Where are the Children?

In 1763, King George III of Britain signed the Royal Proclamation, a binding document on the colonists and settlers in North America that was designed to protect Aboriginal people and their homelands. The Proclamation recognized Indian sovereignty over all the land west of the Appalachian Heights, and stipulated that this land was for the sole use of the Indians. Colonist expansion into this area was strictly forbidden. The Royal Proclamation is the basis of our understanding of the legal nature of Indian title and the historical roots of the treaty process. Its provisions underlie the surrenders and designations of reserve land which still take place pursuant to the Indian Act.

While the primary intent of the Royal Proclamation was to preserve and protect land areas for Aboriginal people, the American Revolution rendered the Proclamation void in the lands that now constitute the United States. This created new and unexpected problems for the British Crown. Once the American population was no longer under the control of Britain, there was no reason for them to remain out of the areas that were designated as "Indian Territory."

The colonial administrators of British North America (now Canada) watched as American citizens moved across the continent, and worried about the possibility of American expansion into the north. The race for the west was on, and colonial administrators began negotiating with Aboriginal peoples, following the guidelines of the Royal Proclamation as they now existed under the Indian Act.

As a result, treaties were negotiated that allowed British North America to increase immigration into the northwest. While these actions prevented most of what is now Western Canada from becoming part of the United States, it created a completely new set of responsibilities for the governing authorities of early Canada. The treaties had created a fiduciary relationship between First Nations peoples and the early government of Canada. And part of that responsibility was for the education of Aboriginal children.

The earliest school to open, in 1831, was the Mohawk Indian Residential School in Brantford, Ontario, and in the late 19th century, the Canadian government had entered into a formal partnership with the churches to run schools for Aboriginal children. Between 1831 and 1998, 130 industrial, boarding and residential schools were operated.

The Indian residential school system was designed to teach Aboriginal children the English language, as well as the religion, values, and work skills of Canadian society at the time, and schools existed in all territories and provinces, except for New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland. In the north, the residential school system also took the form of hostels. Many Inuit children were billeted in southern cities for the purposes of education and training. Although not identified as Métis, many Métis children also attended the residential schools in the west.

The government of Canada believed it was necessary that Aboriginal people become contributing citizens of the Canadian economic and social systems. Deciding that Aboriginal lifestyles prevented people from becoming such citizens, the government then determined that formal education was the solution. The residential school system was created, and thus began the bleakest era in Canadian Aboriginal history.