably post-2008 with the formal apology, the Indian Residential Schools Settlement, and continued work by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (p.173).

  • Historic Trauma Transmission:

    • Introduced by Vowel, this term, coined in the 1980s, refers to the “cumulative emotional and psychological wounding” experienced across generations of Indigenous peoples as a result of their trauma. It underscores the enduring effects of the abuse suffered within the residential schools (p.172).

    • Urges readers to access first-hand accounts and testimonies from survivors at the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (https://nctr.ca/).

  • Historical Apologies:

    • Various churches, prior to the 2008 apology, issued apologies for their roles in the residential school system, marking a step towards reconciliation.

    • In 1996, the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (RCAP) released a report addressing the harms of residential schools.

    • In 1998, the Canadian government issued a statement of reconciliation and established the Aboriginal Healing Foundation.

    • The 2005 film Into the West depicted the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, which served as the model for the Canadian residential school system.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission

  • Establishment: Formed in 2008, after the Harper Apology, to address the historical injustices suffered by Aboriginal peoples in Canada. Its mission included documenting the experiences of survivors.

  • Education as a Tool for Reconciliation:

    • Justice Murray Sinclair emphasized the significance of education in addressing the historical grievances stating, “It was education that got us into this mess, and it will be education that gets us out” (p.175).

    • Current challenges in Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal relations are largely attributed to the long history of systemic failures in educating both populations about Indigenous histories and cultures.

  • Calls to Action: The Truth and Reconciliation Commission proposed 94 Calls to Action, among them:

    • Action 62.1: This action calls for the development of an age-appropriate curriculum, focusing on residential schools, treaties, and Aboriginal contributions to Canada, to be integrated into the K-12 education system, emphasizing cooperation with Survivors and Aboriginal peoples (p.177).

Conclusion and Further Resources

  • Encouraged individuals to engage with educational materials and witness the complexity of the reconciliation process:

    • Video Resource: “The Truth is hard, but reconciliation is harder” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxtH_E6FqVo) to deepen understanding of the challenges and necessities for moving forward together with acknowledgment of past traumas.

Sources and References

  • National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, University of Manitoba.

  • Morgan Hite, 2017; online resources listed throughout the notes.