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Canada’s Residential Schools: The LegacyThe Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, Volume 5 |
eBook Available
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 Legacy describes what Canada must do to overcome the schools’ tragic legacy and move towards reconciliation with the country’s first peoples. For over 125 years Aboriginal children suffered abuse and neglect in residential schools run by the Canadian government and by churches. They were taken from their families and communities and confined in large, frightening institutions where they were cut off from their culture and punished for speaking their own language. Infectious diseases claimed the lives of many students and those who survived lived in harsh and alienating conditions. There was little compassion and little education in most of Canada’s residential schools.
Although Canada has formally apologized for the residential school system and has compensated its Survivors, the damaging legacy of the schools continues to this day. This volume examines the long shadow that the residential schools have cast over the lives of Aboriginal Canadians who are more likely to live in poverty, more likely to be in ill health and die sooner, more likely to have their children taken from them, and more likely to be imprisoned than other Canadians. The disappearance of many Indigenous languages and the erosion of cultural traditions and languages also have their roots in residential schools.
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 Legacy describes what Canada must do to overcome the schools’ tragic legacy and move towards reconciliation with the country’s first peoples. For over 125 years Aboriginal children suffered abuse and neglect in residential schools run by the Canadian government and by churches. They were taken from their families and communities and confined in large, frightening institutions where they were cut off from their culture and punished for speaking their own language. Infectious diseases claimed the lives of many students and those who survived lived in harsh and alienating conditions. There was little compassion and little education in most of Canada’s residential schools.
Although Canada has formally apologized for the residential school system and has compensated its Survivors, the damaging legacy of the schools continues to this day. This volume examines the long shadow that the residential schools have cast over the lives of Aboriginal Canadians who are more likely to live in poverty, more likely to be in ill health and die sooner, more likely to have their children taken from them, and more likely to be imprisoned than other Canadians. The disappearance of many Indigenous languages and the erosion of cultural traditions and languages also have their roots in residential schools.
Details
Part of the McGill-Queen's Indigenous and Northern Studies (number 85 in series)
392 Pages, 6.75 x 9.75
ISBN 9780773546592
December 2015
Formats: Cloth, Paperback, eBook
"These volumes contain a tremendous amount of information and data. Of special interest are the first-person accounts and the black-and-white photographs taken at the various schools. Anyone interested in Canadian history and the history of Native peoples will be intrigued by these publications, which are sure to be eye-opening." Library Journal
Contents
Introduction ................................................................................................. 3
1. Child welfare: A system in crisis ............................................................. 11
2. The failure to educate .............................................................................. 61
3. “I Lost My Talk”: The erosion of language and culture .......................... 103
4. An attack on Aboriginal health: The marks and the memories ............. 139
5. A denial of justice .................................................................................... 185
Calls to action .............................................................................................. 277
Notes ............................................................................................................ 297
Bibliography ................................................................................................ 345
Index ............................................................................................................ 385
Introduction ................................................................................................. 3
1. Child welfare: A system in crisis ............................................................. 11
2. The failure to educate .............................................................................. 61
3. “I Lost My Talk”: The erosion of language and culture .......................... 103
4. An attack on Aboriginal health: The marks and the memories ............. 139
5. A denial of justice .................................................................................... 185
Calls to action .............................................................................................. 277
Notes ............................................................................................................ 297
Bibliography ................................................................................................ 345
Index ............................................................................................................ 385
9780228005681
$115.00 CAD
Cloth
9780773518377
$37.95 CAD
Paperback
