Canada's Residential Schools : The History, Part 1, Origins to 1939.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Commission de vérité et réconciliation du Canada, Author.

Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, author.

Series:

Canada's residential schools : the final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada ; v. 1, pt. 1.

Canada's residential schools : the final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada ; v. 1, pt. 1

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Indians of North America--Canada--History.

Indians of North America.

Indians of North America--Residential schools--Canada.

Indians of North America--Education--Canada.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (1076 p.)

Distribution:

Ottawa, Ontario : Canadian Electronic Library, 2016.

Other Title:

Histoire. Also published in French under title: Partie 1, Des origines à 1939.

Place of Publication:

Montreal [Québec] ; Kingston [Ontario] : Published for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada by McGill-Queen's University Press, 2015.

Summary:

Between 1867 and 2000, the Canadian government sent over 150,000 Aboriginal children to residential schools across the country. Government officials and missionaries agreed that in order to "civilize and Christianize" Aboriginal children, it was necessary to separate them from their parents and their home communities. For children, life in these schools was lonely and alien. Discipline was harsh, and daily life was highly regimented. Aboriginal languages and cultures were denigrated and suppressed. Education and technical training too often gave way to the drudgery of doing the chores necessary to make the schools self-sustaining. Child neglect was institutionalized, and the lack of supervision created situations where students were prey to sexual and physical abusers. Legal action by the schools' former students led to the creation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada in 2008. The product of over six years of research, the Commission's final report outlines the history and legacy of the schools, and charts a pathway towards reconciliation.Canada's Residential Schools: The History, Part 1, Origins to 1939 places Canada's residential school system in the historical context of European campaigns to colonize and convert Indigenous people throughout the world. In post-Confederation Canada, the government adopted what amounted to a policy of cultural genocide: suppressing spiritual practices, disrupting traditional economies, and imposing new forms of government. Residential schooling quickly became a central element in this policy.The destructive intent of the schools was compounded by chronic underfunding and ongoing conflict between the federal government and the church missionary societies that had been given responsibility for their day-to-day operation. A failure of leadership and resources meant that the schools failed to control the tuberculosis crisis that gripped the schools for much of this period. Alarmed by high death rates, Aboriginal parents often refused to send their children to the schools, leading the government adopt ever more coercive attendance regulations. While parents became subject to ever more punitive regulations, the government did little to regulate discipline, diet, fire safety, or sanitation at the schools. By the period's end the government was presiding over a nation-wide series of firetraps that had no clear educational goals and were economically dependent on the unpaid labour of underfed and often sickly children.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Statement from the Chair, Justice Murray Sinclair

Statement from the Commissioner, Dr. Marie Wilson

Statement from the Commissioner, Chief Wilton Littlechild

Introduction

Section 1: The historical context for Canadas residential schools

1. Colonialism in the Age of Empire

2. The churches and their mission of conversion

3. Residential schooling in French Canada: 16081763

4. Treaty-making and betrayal: The roots of Canadas Aboriginal policy

5. Pre-Confederation residential schools

6. Mission schools in the Canadian West: 18201880

7. Confederation, colonization, and resistance

8. National and international models for Canadas residential schools

Section 2: The Canadian residential school system, 1867 to 1939

9. Laying the groundwork for the residential school system

10. Student accounts of residential school life: 18671939

11. Establishing and operating the system: 18671939

12. The struggle over enrolment: 18671939

13. The educational record of residential schools: 18671939

14. The student as labourer: 18671939

15. Recreation and sports: 18671939

16. The deadly toll of infectious diseases: 18671939

17. Building and maintaining the schools: 18671939

18. Fire, a deadly hazard: 18671939

19. Food and diet at residential schools: 18671939

20. School clothing: 18671939

21. Discipline: 18671939

22. Covering up sexual abuse: 18671939

23. Student victimization of students: 18671939

24. Truancy: 18671939

25. Separating children from parents: 18671939

26. Suppressing Aboriginal languages: 18671939

27. Separating children from their traditions: 18671939

28. Separating the sexes, arranging marriages, establishing colonies: 18671939

29. The Lytton school: 19021939

30. Parents respond and resist: 18671939

31. The staff experience: 18671939

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 929-962).

ISBN:

0-7735-9817-0

OCLC:

944921017

Publisher Number:

248677 CaOOCEL (Public Documents)