Residential Schools for 150 000 Children CHC2D8 Ms. Gluskin.

Residential Schools for 150 000 Children

CHC2D8Ms. Gluskin

Vocabulary

• Indian Act (noun) = a set of rules that controlled (and still does) the lives of Aboriginal people in Canada

• Assimilation (noun) = becoming like the majority of people• Reserves (noun) = land the government said Aboriginal

people should live on• Treaties (noun) = agreements between the government

and Native peoples• Discipline (noun) = strict control• Abuse (noun) = hurtful treatment• Nurture (verb) = to care for

Indian Act

• 1876: First passed. The federal government treated the Aboriginal people like children.

• 1884: Banned some ceremonies. The government was critical of Aboriginal cultures.

• 1920: Aboriginal children had to attend a residential school.

• 1920s: Made it illegal (not legal) for Aboriginals to hire lawyers to fight for their rights.

• All photos from Legacy of Hope• http://www.legacyofhope.ca/projects/where-

are-the-children/gallery

Children Come From Families

Métis family at Fort Chipewyan, Alberta, 1899 Photographer unknownGlenbow Archives, NA-949-118

Alexie family, Ulkatcho First Nation, Mud Bay, BC, 1922 Photo: Canadian Museum of Civilization, photo Harlan I. Smith, 1922, image 56918

Metis, Inuit and First Nations Children Attended

Two Métis children standing next to an Inuit child (centre) at the Anglican-run All Saints Residential School, Shingle Point, Yukon, ca. 1930 Photographer: J.F. MoranLibrary and Archives Canada, PA-102086

School

Aboriginal children in class at the Fort George Catholic Indian Residential School, Fort George, Quebec, 1939Archives Deschâtelets

Religion

“Looking Unto Jesus.” A class in penmanship at the Red Deer Indian Industrial School, Red Deer, Alberta, ca. 1914 or 1919. United Church of Canada, Archives,93.049P/850N

Training Rather than Education

Mi’kmaq girls in sewing class at the Roman Catholic-run Shubenacadie Indian Residential School, Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia, 1929Library and Archives Canada, PA-185530

Disease

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.Yukon Archives, Anglican Church, Diocese of Yukon fonds, 86/61, #591

At least 4000 children died in Residential schools. Many died of diseases such as TB, flu, malnutrition, fire, drowning, suicide, running away.

Work

Students had to work at the schools. This boy at Edmonton Indian Residential School was ploughing fields around 1930.

The System was BAD

‘Some former students have fond memories of their time at residential schools, and certainly some of the priests and nuns who ran the schools treated the students as best they could given the circumstances. But even these “good” experiences occurred within a system aimed at destroying Aboriginal cultures and assimilating Aboriginal students.’

UBC Indigenous Foundations: First Nations Studies Program. The Residential School System. 2009. http://indigenousfoundations.arts.ubc.ca/home/government-policy/the-residential-school-system.html (March 20, 2014).

Homework

• Fill in worksheet on Aboriginal Rights.

Videos

• Where the spirit lives.• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Os5KqErc

7XY• We were children. • https://

www.nfb.ca/film/we_were_children/trailer/we_were_children_trailer