¶ … History Of Human Rights: Aboriginal Residential Schools in Canada Aboriginal Residential Schools in Canada: The History of Human Rights

Native residential schools began in the 17th century in New France before spreading to Upper Canada later on in the 18th century. Their main aim was to educate Aboriginal children and assimilate them into the Canadian culture. The schools were, however, faced with massive reports of human rights violations. This text describes those atrocities with the aim of showing why there is need for the Canadian Museum for Human Rights to recognize the same as genocide.

The History of Human Rights: Aboriginal Residential Schools in Canada

The Canadian Truth and Reconciliation Commission's recently-released report accuses the country's government of committing 'cultural genocide' against some 154,000 Aboriginal children attending residential schools in the country between 1874 and 1996.[footnoteRef:2] The report details that the Canadian government indicted these children into the residential school system, where they were separated from their Aboriginal identity, and subjected to sexual, emotional and physical abuse by those charged with the role of looking after them.[footnoteRef:3] It is estimated that approximately 6,000 children died as a result of human rights violations in these schools. The schools were overcrowded, and children underfed, with most falling vulnerable to communicable diseases such as influenza and tuberculosis.[footnoteRef:4] This didactic describes the history of the residential school system in Canada, with the aim of demonstrating why the atrocities committed against Aboriginal children in native residential schools then ought to be recognized as genocide. It also compares these descriptions to the exhibits presented in the Canadian Museum of Human Rights (CMHR) regarding the issue to determine whether the museum succeeds or fails in its interpretation of the event in question. [2: Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, " Honoring the Truth, Reconciling for the Future: Summary of the Final Report of the Commission of Truth and Reconciliation of Canada, " Commission of Truth and Reconciliation of Canada, accessed November 29, 2015 from http://www.trc.ca/websites/trcinstitution/File/2015/Honouring_the_Truth_Reconciling_for_the_Future_July_23_2015.pdf, 1] [3: Ibid., 2] [4: Ibid.,3]

What is a Residential School?

Residential schools were religious schools established and sponsored by the Canadian government to assimilate Aboriginal children into the Euro-Canadian way of life.[footnoteRef:5] The first of these schools were established in New France in the 17th century; however, the term is usually used to refer to those established after 1880.[footnoteRef:6] The Canadian government believed that it was its role to educate and care for the indigenous populations.[footnoteRef:7] According to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission report, the government believed that the best way to achieve this was by separating Aboriginal children from their indigenous cultures and according them opportunities to adopt Canadian customs and Christianity, and at the same time learn English.[footnoteRef:8] Multiple sources have, however, questioned the ideology that the residential school system was meant to educate Aboriginal children -- this group of researchers argue that the overriding goal of such schools was to erase the cultural identity of Aboriginal children and disrupt any links that connected them to their cultural heritage.[footnoteRef:9] Ideally, these children would pass the newly-learnt values to the rest of society, and with time, indigenous cultures would be completely abolished. The schools made use of the 'aggressive assimilation' policy, and attendance was mandatory for all Aboriginal children.[footnoteRef:10] The government appointed agents to make sure that all Aboriginal children attended residential schools. [5: Ibid., V] [6: Scott Trevithick, "Native Residential Schooling in Canada: A Review of Literature," The Canadian Journal of Native Studies 18, no. 1(1998), 50.] [7: Truth and Reconciliation Commission, "Honoring the Truth," V. ] [8: Ibid.] [9: Claire et al., Engaging and Empowering Aboriginal Youth: A Toolkit for Service Providers (Victoria, Canada: Trafford Publishing, 2010), 8. ] [10: Ibid.]

Custodial Schools in Upper Canada and New France

The roots of the residential school system, as mentioned in the previous section, lie in New France in the 17th century.[footnoteRef:11] The rationale behind their establishment was very similar to that of their latter-day counterparts -- the acculturation and assimilation of native communities.[footnoteRef:12] Catholic missionaries established the schools in the name of providing care and schooling to First Nations' children.[footnoteRef:13] They, however, failed abysmally because of the Natives' lack of interest. Moreover, since the Europeans depended on these natives militarily and economically, they were reluctant about compelling them to allow their children to participate in the same.[footnoteRef:14] [11: Trevithick, "Native Residential Schooling," 50. ] [12: Ibid.] [13: Ibid.] [14: Ibid. ]

Residential schools...

[15: Ibid.] [16: Ibid. ]
The Establishment of Residential Schools after 1880

In the late 1870s and 80s, the Plains Nations and the federal government began to consider means of expanding schooling provisions for Aboriginal communities.[footnoteRef:17] A variety of factors influenced this decision. First, Aboriginal leaders were beginning to view Euro-Canadian schooling as a possible mechanism for their young people to learn crucial skills from the newcomer society, and to consequently make the transition to the civilized world.[footnoteRef:18] Secondly, the government viewed schooling as the most viable way of making the native community economically self-sufficient and hence, less dependent on the public purse. Thirdly, the Indian Act and the British North America Act passed in 1876 and 1877 respectively had placed upon the government, the responsibility to educate native youth and assimilate them into Canadian society. [17: Ibid. ] [18: Ibid. ]

The government figured that custodial (boarding) schools offered better prospects for native children to learn the new culture without the influence of their indigenous cultures.[footnoteRef:19] Residential schools of this nature were, therefore, highly encouraged, with the government using the assistance of Anglican, Methodist and Catholic missionaries to encourage Aboriginal leaders, who were opposed to the idea of custodial schools, to allow their young people to take up schooling in the same as a way of increasing their own self-sufficiency. [19: Ibid. ]

The first boarding industrial schools were established in the Prairies in 1883. By the 1930s, a system of such schools stretching across the country had been developed.[footnoteRef:20] Most of these were in the four western provinces, although there were also significant numbers of the same in northern Quebec and northwestern Ontario. There were no schools in three of the four Atlantic Provinces -- Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick and Newfoundland. It is hypothesized that this was perhaps because natives in these areas were considered fully acculturated. By 1930, there was a total of 80 residential institutions, three-fifths of which were operated by the Roman Catholic Church, a quarter by the Anglican church, and the remainder by the United Church, which consisted of the Methodist Church and the Presbyterian church). [20: Ibid., 51]

Life in Residential Schools

Up until the 1950s, residential schools operated on a half-day system -- the morning and mid-morning hours were spent in class, whereas the afternoon hours were spent at work (Miller 157).[footnoteRef:21] The reasoning behind this arrangement was that children would acquire skills that would make them economically self-sufficient adults.[footnoteRef:22] In reality, however, the half-day system was intended to cut down on administration costs.[footnoteRef:23] By the 1940s, it had become apparent that the system was not providing any training or vocational benefits to native children; as such, it was abolished.[footnoteRef:24] [21: James Miller, Shingwauk's Vision: A History of Native Residential Schools (Toronto, Canada: University of Toronto Press, 1996), 157. ] [22: Ibid.] [23: Ibid.] [24: Ibid., 158. ]

Dora Cardinal, a student at the St. Anthony's Residential School in Ottawa in the 1940s explains what a typical day was like at the school.[footnoteRef:25] She explains that students would wake up at 6:45 AM, dress up, attend chapel and take breakfast hurriedly and in a refectory.[footnoteRef:26] This was then followed by three hours of class (mostly religious studies), after which students proceeded to their chores -- the girls would clean, cook, sew or do laundry as the boys farmed, chopped wood or engaged in basic carpentry and shoe repair. There was one hour of study before supper, before the students went for a prayer session and proceeded to bed.[footnoteRef:27] Holidays were unheard off, and it was only after 1960 that schools began allowing students to go home for holidays. [25: Thomas Thorner and Thor Frohn-Nielsen, A Country Nourished on Self-Doubt: Documents in Post-Confederation Canadian History (Toronto, Canada: University of Toronto Press, 2010), 400. ] [26: Ibid.] [27: Ibid.]

Human Rights Issues in Residential Schools

Some residential school students such as Mrs. Cardinal left with positive memories -- she points out that she liked it in the school because there was a lot of food and positive influence from peers.[footnoteRef:28] However, for most students, the negative memories overshadowed the positive -- students were isolated, separated from their parents and siblings and forced to listen to ill-trained…