Exhibit
Remembering the children who never returned home
Page 1 of 3
Mollie was a Métis girl at the Carcross Indian Residential School who became ill when cholera struck the school in 1907. Mollie died and was buried near Bishop Bompas.
Photographer:Yukon Archives, T-19
Remembering the Children who never returned home.
Controversy has been a part of the residential school system since the early 20th century because of the number of Aboriginal children who died while attending the schools. "Throughout the industrial school era, children in the schools had been dying in unbelievable numbers. In that conjunction of the condition of the schools and the health of the children lay, as Dr. P.H. Bryce termed it in 1922, the 'national crime.' The main consequence of inadequate government funding, poorly constructed schools, sanitary and ventilation problems, inadequate diet, clothing and medical care was an epidemic of tuberculosis for Indian Schools." (A National Crime: The Canadian Government and the Residential School System, 1879 to 1986, p. 75)
