Transcript Canada’s Residential Schools

Residential Schools: We All
Need to Know Our History
“In order to educate the children properly we
must separate them from their families. Some
people may say that this is hard but if we want
to civilize them we must do that.”
Hector Langevin,
Public Works Minister of Canada, 1883
Residential Schools in Canada
• From the early 1830s to 1996, thousands of First
Nation, Inuit and Métis children were forced to
attend residential schools in an attempt to
assimilate them into the dominant culture.
• Over 150,000 children, some as young as four
years old, attended the government-funded and
church-run residential schools. It is estimated
there are 80,000 residential school Survivors
alive today.
• The Indian Act was amended in 1884 to make boarding
school mandatory for all Aboriginal children between the
ages of six and fifteen. Parents who did not co-operate
would be fined or sent to prison.
St. John’s Indian Residential School
— Wabasca, AB
Important Dates for St. John’s Residential School:
• 1894: St. John’s Mission established at Wabasca by
Church Missionary Society (CMS). Mission house
accommodates 6 boarders.
• 1896: Residential enrolment increases to 12.
• 1898–1899: School temporarily closed for much of
this period due to lack of missionary funds and
unwillingness by government to assist school, which is
in a non-treaty area.
• 1899: Aug. Wabasca area bands (Bigstone Cree
Nation) adhere to Treaty 8, assuring creation of
future reserve and government support of schools.
A mother brings her
children to the St. John
Boarding School, Wabasca,
Alberta, date unknown
Photographer: The Anglican
Church of Canada, The General
Synod Archives, GS-75-103-S8242
• 1902: Government recognizes St. John’s
Mission Wapuskaw School as a boarding school
and implements program of annual per capita
grants based on authorized pupilage of 15.
• 1903: Nov. Fire destroys residential school
building. Students stay in the church until
replacement building is completed the
following year. The start on construction for
this new school (funded by the church) in 1903
is often taken as the founding date for St.
John’s Indian Residential School. Farming
begins in earnest on a cleared portion of the
45 acres of heavily forested, church owned
land.
Students at Wabasca Residential
School
• 1910: Authorized pupilage increases to 25.
• 1911: Operating agreement signed between Indian
Affairs and Diocese of Athabasca, outlining funding
formula, standards for student enrolment and Church’s
obligation to maintain facilities and provide staff.
• 1940s–1950s Wabasca School suffers from chronic
staff shortage, due in part to wartime labour
shortage, competition from public schools offering
better wages, and general inability of the Church to
attract staff to this remote school.
Students at St. John's Residential
School in Wabasca, Alberta (1945)
1945: Jan. 1 Fire destroys main dormitory building,
requiring students to be temporarily housed in
makeshift quarters in other mission and settlement
buildings.
1949: Dec. 1 Government opens new dormitory block
with capacity for 60 students.
1956: Expansion of main residential school building
consolidates all school activities—classrooms,
dormitories and staff rooms—under one roof.
Previously, the school and residence were about 2 km
apart.
1966: St. John’s School and Student Residence closes.
Students are transferred to secular day schools
(formerly Catholic) in nearby Desmarais, managed by
NSD. Those eligible to attend senior high school must
leave Wabasca and board with families in larger centres
such as Edmonton.
A Survivor’s Story
• Peerless Lake resident, Elder
David Starr has no fond
memories of residential schools
after living in one at Wabasca
some 55 years ago.
• David was born at long Lake
about five km north of Peerless
Lake in 1930.
• Located in northern Alberta,
250 km north of Slave Lake, the
tiny community of 430 people
once had no contact with the
outside world.
• When David's parents decided to separate, he and his
two sisters were sent to the St. John's Anglican
Church residential school at Wabasca.
• His two sisters never survived the school.
"They both died before their 16th birthdays. They
died because of a lack of medical attention. It left me
alone at the school," David recalled.
Rocky Woodward,
Windspeaker Correspondent, Peerless Lake Alta.
Volume: 7
Issue: 26
Year: 1990
Dr. Peter Bryce,
Medical Inspector for the Department of Indian Affairs
• After assessing the health situation at residential schools in 1909,
Dr. Bryce calculated death rates among school age children as
ranging from 35% and 60%.
• Even after Dr. Bryce’s report to the government, many children like
David Starr’s sisters, would continue to die from diseases, like
tuberculosis.
Duncan Campbell Scott,
Superintendent of Indian Affairs
• Although other people in
addition to Dr. Bryce reported
the unhealthy conditions in
residential schools, Duncan
Campbell Scott ignored these
findings.
• He also terminated the position
of Medical Inspector.
• The conditions in residential
schools would not improve.
Other Children Lost at St. John’s Residential School
• St. John's IRS has nearly a full page of documents
listed in a report relating to a cemetery and grave.
• Three entries for 1961 note that work was undertaken
in the cemetery to clean up brush and paint crosses.
According to the May 26 entry, the principal sent word
that he would like to have people who could tell him the
names of those buried there to come and show him the
graves so they could be marked.
Snow falls on gravesites in the Wabasca
Cemetery.
(Ken Armstrong for The Globe and Mail,
2008)
• One survivor interviewed has a brother buried in the
now neatly-kept cemetery that is located near the
Anglican church, which operated St. John's IRS.
"I remember where my brother was buried, but the
cross that was there is gone and the cross that is there
now isn't really where it should be because that's not
where he is."
The survivor notes that triangular boxes were used to
cover some graves and crosses marked other graves. "A
lot of these were taken away and from there we're not
sure if the cross there is where the person was buried."
Reference:
Alberta Sweetgrass (November 1, 2008)
Article Author: Shari Narine
Response from the Anglican Church
“I am not able to give you an answer, sadly, to your
question. I am not aware of any deaths at St John’s
school. However, considering the available medical care
of the era, lack of vaccinations, etc., there is a
reasonable probability that some students or staff would
have contracted some illness and that some may have
died.”
Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada
(2011)
“Indian Residential Schools tried to make Aboriginal
children talk, dress, think and act like non-Aboriginal
Canadians.
At the time, the government and churches believed that
this was the right thing to do. Today, we know it was not.
The last Indian Residential School was closed in 1996. On
June 11, 2008, the Prime Minister of Canada apologized to
all Aboriginal children who were sent to these schools for
the many bad things that happened to many of them.
Several of the churches that were a part of this system
have also said they are sorry.”
The Journey Toward Truth and Reconciliation
• Many former students have shared stories of their time
at Indian Residential Schools to help all Canadians
understand what happened and to help themselves heal
and forgive.
• Today, healing initiatives are taking place in every region
of the country.
• Sharing circles, healing circles, smudging, Sundances, the
Potlatch, Pow-wows, and many other ceremonies have
been revived in the last few decades.
• Reconnecting with culture provides an empowering focus
in life. People who have a strong sense of their culture
have a strong sense of self.
Dialogue Begins Healing for Residential School Survivors
Dolphus Yellowdirt (far right) points out a photo to wife Eva and Gordon Burnstick at
the Indian Residential Schools Healing Dialogue held in Edmonton March 12 and 13.
Dolphus attended Ermineskin residential school, while Burnstick attended St.
Martin’s residential school in Desmarais. Both men are from Alexander First Nation.
(Photo: Shari Narine)