Where are the Children?

Between the opening of the first schools in the 1830s and final closure of the last residential school in 1996, approximately 150,000 First Nations, Inuit, and Métis students were "removed from their communities and forced to attend the schools." The preponderance of these students was children from First Nations communities.

The Indian Act has stipulated that the Canadian government take on a responsibility of care for all Aboriginal peoples in Canada. Part of that responsibility was for the education of the children. The schools were established as a response to the assumption that Aboriginal people needed to be brought into the modern world -- that they needed and wanted to become part of the dominant culture, and the best way to accomplish that was to remove them from their parents and families and communities, restrict their "savage" culture and language, and assimilate them into the Canadian way of life.

Chapter One explains the various ways this was undertaken and the policy changes that were made over time to try and reach these goals. As Chapter One also points out, the schools were never able to achieve the goal of assimilation, or any of the other policies that were tried and abandoned. As the government and the church groups who ran the schools argued over who would be responsible for what, and what the proper course of education should be, the students themselves were struggling, not fitting into the schools and no longer fitting into their home communities.

The great experiment of assimilation was an abysmal failure and it was the students who became the victims. "Local agents gave notice that not only did children not undergo a great transformation, but they became stranded between cultures, deviants from the norms of both."

First Nations Students
Duncan Campbell Scott, a senior official in the Department of Indian Affairs, stated often that the "Indian problem" needed to be corrected through education. This was the only way, he posited, that the savage, backward people could be brought up to date and find a place in modern society. To that end, it was also concluded that children needed to be removed from the negative influence of their homes and families and immersed in the modern culture they were destined to become part of.

Other government officials agreed that removal was the most expedient method of turning Indians into members of the state. Nicholas Davin, in recommending the off-reserve school system, stated that children "should be removed from their homes, as the influence of the wigwam was stronger than that of the [day] school, and be kept constantly within the circle of civilized conditions - the residential school - where they would receive the 'care of a mother' and an education that would fit them for a life in a modernizing Canada."

While it is disputable whether or not the original intent of the schools was to provide a mother's care for the students, the reality was something far from that ideal. The system had been haphazardly thrown together and was mismanaged by both government and the church organizations responsible for operating the schools. School buildings were thrown together in a hurry using shoddy, substandard materials and consideration was never given for the way the buildings would be used.

The voracious appetite of the schools for funds, and therefore students, resulted in severe overcrowding with concomitant illness and disease spreading like wildfire through the ranks of the children who were warehoused within the inadequate structures. Insufficient and substandard food contributed to the breakdown of health for the students, and lack of proper clothing was a constant condition. "There can be no dispute: the churches and the government did not, in any thoughtful fashion, care for the children they presumed to parent."

The idea behind the residential school system - to civilize the Indians - was in itself inherently violent. In order to develop citizens, Indian ways and Indian culture, had to be stamped out of the children within the system. The primary method for removing culture and worldview from the young people was the removal of language. Students in the residential schools were forbidden from speaking their own languages and were forced to learn and communicate in English, and in French in the case of Quebec.

Language instruction was poor, as the majority of teachers in the schools had no formal training as teachers. In fact, some did not themselves hold high school diplomas. Students caught speaking their Aboriginal language were punished and used as examples to the other children about how not to behave.

Obedience to authority and punishment for violations of the rules became the norm at the schools. The more relaxed system of parenting within most Aboriginal communities was completely contrary to the stern and severe methods employed at the schools to ensure and enforce good behaviour. Discipline was the all important foundation of the education the children received. As one senior official described, "discipline was curriculum and punishment an essential pedagogical technique. It could . . . produce circumstances to supplement and aid direct teaching."

Discipline and punishment became the primary method of controlling the students when, in the early years, students frequently ran away and parents removed their children from the schools. In order to prevent these mass exoduses, routines were established that children were forced to follow and any type of deviation was immediately and severely punished. The students learned it was not wise to think or act in any way that made them stand out as individuals.

The importance of keeping children in line was demonstrated in a variety of ways. Children could be denied food, they could be placed in confinement, and they certainly would receive lectures about proper behaviour and discipline. Unofficial policy stated that any means necessary should be used to keep the children compliant with the rules, including corporal punishment. It was stated, however, that children should not be whipped by "anyone save the Principal, and if they were, great discretion should be used and they should not be struck on the head, or punished so that bodily harm might ensue."

The poverty of the schools, the close working conditions for the teachers and staff, the overcrowding, and other factors contributed to the escalation of discipline into outright physical and mental abuse. Beatings, whippings, starvation, and public ridicule were heaped upon the students by the people in charge, who themselves were living in overcrowded, unsanitary conditions that lead to interpersonal conflict and negative reactions. Sadly, it was the students who suffered the brunt of the ill feelings that tended to exist among members of the staff and children were often beaten to the point of needing hospitalization for their injuries.

Children who tried to escape the torture would run away. Tragically for some, they wore ill clothes for the weather, and did not survive the long treks trying to return to their homes. In 1902, Duncan Sticks died of exposure when he fled from Williams Lake Industrial School. In 1937, four boys were found frozen to death wearing lightweight summer clothes, after running away from the Lejac School.

Hopelessness and despair were commonplace within the schools as students were forced to cut their hair, wear inadequate and unfamiliar clothes, and brothers and sisters were separated in an effort to keep the boys and girls apart. All of these things contributed to the horror of the place that was so alien for the students who had come from loving and communicative homes to be educated in the Canadian way.

In addition, and even more horrific, are the numbers of children who died within the schools from disease. Coming from a lifestyle that was lived primarily out of doors, the children were unable to cope with the confinement of the school buildings where they were kept for months at a time. The deplorable condition of the buildings and the overcrowding resulted in dormitories that were breeding grounds for diseases that the Aboriginal students had no power to fight.

Though there is no way of knowing for certain how many children died from diseases they contracted within the schools, the numbers are certainly in the thousands. The government's own people reported about the issues of disease in the schools. "Indian Agent MacArthur commented, in 1910, in view of the situation at Duck Lake, where he estimated that, in the past, nearly 50 per cent of the children sent to the school died: '[No one] responsible can get beyond the fact that those children caught the disease while at school' confined for months on end 'in a building whose every seam and crevice is, doubtless, burdened with Tuberculosis Baccilli'."

Besides the severe discipline and the disease, the school buildings themselves were turning out to be lethal. Most had been built in a hurry with insufficient funding to provide proper materials or proper design. Most of the schools were unfit for the purpose for which they were being used and over time the structural deterioration became a hazard to everyone who resided there. Heating and ventilation were inadequate at all times of the year, with indoor temperatures freezing in the winter and sweltering in the summer. Schools were often fire traps with no fire escapes and ancient coal oil lamps used for lighting. Staircases were steep and narrow, causing congestion should students need to evacuate all at once.

However, none of these factors seemed to spark any action at reform among either the government or the church groups. "Neglect was routinely ignored, and without remedial action, it became a thoughtless habit." Even senior officials when advised of the abuses that were going on in the schools, "failed routinely to come to the rescue of children they had removed from their real parents."

Inuit Students
Residential schools for Inuit children did not come into existence until much later than the schools in the southern parts of Canada. In fact, the decision had been made to close the schools in the southern parts of the country at around the same time that new schools were opening in the far north. As in the south, however, the schools were established in response to the advance of Canadian society into the northern regions of Yukon and Northwest Territories.

As western industrialization and technology moved into the far northern latitudes, the traditional ways of life were being eroded. Hunting and gathering were no longer viable means of existence, as the furs were disappearing and those that were available were significantly undervalued. Permanent settlements and towns were springing up throughout the area and people who had spent their entire lives moving around the land were being forced to abandon that culture for town life. To accommodate this change in lifestyle, a new education system was needed.

As in the south, English was the language of instruction in the northern schools. It was believed that people would need to be able to speak English in order to participate in the new economy of the north, and therefore Inuktitut was restricted to "religious instruction and social activities." Initially, students received a mixed diet of traditional and western foods. As the local caribou herds became depleted, Western food became the primary source of nourishment. In 1961, the "Department of Health and Welfare advised the Department of Northern Affairs to ban the eating of raw meat in the schools and to teach the students that eating raw meat was the cause of sickness."

The schools in the north were not officially called residential schools, but rather day schools with hostels for students who were unable to return to their families each day because of distance. Though the name was different, the system and the outcomes were still very like those of the residential schools in the south. The first northern school was established in 1951 as a missionary school. In 1955, the federal government assumed direct responsibility for all schools in the north, which numbered 26 schools and hostels from 1955 to 1970. In total, 6,877 Inuit students attended residential schools throughout these years.

Churches were contracted to run the schools prior to the handing over of responsibility for the schools to the governments of the Northwest Territories and northern Quebec. This resulted in fierce competition between the churches for retention of adherents through the school system. Once the local governments took over, the federal government discontinued funding to the churches and their influence waned.

One significant difference in the northern schools was that the teachers were all highly qualified and well-educated. Teachers came from universities in Alberta, looking for a brief adventure before returning south to the better paying jobs. Though the government preferred to hire teachers with some background knowledge that would bring them closer to the students, traditional elders and teachings were forbidden in the schools. The teachers were also not given any instruction in Inuit culture.

Initially, attendance was sporadic, as parents did not see the importance of giving their children a Western education. To encourage them to send their children to school, parents were sometimes coerced or threatened. "Many former Inuit residential school students have said that parents were threatened with the loss of Family Allowance payments if they did not send their children to the federal hostels." While this was not written federal policy, it can be surmised that this method was used on a case by case basis to encourage attendance.

Abuses similar to those suffered by the students in the southern schools were common in the north. At Chesterfield Inlet Residential School female students had their hair cut severely short as a form of punishment. Because corporal punishment was a generally accepted form of discipline in western culture, the physical abuse of students was not seen as particularly excessive and, therefore, nothing was done about it.

Rampant sexual abuse in the northern schools was reported in several of the schools, including distribution of pornographic materials, sexually transmitted diseases, and prostitution. However, the schools protected the staff members who were being accused and the students' allegations were generally ignored.

Today, many of the former students of the Inuit residential school system claim that they benefitted from the education they received. However, that education did not come without a cost. Culture loss, loss of family, and loss of self are common for these students, in addition to the physical, emotional, and sexual abuse suffered. "Often called the lost generation, Inuit who went through the residential school system survived rapid cultural change that was unprecedented in their history."

Métis Students
Unlike the First Nations and Inuit children in Canada, the federal government did not have a constitutional responsibility for the education of Métis children. However, the churches that ran the schools were often concerned with enrolment, which was the source of their funding for maintaining the schools. The Roman Catholic Church in particular already had strong ties to the Métis community simply through the Métis peoples' French Catholic heritage.

This connection between the Métis and the church proved serendipitous for filling up the spaces in the Catholic run schools. "There are many accounts of Indian agent manipulation, illustrating they had taken First Nation children under school age, sick children and Métis children to increase school attendance. This is how the first of the Métis children may have found themselves in these schools."

Particularly after the battle between the Métis and government forces in Batoche in 1885, it became prudent for the government to be able to monitor the activities of the Métis people. The Halfbreed Commission used the schools as a means of keeping tabs on this outcast group. In communities with large Métis populations, the Commission used the schools as a resource for controlling the community.

Additionally, some of the more concerned school administrators petitioned the government to take Métis children who were living in poverty on the road allowances. In some cases, Métis children were admitted to the schools based on their parents' ability to pay for their keep, either through settlement funds or through a work-for-education arrangement. Parents would work on the school farms or do general maintenance as a form of tuition for their children.

Official policies regarding Métis children differed in different parts of the country. While the superintendent of Indian Affairs, Hayter Reed, did not want to make monies available for the education of Métis children, other areas allowed Métis children into the schools where there were insufficient First Nations children to fill the enrolment lists.

Eventually a classification system was devised for the Métis people, sorting them into categories, based on their ties to First Nations groups. "The closer the government thought the Métis were to First Nations communities, in a geographical or societal sense, the lower class of person they were thought to be. This lower class had priority over other Métis when being considered for admission to residential schools to ensure that the outcasts and menaces of society, living like Indians, were civilized."

Often this distinction was also based on physical appearance, where lighter skinned Métis children were considered higher class than darker skinned children, even when they had the same mother and father. The fairer Métis children often came to the schools with an existing background in Christian religious practices and could speak English or French fluently. These attributes separated them still further from their First Nations counterparts. The Métis children in the residential schools saw themselves as outsiders. "They were set apart from both fellow students and the school staff, as people that did not belong or did not quite fit in."

However, just because the Métis children's lighter skin put them in a group apart from the First Nations children in the schools, it did not prevent similar exposure to abuse. Métis survivors recall incidents of verbal abuse, where the teachers would call the children names, based on their Métis heritage. Other abuses were just as prevalent for the Métis children as for the other students in the schools.

The one comfort that the Métis students found was the Roman Catholic religion that was pervasive in the schools. This mirrored the teachings of their homes and was the one constant familiarity in the schooling environment which was otherwise foreign to them. Unfortunately, even with their strong religion backgrounds, the students were embarrassed and ashamed of who they were, and ashamed of who their parents were. For the Métis students, this was particularly difficult, because it was generally only one of their parents of whom they were ashamed.

Whether First Nations, Inuit, or Métis, all of the children who attended residential schools have a shared legacy of harm and negativity that has had lasting effects, not only on the students themselves, but on their families and the subsequent generations. "Regardless of the precise number of children involved, Aboriginal people across the country have paid a high price, both individually and collectively, for the government's misguided experiment in cultural assimilation."

For many years after the closure of the residential schools, the survivors have suffered silently, carrying the burden of the atrocities that were visited upon them by the government that was contractually obligated to protect and defend them. The betrayal of trust that was commonplace for children and their families can never be truly rectified.

Short term and long term, the results of this dark period in Canadian history has had far reaching effects - on the individuals, the families, and the communities of the affected people. These effects cannot be ignored, and must be explored by all members of society if healing and recover are to be achieved.