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Indigenous residential schools in Canada - Sierra Marcuccio 

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Indigenous residential schools in Canada - Sierra Marcuccio 

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- the first residential school was established in Brantford, Ontario in 1831 under the name “The Mohawk Institute”

- these schools were government-sponsored and were primarily run by Catholic Churches

- the purpose of these schools was to “educate” and “convert” Indigenous youth into a society with mostly European views and belief systems

- an estimated 150,000 Indigenous children attended the residential schools

- it is hard to determine the exact number, as new grave sites are being discovered often, but an estimated 6,000 children are said to have died in the residential school system

- again, it is hard to be exact, but an estimated 130 residential schools operated in Canada from 1831 - 1996

- the last residential school in Canada closed in 1996 in Punnichy, Saskatchewan. It was federally funded and operated under the name “The Gordon Residential School”

- with the passage of the British North America Act in 1867, and the implementation of the Indian Act, also in 1867, the federal government was required to provide Indigenous youth with an education and to assimilate them into Canadian society

- the federal government supported schooling as a way to make First Nations economically self-sufficient. The underlying objective was to decrease indigenous dependence on public funds. This lead to the government collaborating with Christian missionaries to encourage religious conversion and indigenous economic self-reliance. This led to the development of an educational policy after 1880 that relied heavily on custodial schools

- New Brunswick and PEI apparently had no schools, because the federal government assumed that indigenous peoples there had been assimilated into the Euro-Canadian culture

- at its height in 1930, the residential school system totalled 80 institutions. The Roman-catholic church operated three-fifths of the school, the Anglican  church one-quarter, and the Presbyterian churches the remainder

- students were removed from their homes and parents, and were separated from their siblings, mostly by gender. They were stripped of their clothes and were given new uniforms, their hair was cut, and were forbidden to speak or write in their language, even in letters to their parents

- staff spent a lot of time and attention on Christian beliefs, and denigrated indigenous spiritual beliefs

- until the 1950s, residential schools operated on a half-day schedule, meaning, half the day was spent learning, and the other half was spent working. This was supposed to teach them how to make a living as adults, though really, it was more about running the school inexpensively

- tasks were separated by gender. The girls did housework, while the boys handled labour such as carpentry,
Construction, agriculture, and general maintenance

- schedules at these schools were highly regimented. The day started with chapel, bed making, washing, milking, pumping, dorm inspection, breakfast, chores, work for trade boys, school, and lunch prep. The day ended with lunch, recreation, school and trades, supper prep, supper, more recreation, and finally bedtime prayer

- most schools were underfunded, had undertrained staff, and ill-prepared curricular

- impatience and correction often led to excessive punishment, often physical abuse. In some instances, children were heavily beaten, chained or confined

- many children were also sexually abused, with most being young girls

- most responses by the federal government to these cases was, at best, inadequate. The most common answer given was to fire the perpetrator, but at most times, they allowed the abuser to continue teaching

- using ground-penetrating technologies, findings of grace sites relating to these schools have been becoming increasingly  common, with the first major find being the grace site found at the previous site of the Kamloops residential school back in May 2021, in Kamloops, British Colombia

- many of these students were underfed and malnourished, making them highly vulnerable to diseases, such as tuberculosis, influenza, and even the Spanish flu

- food was low in quantity and poor in quality, in large part due to concern of cost

- most commonly, breakfast consisted of oatmeal or cornmeal with milk or tea, lunch was soup, fish, or meat with vegetables and bread, and supper was meat, vegetables, bread with butter, and tea. Dessert consisted of rice, stewed apples or rhubarb with milk or hot tea

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First Nations people seem to have been "civilised" and "Christianized" through the establishment of Indian Residential Schools, which substituted Euro-Canadian ideals for their standard methods. A larger strategy to incorporate First Nations people into Canadian civilization included the use of Indian Residential Schools.Out from 1880s until the last few years of the twentieth century, the residential school system was formally in operation. In addition to prohibiting them from acknowledging their Indigenous culture and roots or using their native dialects, the system forcefully took children from their families for extended periods of time..

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Key Facts About Residential Schools

What were residential schools?

Residential schools were government-sponsored schools run by churches.

What was the purpose of residential schools?

The purpose of residential schools was to educate and convert Indigenous youth and to assimilate them into Canadian society.

How many students attended residential schools?

An estimated 150,000 children attended residential schools.

How many children died at residential schools?

An estimated 6,000 children died at residential schools (records are incomplete).

How many residential schools were there in Canada?

In total, over 130 residential schools operated in Canada between 1831 and 1996.
In 1931, there were 80 residential schools operating in Canada. This was the most at any one time.

When did the first residential school in Canada open?

The Mohawk Institute in Brantford, Ontario, accepted its first boarding students in 1831.

When did the last residential school in Canada close?

The Gordon Residential School in Punnichy, Saskatchewan, closed in 1996. It was the last federally-funded residential school in Canada.

Early Residential Schools in New France and Upper Canada

Residential schools have a long history in Canada. The first residential facilities were developed in New France by Catholic missionaries to provide care and schooling. However, colonial governments were unable to force Indigenous people to participate in the schools, as First Nations people were largely independent and Europeans depended on them economically and militarily for survival.

Residential Schools After 1880

Beginning in the 1870s, both the federal government and Plains Nations wanted to include schooling provisions in treaties, though for different reasons. Indigenous leaders hoped Euro-Canadian schooling would help their young to learn the skills of the newcomer society and help them make a successful transition to a world dominated by the strangers. With the passage of the British North America Act in 1867, and the implementation of the (1876), the government was required to provide Indigenous youth with an education and to assimilate them into Canadian society.

The federal government supported schooling as a way to make First Nations economically self-sufficient. Their underlying objective was to decrease Indigenous dependence on public funds. The government therefore collaborated with Christian missionaries to encourage religious conversion and Indigenous economic self-sufficiency. This led to the development of an educational policy after 1880 that relied heavily on custodial schools. These were not the kind of schools Indigenous leaders had hoped to create.

Isolation and Assimilation

Overall, students had a negative experience at the residential schools, one that would have lasting consequences. Students were isolated and their culture was disparaged or scorned. They were removed from their homes and parents and were separated from some of their siblings, as the schools were segregated according to gender. In some cases, they were forbidden to speak their first language, even in letters home to their parents. The attempt to assimilate children began upon their arrival at the schools: their hair was cut (in the case of the boys), and they were stripped of their traditional clothes and given new uniforms. In many cases they were also given new names. Christian missionary staff spent a lot of time and attention on Christian practices, while at the same time they criticized or denigrated Indigenous spiritual traditions.

Daniel Kennedy (Ochankuga'he) described his experience at the Qu'Appelle (Lebret) residential school in his memoirs, published as Recollections of an Assiniboine Chief (1972):

In 1886, at the age of twelve years, I was lassoed, roped and taken to the Government School at Lebret. Six months after I enrolled, I discovered to my chagrin that I had lost my name and an English name had been tagged on me in exchange... "When you were brought here [the school interpreter later told me], for purposes of enrolment, you were asked to give your name and when you did, the Principal remarked that there were no letters in the alphabet to spell this little heathen's name and no civilized tongue could pronounce it.

'We are going to civilize him, so we will give him a civilized name,' and that was how you acquired this brand new whiteman's name.'" ...In keeping with the promise to civilize the little pagan, they went to work and cut off my braids, which, incidentally, according to the Assiniboine traditional custom, was a token of mourning - the closer the relative, the closer the cut. After my haircut, I wondered in silence if my mother had died, as they had cut my hair close to the scalp. I looked in the mirror to see what I looked like. A Hallowe'en pumpkin stared back at me and that did it. If this was civilization, I didn't want any part of it. I ran away from school, but I was captured and brought back. I made two more attempts, but with no better luck.

Realizing that there was no escape, I resigned myself to the task of learning the three Rs. ...visualize for yourselves the difficulties encountered by an Indian boy who had never seen the inside of a house; who had lived in buffalo skin teepees in winter and summer; who grew up with a bow and arrow.

(Daniel Kennedy (Ochankuga'he), former student at Qu'Appelle residential school)

Life at Residential Schools

Until the late 1950s, residential schools operated on a half-day system, in which students spent half the day in the classroom and the other at work. The theory behind this was that students would learn skills that would allow them to earn a living as adults. However, the reality was that work had more to do with running the school inexpensively than with providing students with vocational training.

Tasks were separated by gender. Girls were responsible for housekeeping (cooking, cleaning, laundry, sewing), while boys were involved in carpentry, construction, general maintenance and agricultural labour. Funding was a pressing concern in the residential school system. From the 1890s until the 1950s, the government tried constantly to shift the burden of the system onto the churches and onto the students, whose labour contributed financially to the schools. By the 1940s, it was clear to many that the half-day system had failed to provide residential students with adequate education and training. However, the half-day system was not eliminated until the late 1950s, when more funding became available owing to a strong economy.

Daily Routine at Residential Schools

School days began early, usually with a bell that summoned students to dress and attend chapel or mass. Students then performed chores (usually referred to as "fatigue" duty) before breakfast. Breakfast, like all meals, was spartan, and eaten quickly in a refectory or dining hall. This was followed by three hours of classes or a period of work before breaking for lunch. The afternoon schedule followed a similar pattern, including either classes or work, followed by more chores before supper. Time was also set aside for recreation, usually in the afternoon or evening. Some schools had small libraries, while many schools offered organized sports as well as musical instruction, including choirs and brass bands. The evening closed with prayer, and bedtime was early. It was a highly regimented system.

On weekends there were no classes, but Sunday usually meant more time spent on religious practices. Until the 1950s, holidays for many of the students included periods of work and play at the school. Only from the 1960s on did the schools routinely send children home for holidays. Therefore, many students in the residential school system did not see their family for years.
Daily Schedule at Qu'Appelle Industrial School, 1893
(Source: Annual Report of the Department of Indian Affairs, 1893, 173-74; reproduced in Canada's Residential Schools: The Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada [2015], vol. I, p 296)

6.00

Chapel [religious service]

6.30-7.15

Bedmaking, washing, milking and pumping

7.15-7.30

Inspection of pupils in the school rooms to see if they are clean and properly dressed, their condition, health & c., a note being taken of those requiring attention, if of clothes, this is done by the sister directly after dinner

8.00-9.00

Fatigue [chores] for small boys

8.00

Trade boys go to work

9.00-12.00

School with 15 minutes recess.

12.00-12.10

Prepare for dinner [lunch]

12.10-12.40

Dinner [lunch]

2.00-4.00

School and Trades

4.45-6.00

Fatigue [chores], such as milking, carrying coal, ashes, filling tanks, wood boxes, pumping, sweeping

6.00-6.10

Prepare for supper

8.00

Prayer and retire [to bed]

Education and Vocational Training at Residential Schools

Overall, students received a poor education at the residential schools. This was true both in terms of academic subjects and vocational training. Students had to cope with teachers who were usually ill-prepared, and curricula and materials derived from and reflecting an alien culture. Lessons were taught in English or French, languages that many of the children did not speak. In the workplace, the overseers were often harsh, and the supposed training purpose of the work was limited or absent.

The final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, published in 2015, outlined several "undeniable" conclusions about the system:

First, the federal government failed to set clear goals and standards for education at the residential schools.

Second, the curriculum at residential schools was essentially an elementary curriculum, which reflected a belief that Indigenous people were intellectually inferior.

Third, the government did not develop or implement a policy regarding teacher qualification.

Fourth, the teaching staff was, in general, underqualified, overworked and poorly paid.

Fifth, the curriculum (which emphasized the "four Rs" - reading, writing, arithmetic and religion) was not only basic but also largely irrelevant to the students' needs, experiences or interests.

Sixth, students left school without the skills they needed to either succeed in their home communities or in the "broader labour market." Moreover, many of them left without completing their education.

In short, the education and vocational training provided by residential schools was inadequate.

Between Two Worlds: Assimilation and Loss of Culture

Moreover, the attempted assimilation of Indigenous students left them disoriented and insecure, with the feeling that they belonged to neither Indigenous nor settler society.

John Tootoosis, who attended the Delmas boarding school (also known as the Thunderchild school) in Saskatchewan, was blunt in his assessment of the residential school system:

[W]hen an Indian comes out of these places it is like being put between two walls in a room and left hanging in the middle. On one side are all the things he learned from his people and their way of life that was being wiped out, and on the other side are the whiteman's ways which he could never fully understand since he never had the right amount of education and could not be part of it. There he is, hanging in the middle of two cultures and he is not a whiteman and he is not an Indian.

They washed away practically everything from our minds, all the things an Indian needed to help himself, to think the way a human person should in order to survive.

(John Tootoosis, former student at Delmas school)

Abuse at Residential Schools

Many students suffered abuse at residential schools. Impatience and correction often led to excessive punishment, including physical abuse. In some cases, children were heavily beaten, chained or confined.

Some of the staff were sexual predators, and many students were sexually abused. When allegations of sexual abuse were brought forward - by students, parents or staff - the response by government and church officials was, at best, inadequate. The police were seldom contacted, and, even if government or church officials decided that the complaint had merit, the response was often simply to fire the perpetrator. At other times, they allowed the abuser to keep teaching.

Health, Death and Disease at Residential Schools

According to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), at least 3,200 Indigenous children died in the overcrowded residential schools. Due to poor record-keeping by the churches and federal government, it is unlikely that we will ever know the total loss of life at residential schools. However, according to TRC Chair, Justice Murray Sinclair, the number may be more than 6,000.

Underfed and malnourished, the students were particularly vulnerable to diseases such as tuberculosis and influenza (including the Spanish flu epidemic of 1918-19). Food was low in quantity and poor in quality, in large part due to concerns about cost. Faced with limited funding, schools were instructed to observe "the strictest economy... in all particulars." In general, school menus seem to have been both monotonous and nutritionally inadequate. According to Basil Johnston, who attended the residential school in Spanish, Ontario, he was served "mush, mush, mush, sometimes lumpy, sometimes watery, with monotonous regularity every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday."
Menu for the Qu'Appelle, North-West Territories, Industrial School, 1893
(Source: Annual Report of the Department of Indian Affairs, 1893, 174; as quoted in Canada's Residential Schools: The Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada [2015], vol. I, p. 491)

Breakfast

Four days in the week porridge of oatmeal or cornmeal with either milk or syrup, this is served with hot tea and bread; the working pupils, and those not in robust health, receive butter in addition.
On three days all the pupils receive butter and cheese with their bread instead of porridge, this is served with hot tea.

Dinner [lunch]

Soup, meat or fish, vegetables and bread ad libitum [i.e., not regulated]. For dessert, rice or stewed apples, or stewed rhubarb or syrup, or bread and milk, with cold water to drink, excepting to the weak children, and those working outside, who get hot tea.

Supper

Meat for the working pupils, hashed meat and vegetables for the rest, bread ad libitum and dessert similar to that named for dinner, hot tea.

Moreover, research by food historian Ian Mosby (published in 2013) revealed that students at some residential schools in the 1940s and 1950s were subjected to nutritional experiments without their consent or the consent of their parents. These studies were approved by various federal government departments and conducted by leading nutrition experts. They included restricting some students' access to essential nutrients and dental care in order to assess the effect of improvements made to the diet of other students. Overall, the experiments do not seem to have resulted in any long-term benefits.

Nutritional deficiencies and overcrowding led to regular outbreaks of diseases at the schools. Tuberculosis and influenza were the major killers, but students were also affected by outbreaks of smallpox, measles, typhoid, diphtheria, pneumonia and whooping cough. In the winter of 1926-27, for example, 13 children died from a combination of measles and whooping cough at the Lytton school. Louise Moine, who attended the Qu'Appelle school in the North-West Territories, remembered one year in the early 20th century when tuberculosis was "on the rampage":

There was a death every month on the girls' side and some of the boys went also. We were always taken to see the girls who had died. The Sisters invariably had them dressed in light blue and they always looked so peaceful and angelic. We were led to believe that their souls had gone to heaven, and this would somehow lessen the grief and sadness we felt in the loss of one of our little schoolmates. There would be a Requiem Mass in the chapel. We would all escort the body, which was lying in a simple handmade coffin, to the graveyard which was located close to the R.C. [Roman Catholic] Church in the village.

(Louise Moine, former student at Qu'Appelle residential school)

Although medical experts such as Dr. Peter Bryce, Dr. James Lafferty, Dr. O.I. Grain and Dr. E.L. Stone recommended measures to improve health and medical treatment, these were not implemented by the government, largely due to concerns about cost and opposition by the churches.

The schools could have helped children to reduce their vulnerability to tuberculosis by providing them with sanitary, well-ventilated living quarters, an adequate diet, warm clothing, and sufficient rest. Rather, the residential schools regularly failed to provide the healthy living conditions, nutritious food, sufficient clothing, and physical regime that would prevent students from getting sick in the first place, and would allow those who were infected a fighting chance at recovery.

( Canada's Residential Schools: The Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada [2015], vol. I, p. 451)

Resistance and Closure

Indigenous students and parents resisted and protested the harsh regime in place at most residential schools. Some children refused to co-operate and sabotaged the operations of the kitchen or classroom, stole food and supplies, or ran away (as did Chanie Wenjack in 1966). At least 25 fires were set by students as a form of protest. Their parents and political leaders protested the schools' harsh conditions and pedagogical shortcomings, though their objections were mostly ignored.

Ground-Penetrating Radar Searches

In May of 2021, Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation in British Columbia hired a team of specialists to conduct ground-penetrating radar searches on the grounds of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School. They detected ground disturbances, and later concluded that these were 200 "possible burials" at the site.

In operation by the Catholic Church from 1890 to 1969, the Kamloops Indian Residential School reported having up to 500 children registered each year, according to the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR). The 2008 TRC was told that only 50 deaths had occurred at the institution. The school officially closed in 1978 after the federal government took over control in 1969.

There have been findings using ground penetrating technologies at few residential school sites due to the sensitive process and impact on communities. It is presumed that historical records pertaining to deaths at the institutions are flawed due to some Catholic orders withholding statistics on the institutions. As a result, similar findings, such as those at the Kamloops Indian Residential School could occur in the future.

Recovery, Reparations, and Reconciliation

Indigenous communities, often with church support, and since 1998 with government financial assistance, have been carrying out the difficult work of supporting their members with the long-term impact of residential schools, including family breakdowns, violence and aimlessness. Beginning in the late 1990s, former students demanded that government and churches publicly acknowledge their role in the schools and provide compensation for their suffering.

In 2005, the federal government established a $1.9 billion compensation package for the survivors of abuse at residential schools. In 2007, the federal government and the churches that had operated the schools agreed to provide financial compensation to former students under the Residential Schools Settlement Agreement.

On 11 June 2008, Prime Minister Stephen Harper, on behalf of the Government of Canada, offered an apology to all former students of residential schools in Canada. The apology openly recognized that the assimilation policy on which the schools were established was "wrong, has caused great harm, and has no place in our country." The apology recognized the profoundly damaging and lasting impact the schools had on Indigenous culture, heritage and language and was one of the steps that the government has taken to forge a new relationship with Indigenous peoples in Canada.

Harper's apology and the compensation packages offered by the federal government excluded survivors of residential schools in Newfoundland and Labrador. Since Canada did not establish or operate residential schools in that province (Newfoundland was not part of Canada at the time the schools began operating), the federal government argued that it was not responsible for compensating former students. After survivors launched a class-action lawsuit against the government, a settlement of $50 million was reached on 10 May 2016. The settlement was approved by Newfoundland and Labrador Supreme Court Justice Robert Stack on 28 September 2016. On 24 November 2017, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau formally apologized to survivors of residential schools in Newfoundland and Labrador.

In 2020, the federal government announced it is designating two former residential schools - Shubenacadie Residential School in Nova Scotia and Portage La Prairie Residential School in Manitoba - as national historic sites. The government is also recognizing the residential school system as an event of historic significance in Canada. ( See also Reconciliation in Canada.)

On 3 June 2021, the federal government recognized every 30 September annually as the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. The day honours the survivors of residential schools as well as their families. Another commemorative day, Orange Shirt Day, is also held every year on 30 September. Orange Shirt Day began in 2013 and was inspired by residential school survivor Phyllis Webstad. On her first day of school, Webstad wore an orange shirt that was taken from her by the school authorities and never given back. Orange shirts are worn to commemorate all those children who had their culture taken from them.

In September 2021, Queen Elizabeth II commemorated Canada's first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation by saying, "I join with all Canadians on this first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation to reflect on the painful history that Indigenous peoples endured in residential schools in Canada, and on the work that remains to heal and to continue to build an inclusive society." As Canada's head of state, the Queen is being asked to formerly apologize for the Crown's role in the operation of residential schools.

Pope Francis formally apologized for the Catholic Church's involvement in residential schools in March 2022. The Pope asked forgiveness "for the deplorable conduct of those members of the Catholic Church" who were involved in the residential school system. A delegation of Indigenous peoples who went to Rome to speak with the Pope heard the historic apology in person. Cassidy Caron, the leader of the Métis National Council said that "an apology is one step forward, but there is more work to be done." In July 2022, the Pope travelled to Canada and offered an apology on Canadian soil. He said, "I humbly beg forgiveness for the evil committed by so many Christians against the Indigenous peoples." The Pope acknowledged that his apology is only a step toward making amends and that an investigation must be conducted into the events of the past. Many have called on the church for financial compensation as well as other forms of reconciliation, including the return of Indigenous artifacts, the release of school records, and the overturning of the Doctrine of Discovery.

Did You Know?
Historica Canada, using data supplied by the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation at the University of Manitoba, has created a map (see below) of all residential schools in Canada. Part of a larger effort by Historica Canada called the Residential Schools Awareness Program, the map includes the location, name, religious denomination, opening and closing dates, and any other names by which the schools were known.

Names of Children Who Died in Residential Schools Released

On 30 September 2019, the names of 2800 children who died in residential schools in Canada were released by the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation in a ceremony in Gatineau, Quebec ( see Truth and Reconciliation Commission). The ceremony was the culmination of years of archival research of government and church records dealing with Indigenous children in 80 schools across the country, with records going back as far as the 1890s. According to archivists, another 1600 children who died in residential schools remain unnamed, and researchers continue to pore over records to discover their identities.

The names and schools of the children were displayed on a huge 47-metre long, blood-red cloth banner. Tia-o-qui-aht First Nation Elder Dr. Barney Williams, a residential school survivor and member of the Indian Residential School Survivor Committee (an advisory body to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission), believes that the ceremony was important to ensure that the children who died are not forgotten: "Today is a special day not only for myself but for thousands of others, like me, across the country to finally bring recognition and honour to our school chums, to our cousins, our nephews, to our nieces that were forgotten." To Elder Williams, the unveiling of the 2800 names was a "heartwarming" and "very emotional" moment for himself and thousands of Indigenous families across Canada.

Residential Schools in Canada: A Timeline

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Residential schools were government-sponsored religious schools that were established to assimilate Indigenous children into Euro-Canadian culture. Although the...

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1955 Residential School Propaganda- Karan

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1955 Residential School Propaganda- Karan

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Canadian Residential School Propaganda Video 1955

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'A New Future' ? http://www.people-express-news.com/show27s/SPEAKERS_CORNER Please share your views on this here by video, and text. Also see and respond to related articles here: http://www.people-express-news.com/show15s/1st_Nations_Station and others throughout the site if you like! "Broadcast Date: March 13, 1955 Orphans, convalescents and those who live too deep in the bush for day school: these are the students of the residential school in remote Moose Factory, Ont.

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What were residential schools in Canada?

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A look at Canada’s shameful history and how these schools played a role in trying to eliminate Indigenous culture and people.

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https://indigenousfoundations.arts.ubc.ca/the_residential_school_system/

Residential schools caused family to be separated from each other, there children would be taken away from them and put in these schools for multiple years.

-Ariana

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By Erin Hanson (2009), with updates and revisions by Daniel P. Gamez & Alexa Manuel (September 2020). The original version of this article has been archived, but may be accessed here. To cite this article, we have recommendations at the bottom of the page. Note on terminology: There is constant debate and reflection on the use of specific terms as umbrella categories to designate multiple Aboriginal, Indigenous, or Native peoples. For the most recent version of this article, we have decided to follow the terms Indigenous, First Nations, Métis and Inuit, or alternatively Indigenous Peoples, in the plural, following the guidelines of the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the most widely accepted international instrument today. The term Indigenous Peoples can also be found in UBC's Indigenous Peoples Language Guidelines.
In this section:

What Were Residential Schools?

The term residential schools refers to an extensive school system set up by the Canadian government and administered by churches that had the nominal objective of educating Indigenous children but also the more damaging and equally explicit objectives of indoctrinating them into Euro-Canadian and Christian ways of living and assimilating them into mainstream white Canadian society. The residential school system officially operated from the 1880s into the closing decades of the 20th century. The system forcibly separated children from their families for extended periods of time and forbade them to acknowledge their Indigenous heritage and culture or to speak their own languages. Children were severely punished if these, among other, strict rules were broken. Former students of residential schools have spoken of horrendous abuse at the hands of residential school staff: physical, sexual, emotional, and psychological. Residential schools provided Indigenous students with inappropriate education, often only up to lower grades, that focused mainly on prayer and manual labour in agriculture, light industry such as woodworking, and domestic work such as laundry work and sewing.

Residential schools systematically undermined Indigenous, First Nations, Métis and Inuit cultures across Canada and disrupted families for generations, severing the ties through which Indigenous culture is taught and sustained, and contributing to a general loss of language and culture. Because they were removed from their families, many students grew up without experiencing a nurturing family life and without the knowledge and skills to raise their own families. The devastating effects of the residential schools are far-reaching and continue to have a significant impact on Indigenous communities. The residential school system is widely considered a form of genocide because of the purposeful attempt from the government and church to eradicate all aspects of Indigenous cultures and lifeworlds.

From the 1990s onward, the government and the churches involved-Anglican, Presbyterian, United, and Roman Catholic-began to acknowledge their responsibility for an education scheme that was specifically designed to "kill the Indian in the child." On June 11, 2008, the Canadian government issued a formal apology in Parliament for the damage done by the residential school system. In spite of this and other apologies, however, the effects remain.

What led to the residential schools?

The early origins of residential schools in Canada are found in the implementation of the mission system in the 1600s. The churches and European settlers brought with them the assumption that their own civilization was the pinnacle of human achievement. They interpreted the socio-cultural differences between themselves and Indigenous Peoples as "proof" that Canada's first inhabitants were ignorant, savage, and-like children-in need of guidance. They felt the need to "civilize" Indigenous Peoples. Education-a federal responsibility-became the primary means to this end.

Canadian Prime Minister John A. Macdonald commissioned journalist and politician Nicholas Flood Davin to study industrial schools for Indigenous children in the United States. Davin's recommendation to follow the U.S. example of "aggressive civilization" led to public funding for the residential school system. "If anything is to be done with the Indian, we must catch him very young. The children must be kept constantly within the circle of civilized conditions," Davin wrote in his 1879 Report on Industrial Schools for Indians and Half-Breeds (Davin's report can be read here.)

In the 1880s, in conjunction with other federal assimilation policies, the government began to establish residential schools across Canada. Authorities would frequently take children to schools far from their home communities, part of a strategy to alienate them from their families and familiar surroundings. In 1920, under the Indian Act, it became mandatory for every Indigenous child to attend a residential school and illegal for them to attend any other educational institution.

Living conditions at the residential schools

The purpose of the residential schools was to eliminate all aspects of Indigenous culture. Students had their hair cut short, they were dressed in uniforms, they were often given numbers, and their days were strictly regimented by timetables. Boys and girls were kept separate, and even siblings rarely interacted, further weakening family ties. Chief Bobby Joseph of the Indian Residential School Survivors Society recalls that he had no idea how to interact with girls and never even got to know his own sister "beyond a mere wave in the dining room." ¹ In addition, students were strictly forbidden to speak their languages-even though many children knew no other-or to practise Indigenous customs or traditions. Violations of these rules were severely punished.

Residential school students did not receive the same education as the general population in the public school system, and the schools were sorely underfunded. Teachings focused primarily on practical skills. Girls were primed for domestic service and taught to do laundry, sew, cook, and clean. Boys were taught carpentry, tinsmithing, and farming. Many students attended class part-time and worked for the school the rest of the time: girls did the housekeeping; boys, general maintenance and agriculture. This work, which was involuntary and unpaid, was presented as practical training for the students, but many of the residential schools could not run without it. With so little time spent in class, most students had only reached grade five by the time they were 18. At this point, students were sent away. Many were discouraged from pursuing further education.

Abuse at the schools was widespread: emotional and psychological abuse was constant, physical abuse was metred out as punishment, and sexual abuse was also common. Survivors recall being beaten and strapped; some students were shackled to their beds; some had needles shoved in their tongues for speaking their native languages. These abuses, along with overcrowding, poor sanitation, and severely inadequate food and health care, resulted in a shockingly high death toll. In 1907, government medical inspector P.H. Bryce reported that 24 percent of previously healthy Indigenous children across Canada were dying in residential schools. This figure does not include children who died at home, where they were frequently sent when critically ill. Bryce reported that anywhere from 47 percent (on the Peigan Reserve in Alberta) to 75 percent (from File Hills Boarding School in Saskatchewan) of students discharged from residential schools died shortly after returning home.

The extent to which the Department of Indian Affairs and church officials knew of these abuses has been debated by some. However, the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (RCAP) and John Milloy, among others, concluded that church and state officials were fully aware of the abuses and tragedies at the schools. Some inspectors and officials at the time expressed alarm at the horrifying death rates, yet those who spoke out and called for reform were generally met with silence and lack of support. The Department of Indian Affairs would promise to improve the schools, but the deplorable conditions persisted.

Some former students have positive memories of their time at residential schools, and certainly some might have been treated with kindness by the priests and nuns who ran the schools as best they could given the circumstances. But even these "good" experiences occurred within a system aimed at destroying Indigenous cultures and assimilating Indigenous students.

The Shift Away from Residential Schools

"Sister Marie Baptiste had a supply of sticks as long and thick as pool cues. When she heard me speak my language, she'd lift up her hands and bring the stick down on me. I've still got bumps and scars on my hands. I have to wear special gloves because the cold weather really hurts my hands. I tried very hard not to cry when I was being beaten and I can still just turn off my feelings.... And I'm lucky. Many of the men my age, they either didn't make it, committed suicide or died violent deaths, or alcohol got them. And it wasn't just my generation. My grandmother, who's in her late nineties, to this day it's too painful for her to talk about what happened to her at the school."

- Musqueam Nation former chief George Guerin,
Kuper Island school
Stolen from our Embrace, p 62

Church and state officials of the 19th century believed that Indigenous societies were disappearing and that the only hope for Indigenous people was to convert to Christianity, do away with their cultures, and become "civilized" British subjects-in short, assimilate them. By the 1950s, the same officials were doubting the viability of such project. The devastating effects of the residential schools and the needs and life experiences of Indigenous students were becoming more widely recognized. ² The government also acknowledged that removing children from their families was severely detrimental to the health of the individuals and the communities affected. In 1951, with the amendments to the Indian Act, the half-day work/school system was progressively abandoned, conceding power to the provinces to apprehend children, and transitioning from the school system to a 'child welfare system'. This time is referred to as the 'Sixties Scoop' because of the systematic removal of Indigenous children from their families without consent from their parents or authorities.

In the 1960s the drastic overrepresentation of Indigenous children in the welfare system consolidated, and authorities would constantly place Indigenous children with white middle-class families in an attempt to acculturate them. This practice, as well as the overrepresentation of Indigenous children in 'child welfare systems' continues today. In 1969, the Department of Indian Affairs took exclusive control of the system, marking an end to church involvement in residential schooling. Yet the schools remained underfunded and abuse continued, and many teachers and workers continued to lack proper credentials to carry out their responsibilities. ³

In the meantime, the government decided to phase out segregation and began incorporating Indigenous students into public schools. Although these changes saw students reaching higher levels of education, problems persisted. Many Indigenous students struggled in their adjustment to public school and to a Eurocentric system where Indigenous knowledges were excluded, fostering discrimination by their non-Indigenous peers. Post-secondary education was strongly discouraged for Indigenous students because those who wanted to attend university would have been enfranchised.

The process to phase out the residential school system and other assimilation tactics was slow and not without reversals. The residential school system in Canada lasted officially for almost 150 years, and its impacts continue on to this day. As mentioned above, the system's closure gave way to the 'Sixties Scoop,' during which thousands of Indigenous children were abducted by social services and removed from their families. The 'Scoop' spanned roughly the two decades it took to phase out the residential schools, but child apprehensions from Indigenous families continue to occur in disproportionate numbers today. In part, this is the legacy of compromised families and communities left by the residential schools.

Starting in 1969, residential schools in Canada began to decline in numbers. In 1970, the Department of Indian Affairs calculated fifty-six remaining schools, excluding the Northwest Territories. By 1980, the same institution reported sixteen, and one decade later, eleven. In 1996, Gordon Reserve Indian Residential School in Saskatchewan, the last of its kind, was closed and demolished. By 1999, the Department of Indian Affairs registered no remaining residential schools in operation. ⁴

Ongoing Impacts

"So why is it important to understand the history of genocide in Canada? Because it's not history. Today's racist government laws, policies and actions have proven to be just as deadly for Indigenous peoples as the genocidal acts of the past."

-Pamela Palmater, Mi'kmaq lawyer, professor, activist, and politician
(National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (Canada) et al. 2019, 53).

The residential school system is viewed by much of the Canadian public as part of a distant past, disassociated from today's events. In many ways, this is a misconception. The last residential school did not close its doors until 1996, and many of the leaders, teachers, parents, and grandparents of today's Indigenous communities are residential school Survivors. Although residential schools have closed, their effects remain ongoing for both Survivors and their descendants who now share in the intergenerational effects of transmitted personal trauma and loss of language, culture, traditional teachings, and mental/spiritual wellbeing.

According to the Report of the Aboriginal Justice Inquiry of Manitoba, several generations of Indigenous Peoples were denied the development of parenting skills not only through their removal from communities and families but also from the severe lack of attention paid to the issue by school officials. ⁵ In addition, children were taught that their traditional ways were inferior, including their languages and cultures. The residential schools were operational through several generations of Indigenous Peoples so the process of healing from these damages will also take several generations -a process that has already begun, but has not been easy nor has it been simple.

The historic, intergenerational, and collective oppression of Indigenous Peoples continues to this day in the form of land disputes, over-incarceration, lack of housing, child apprehension, systemic poverty, marginalization and violence against Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA peoples, and other critical issues which neither began nor ended with residential schools. Generations of oppressive government policies attempted to strip Indigenous Peoples of their identities not only through residential schools but also through other policies including but not limited to: the implementation and subsequent changes to the Indian Act; the mass removal of Indigenous children from their families into the child welfare system known as the Sixties Scoop; and legislations allowing forced sterilizations of Indigenous Peoples in certain provinces, a practice that has continued to be reported by Indigenous women in Canada as recently as 2018; and currently, through the modern child welfare systems which continue to disproportionately apprehend Indigenous children into foster care in what Raven Sinclair has called the Millennium Scoop. ⁶

In 2019, BC ended its practice of "birth alerts" in child welfare cases, which allowed child welfare agencies and hospitals to flag mothers deemed "high risk" without their consent -a practice which disproportionately targeted Indigenous mothers and was found to be "racist and discriminatory" and a "gross violation of the rights of the child, the mother, and the community". ⁷ One of the findings of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Report (MMIWG) asserts that the Canadian State "has used child welfare laws and agencies as a tool to oppress, displace, disrupt, and destroy Indigenous families, communities, and Nations. It is a tool in the genocide of Indigenous Peoples." ⁸ Child welfare laws and agencies, like the residential schools, effectively aided in the removal of Indigenous children from their families and continue to aid in the genocide of Indigenous Peoples.

Survivors Demand Justice
"...the Government of Canada now recognizes that it was wrong to forcibly remove children from their homes and we apologize for having done this. We now recognize that it was wrong to separate children from rich and vibrant cultures and traditions that it created a void in many lives and communities, and we apologize for having done this".

I have just one last thing to say. To all of the leaders of the Liberals, the Bloc and NDP, thank you, as well, for your words because now it is about our responsibilities today, the decisions that we make today and how they will affect seven generations from now.

My ancestors did the same seven generations ago and they tried hard to fight against you because they knew what was happening. They knew what was coming, but we have had so much impact from colonization and that is what we are dealing with today.

Women have taken the brunt of it all.

Thank you for the opportunity to be here at this moment in time to talk about those realities that we are dealing with today.

What is it that this government is going to do in the future to help our people? Because we are dealing with major human rights violations that have occurred to many generations: my language, my culture and my spirituality. I know that I want to transfer those to my children and my grandchildren, and their children, and so on.

What is going to be provided? That is my question. I know that is the question from all of us. That is what we would like to continue to work on, in partnership.

Nia:wen. Thank you.

-Beverley Jacobs, President, Native Women's Association of Canada, June 11, 2008

Read the full transcript and watch the video here.

The residential schools heavily contributed to educational, social, financial and health disparities between Indigenous Peoples and the rest of Canada, and these impacts have been intergenerational. ⁹ Despite the efforts of the residential school system and those who created and maintained it, Indigenous Peoples largely escaped complete assimilation and continue to work to regain what was lost, while also seeking justice for years of wrongdoing; including from the Canadian government, the churches, and the individuals responsible for specific cases of abuse.

It was not until the late 1980s that the Canadian legal system began to respond to allegations of abuse brought forward by Survivors, with fewer than fifty convictions coming out of more than 38,000 claims of sexual and physical abuse submitted to the independent adjudication process. ¹⁰ Notable cases include 1988's Mowatt v. Clarke, in which eight former students of St. George's Indian Residential School in Lytton, B.C., sued a priest, the government, and the Anglican Church of Canada; both the Anglican Church and the government admitted fault and agreed to a settlement. In 1995, twenty-seven Survivors from the Alberni Indian Residential School filed charges of sexual abuse against Arthur Plintwhile also holding Canada and the United Church vicariously liable. In addition to convicting Plint, the court held the federal government and the United Church responsible for the wrongs committed.
The Indian Residential School Survivors Society was formed in 1994 by the First Nations Summit in British Columbia and was officially incorporated in 2002 to provide support for survivors and communities in the province throughout the healing process and to educate the broader public. The Survivors Society provides crisis counselling, referrals, and healing initiatives, as well as acting as a resource for information, research, training, and workshops. It was clear that a similar organization was needed at the national level, and in 2005, the National Residential School Survivors Society was incorporated.
Meanwhile, the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples had been interviewing individuals from Indigenous communities and nations across Canada about their experiences. The commission's report, published in 1996, brought unprecedented attention to the residential school system-many non-Indigenous Canadians did not know about this chapter in Canadian history. In 1998, based on the commission's recommendations and considering the court cases, the Canadian government publicly apologized to former students for the physical and sexual abuse they suffered in the residential schools. The Aboriginal Healing Foundation was established as a $350 million government plan to aid communities affected by the residential schools. However, some Indigenous people felt the government apology did not go far enough, since it addressed only the effects of physical and sexual abuse and not other damages caused by the residential school system.
Books & Articles Canada. Royal Commission on Indigenous Peoples. Report of the Royal Commission on Indigenous Peoples, Volume 1: Looking Forward, Looking Back. Chapter 10, "Residential Schools." Ottawa: Supply and Services Canada, 1996.
The St. George and Alberni lawsuits set a precedent for future cases, proving that the churches and the government of Canada could be sued as an entity. As the number of cases grew, a National Class Action was filed in 2002 for compensation for all former Indian Residential school Survivors and family members in Canada. In 2005, Canada and nearly 80,000 Survivors reached the Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement in which Canada committed to individual compensation for Survivors, additional funding for the Aboriginal Healing Foundation, and the creation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

In September 2007, while the Settlement Agreement was being put into action, the Canadian government made a motion to issue a formal apology. The motion passed unanimously. On June 11, 2008, the House of Commons gathered in a solemn ceremony to publicly apologize for the government's involvement in the residential school system and to acknowledge the widespread impact this system has had among Indigenous Peoples. You can read the official statement and responses to it by Indigenous organizations here (scroll down to " Choose a topic" and select " Apology to former students of Indian Residential Schools"). The apology was broadcast live across Canada (watch it here). Former Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper issued a 'statement of apology to former students of Indian Residential Schools ', noting that

Echoing Stephen Harper, former Chief Justice of Ontario Warren Winkler also observed that the residential school system removed children

"from their families and communities to serve the purpose of carrying out a "concerted campaign to obliterate" the "habits and associations" of "Indigenous languages, traditions and beliefs," in order to accomplish "a radical re-socialization" aimed at instilling the children instead with the values of Euro-centric civilization"( Library and Archives Canada, RG10, volume 6113, le 351-10, part 1). ¹¹

The federal government's apology was met with a range of responses. Some felt that it marked a new era of positive federal government-Indigenous relations based on mutual respect, while many others felt that the apology was merely symbolic and doubted that it would change the government's relationship with Indigenous Peoples. Although apologies and acknowledgements made by governments and churches are important steps forward in reconciliation, Indigenous leaders have argued that such gestures are not enough without supportive action . Communities and residential school survivor societies are undertaking healing initiatives and providing opportunities for survivors to talk about their experiences and move forward to create a positive future for themselves, their families, and their communities.

Recommended resources

Erasmus, George. Notes on A History of the Indian Residential School System in Canada

Fournier, Suzanne and Ernie Crey. Stolen from our Embrace: The Abduction of First Nations Children and the Restoration of Indigenous Communities. Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre, 1997.

Haig-Brown, Celia. Resistance and Renewal: Surviving the Indian Residential School. Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp Press, 1998. First published by Tillicum Library, 1988.

Manitoba. Public Inquiry into the Administration and Indigenous People. "Indigenous Women." Vol. 1, chap. 13, in Report of the Aboriginal Justice Inquiry of Manitoba. Winnipeg: Public Inquiry into the Administration and Indigenous People, 1999.
Websites Apologies and Reconciliation
This chapter of the Indigenous Justice Inquiry of Manitoba's report on Indigenous people in the justice system examines how the residential school system has contributed to the abuse and discrimination that many Indigenous women face regularly.

Miller, J. R. Shingwauk's Vision. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1996.

Widely regarded as one of the most comprehensive, key texts on the residential school system, in Shingwauk's Vision Miller has included the perspectives of government and church officials, school staff, and students to create a rich history of the residential school system from its original inception to its phasing out. Cree scholar Winona Wheeler calls Shingwauk's Vision "the most thorough and comprehensive study of Indian residential schools in Canada to date and most noted for its good use of a wide range of Indigenous life histories and personal reminisces" (Wheeler, "Social Relations of Indigenous Oral Histories," in Walking a Tightrope: Indigenous Peoples and their Representations, 2005. 193)

Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council, Indian Residential Schools: The Nuu-Chah-Nulth Experience. Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council, 1996.

Roberts, John. First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Peoples: Exploring their Past, Present, and Future. Toronto: Emond Montgomery, 2006.

Secwepemc Cultural Education Society, Behind Closed Doors: Stories from the Kamloops Indian Residential School. Penticton: Secwepemc Cultural Education Society & Theytus, 2000.

Endnotes

[1] Milloy, John S. A National Crime: The Canadian Government and the Residential School System, 1879 to 1986.University of Manitoba Press, 1999. 91-2; Fournier and Crey, Stolen from Our Embrace. Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre, 1997. 49.

[2] Royal Commission on Indigenous Peoples, Volume 1: Looking Forward, Looking Back. Chapter 10, "1.2 Changing Policies." Ottawa: Supply and Services Canada, 1996. 344-353.

[3] Milloy, John S. A National Crime: The Canadian Government and the Residential School System, 1879 to 1986. University of Manitoba Press, 1999. Xvii, 91-2.

[4] Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. 2015. Canada's Residential Schools: The History, Part 2 1939 to 2000. The Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. Vol. 1. 2 vols. Montreal; Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press. 103.

[5] Report of the Aboriginal Justice Inquiry of Manitoba. 1999. The Justice System and Aboriginal People. Ch. 14 ( http://www.ajic.mb.ca/volumel/chapter14.html)

[6] National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (Canada), Marion Buller, Michèle Audette, Brian Eyolfson, and Qajaq Robinson. 2019. Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. 104; Longman, Nickita. 2018. "Examining the Sixties Scoop and Beyond." Discourse Magazine, 2018.

[7] National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (Canada), 355.

[8] National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (Canada), 355.

[9] Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. 2015. Canada's Residential Schools: The Legacy: The Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, Volume 5. Montréal: McGill-Queen's University Press. 3.

[10] Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. 2015. Canada's Residential Schools: The Legacy: The Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, Volume 5. Montréal: McGill-Queen's University Press. 7.

[11] Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. 2015. Canada's Residential Schools: The History, Part 2 1939 to 2000. The Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. Vol. 1. 2 vols. Montreal; Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press. 574.

To Cite This Article

MLA:
Hanson, Eric, et al."The Residential School System." Indigenous Foundations. First Nations and Indigenous Studies UBC, 2020. Website. [Date accessed].

Chicago:
Hanson, Eric, Daniel P. Games, and Alexa Manuel. "The Residential School System". Indigenous Foundations. https://indigenousfoundations.web.arts.ubc.ca/residential-school-system-2020/. (accessed Month, day, year).

APA:
Hanson, E., Gamez, D., & Manuel, A. (2020, September). The Residential School System. Indigenous Foundations. https://indigenousfoundations.web.arts.ubc.ca/residential-school-system-2020/

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By Erin Hanson (2009), with updates and revisions by Daniel P. Gamez & Alexa Manuel (September 2020). The original version of this article has been archived, but may be accessed here. To cite this article, we have recommendations at the bottom of the page.

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Residental schools conditions - Jaskaran

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Residental schools conditions - Jaskaran

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Not only were children physically abused, they were also forced to not eat Some were raped by the opposite gender and some were  also beated to death. The place was overcrowd. There was not enough space for all of them and they suffered as they did not want to convert to another religion. Some would be mad at their parents and others wouldn't even remember what their past life was.

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https://youtu.be/2zuRQmwaREY

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Namwayut: we are all one. Truth and reconciliation in Canada | Canada is ...

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Beginning in the 1880s, Aboriginal children across Canada were removed, often forcibly, from their homes and placed in Indian Residential Schools. At the schools, students were forbidden to speak Native languages and practice their culture. Testimony from surviving former students presents overwhelming evidence of widespread neglect, starvation, extensive physical and sexual abuse, and many student deaths related to these crimes. As is so often the case with state-inflicted mass atrocities, records indicating accurate rates of abuse and death at residential schools do not exist or were destroyed. Until existing estimates can be substantiated with research, we only have survivor testimony to rely on. These estimates suggest that sexual abuse rates were as high as 75 percent in some schools, and rates of physical harms were higher still. If this number is even close to the total, the scale of violent crime against children at the schools is staggering. On another level, searching for a precise number for rates of abuse at the schools is beside the point. The larger crime is that these schools were designed and operated by the church and state with the purpose of destroying Native cultures and communities in every corner of Canada. This crime has caused incalculable harm, not the least of which was allowing-even encouraging-the abuse mentioned above. But for most Canadians, the experiences of the generations of Aboriginal people who attended residential schools have remained a silent chapter of history until now.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada is mandated to operate for five years, during which time it will document the history of the schools and their consequences and publicize survivors' testimony and memories. At the end of its work, the commission will issue a report that includes recommendations to all involved parties, including the state, churches, the public, and survivors. Of course we cannot know the content of recommendations until they are written, but we can expect suggestions to range from demands for improved social services to recommendations for criminal prosecutions.

The government of Canada now identifies 136 institutions as former Indian Residential Schools that were established exclusively for Aboriginal children by the federal government in partnership with the country's four major churches. The schools operated for approximately 100 years, with the final schools closing as recently as 1998. Canadian law made attendance at the schools mandatory for all Aboriginal children and made the school administration the legal guardians of the children who attended. At the time the truth commission was established, there were between 105,000 and 150,000 people living in Canada who went to residential school as children, about 10 percent of the present day Aboriginal population.

There are no records accurately showing what proportion of aboriginal children were taken from their families, but there is no question that every Aboriginal community in Canada today is affected by the experience of residential school. In addition to the untold suffering of direct survivors of the schools, the system continues to have devastating impacts on Aboriginal young people. The intergenerational experiences of a mass atrocity are felt when the damage done to one generation perpetuates in the lives of the next. Residential schools sought to interfere with the closest relationships in Aboriginal communities by taking children as young as four away from their parents, relatives, and community life. The consequences of this policy on family life are still felt across the country today. After three consecutive generations of families who suffered the theft of their children, today's youth is the only living generation of Aboriginal people to grow up in a country where the state permits them the care of their own parents. Add to this toll the crime that humanity's collective heritage is rendered immeasurably poorer by the loss of language, knowledge, culture, and life that the schools inflicted.

The history of residential schooling remained hidden for decades by people in the dominant society who called survivor testimony over-exaggerations or isolated cases in an otherwise normal education system. Although the residential school system is a proven cause of widespread human rights violations and continues to have damaging effects on First Peoples all across the country, until quite recently few efforts were made to address the damage done. The catalyst for change happened in 1993, when then-National Chief Phil Fontaine appeared on the national news and made a statement recounting the physical and sexual abuse that occurred at his school as a child. The statement opened a floodgate of legal action, with thousands of cases filed against the state for similar experiences of abuse at the schools. The influx of cases threatened to overwhelm the judicial system and pushed the government to agree on a negotiated settlement to the massive class-action lawsuit filed against it. This settlement included an extensive compensation program for survivors of the school system, as well as the establishment of a National Truth and Reconciliation Commission. As the first national truth commission to ever be established as a result of successful legal action taken against a state guilty of mass human rights violations, the Canadian truth commission represents a victory over denial.

The commission, which is still at the beginning of its five-year mandate, will research and report on the experiences and legacies of residential school through the direct testimony of former students, staff, their families, and their communities, and through the work of a national research center. The mandate of the truth commission includes extensive provisions that ensure the process embraces a flexible and holistic approach to research, statement giving, and commemoration.

For all its successes, the truth commission remains a controversial approach to dealing with the past in Canada. Particularly controversial is a restriction that prohibits survivors and staff from naming or otherwise identifying individuals accused of wrongdoing. In principle such restrictions are offensive in the mandate of a truth commission, but the logic in this case is intended to protect the rights of victims. The truth commission in Canada resulted from a civil lawsuit, not a criminal proceeding, and the difference is crucial: as a civil process, the truth commission does not affect criminal liability. Perpetrators of crimes at residential school are in no way protected from future prosecutions. As a body that will research and collect information pertaining to terrible abuses, the truth commission must be careful to operate in a way that will support, not interfere with, future criminal proceedings. Although it is not clear that publically naming names would pose a serious risk in this regard, there is enough at stake to justify taking special precautions, and the restriction against publically naming perpetrators serves as an extra protection against potentially hindering future criminal prosecutions.

Is the truth and reconciliation commission the answer to a century-long demand for justice for the crimes of Indian Residential Schools? No. Justice for the past means many things and takes many forms; a truth commission is one small piece of that greater goal. What the truth commision can accomplish, and has already begun to achieve, is to make a space where survivors can finally speak the truth and be heard.

-Joanna Rice

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Indian Residential School Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada

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Beginning in the 1880s, Aboriginal children across Canada were removed, often forcibly, from their homes and placed in Indian Residential Schools. At the schools, students were forbidden to speak Native languages and practice their culture. Testimony from surviving former students presents overwhelming evidence of widespread neglect, starvation, extensive physical and sexual abuse, and many student deaths related to these crimes.

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Residential Schools were the worst schools ever

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Residential Schools were the worst schools ever

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Residential schools in Canada started in the 17 century and were slowly coming to an end in the late 1990s. There are currently no more residential schools still running.

-Ariana

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Your ATA Library: Alberta- Residential Schools - Adi. T

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Your ATA Library: Alberta- Residential Schools - Adi. T

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https://teachers-ab.libguides.com/c.php?g=709701&p=5056437

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Resources: Residential Schools: Videos and Interactives

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This guide contains resources about residential schools and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

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http://www.fnesc.ca/irsr/

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The Indian Residential Schools and Reconciliation Teacher Resource Guides for grades 5, 10 and 11/12 were developed by the First Nations Education Steering Committee and the First Nations Schools Association. They are our response to the call by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada for education bodies to develop age-appropriate educational materials about Indian residential schools.

It is our hope that these resources will help students of all cultural backgrounds gain an understanding of the history of the relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people over Canada's history, with a focus on the BC experience. The materials are also designed to engage young people to take part in the journey of reconciliation.

These unique, BC-specific, resources for grades 5, 10, 11 and 12 use age-appropriate literature, archival resources, and videos to increase students' understanding of the historical context of residential schools and to develop students' awareness about the reconciliation process as a way to move us all forward.

The units and lessons support the BC Ministry of Education curriculum learning standards. In addition, due to the nature of the subject matter, the resources contain suggestions for how to deal sensitively with the topic of residential schools.

The development of these resource guides included input from an advisory committee of FNESC, FNSA, Ministry of Education, BC Teachers' Federation representatives, as well as 35 pilot schools.

FNSA and FNESC would like to recognize the invaluable role that the Vancouver Foundation has played in its support of this project.

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Indian Residential Schools and Reconciliation Resources

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The Indian Residential Schools and Reconciliation Teacher Resource Guides for grades 5, 10 and 11/12 were developed by the First Nations Education Steering Committee and the First Nations Schools Association. They are our response to the call by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada for education bodies to develop age-appropriate educational materials about Indian residential schools.

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Walk For Wenjack- Chanjie Wenjack's Journey! -Adi. T

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Walk For Wenjack- Chanjie Wenjack's Journey! -Adi. T

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https://downiewenjack.ca/our-work/walk-for-wenjack/

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Walk for Wenjack Canada - The Gord Downie & Chanie Wenjack Fund

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Everybody has their own reason to Walk for Wenjack. This event is an opportunity to raise awareness of the history of Residential Schools.

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Residential schools History and apology - There were approximately 150,000 Inuits, first nations, métis Ojibwe and more forcefully taken from their homes. These children were physically abused when they spoke their native language or talking to their sibling with the opposite gender. Most of them died, while there are barely any survivors to this day. In 2000, Stephen Harper investigated residential schools and apologised for Canda's actions. The government of Ontario had also created a "a Truth and Reconciliation day"  - Jaskaran

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Residential schools History and apology - There were approximately 150,000 Inuits, first nations, métis Ojibwe and more forcefully taken from their homes. These children were physically abused when they spoke their native language or talking to their sibling with the opposite gender. Most of them died, while there are barely any survivors to this day. In 2000, Stephen Harper investigated residential schools and apologised for Canda's actions. The government of Ontario had also created a "a Truth and Reconciliation day"  - Jaskaran

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Enter the Access ID and Passcode provided by your school to access Britannica School.

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Indigenous kids were forced into these “schools” where they faced abuse, assault and other horrific things and were forced to abandon their culture and religion and forcibly following christianity even if they didn’t want to

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The survivors of Canada's residential schools - BBC News

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Created by Christian churches and the Canadian government. There purpose was to both educate and all aspects of Indigenous culture.

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Aayan P

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History of Residential Schools

Residential schools operated in Canada for more than 160 years, with upwards of 150,000 children passing through their doors. Every province and territory, with the exception of Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and New Brunswick, was home to the federally funded, church-run schools. The last school closed in Saskatchewan in 1996. First Nations, Métis and Inuit children were removed, often against their will, from their families and communities and put into schools, where they were forced to abandon their traditions, cultural practices and languages. The residential school system was just one tool in a broader plan of "aggressive assimilation" and colonization of Indigenous Peoples and territories in Canada.

The Canadian government pursued this policy of cultural genocide because it wished to divest itself of its legal and financial obligations to Aboriginal people and gain control over their land and resources. If every Aboriginal person had been 'absorbed into the body politic,' there would be no reserves, no Treaties, and no Aboriginal rights.

- Truth and Reconciliation Commission Canada, Honouring the Truth, Reconciling the Future: Summary of the Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, p. 3

While the federal residential school system began around 1883, the origins of the residential school system can be traced to as early as the 1830s - long before Confederation in 1867 - when the Anglican Church established a residential school in Brantford, Ont. Prior to this point, churches had built schools specifically for Indigenous children since the mid-1600s. Through this early period, these mission schools were primarily located in Eastern Canada, but as missions and colonial efforts moved west of the Great Lakes, so did the schools.

The Canadian government and Canada's churches built the residential school system as a means to solve the "Indian question" in Canada - the perceived threat and barrier posed by Indigenous Peoples to the ongoing construction of the newly forming nation of Canada. They developed a system that mimicked schools in the United States and in British colonies, where governments and colonial powers used large, boarding-style industrial schools to convert masses of Indigenous and poor children into Catholics and Protestants, and turn them into "good industrious workers." These schools were used in Ireland, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand, as well as in Sweden for Indigenous Sami children, as a way for new settlers to claim land traditionally occupied by Indigenous people. Canada adopted this model in order to enforce the adoption of European traditions, languages and lifestyles by First Nations, Métis and Inuit children.

Map depicting residential school locations across Canada

...[I]f anything is to be done with the Indian, we must catch him very young. The children must be kept constantly within the circle of civilized conditions."

- Nicholas Flood Davin, Report on Industrial Schools for Indians and Half-Breeds, 1879.

I want to get rid of the Indian problem. I do not think as a matter of fact, that the country ought to continuously protect a class of people who are able to stand alone... Our objective is to continue until there is not a single Indian in Canada that has not been absorbed into the body politic and there is no Indian question, and no Indian Department, that is the whole object of this Bill.

- Duncan Campbell Scott, Department of Indian Affairs, 1920

Originally, the residential school system focused on industrial labour schools and farm schools. By 1900, there were 22 industrial schools and 39 residential schools in Canada. In 1931, at its peak, there were 80 schools in operation, and while most of them would be called residential schools, they often maintained industrial work through large gardens, barns, workshops and sewing rooms.

Catholic and Protestant churches provided much of the original direction on where schools would be placed and how the school system would grow. Government Indian agents and officials from a wide variety of different departments played a central role in the development and maintenance of the residential school system. Many of the first schools were built close to existing school missions.

The quality of education inside the schools and the buildings themselves was substandard through much of the history of the system. Early schools were notoriously insufficient, underfunded and mismanaged. Accounts from Survivors and staff showed that the buildings were often in a poor state and, in some cases, were even dangerous. Fires frequently ripped through the schools and several of the buildings burned down completely, only to be rebuilt later. Some northern schools ran out of tents and temporary shelters. Later schools were constructed from heavy bricks-and-mortar-style architecture in an effort to show the permanence of the government's education policies towards Indigenous Peoples. These newer schools, while an improvement over the early schools, continued to be plagued by low-quality food, accommodation and living conditions for students.

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Residential schools operated in Canada for more than 160 years, with upwards of 150,000 children passing through their doors. Every province and territory, with the exception of Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and New Brunswick, was home to the federally funded, church-run schools. The last school closed in Saskatchewan in 1996.

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These schools were not places of learning. They were horrific institutions where Indigenous children were subjected to terrible abuse, starvation, and loneliness. Children were forbidden to speak their own languages or practice their own culture.  The consequences for doing so were severe punishment so bad that some children died from the punishments inflicted on them.  Each residential school had a graveyard to bury the children that did not survive.  Children died from starvation and malnourishment, illness due to their weakened conditions, or as a result of their extreme punishment.

# data[].attributes.subject
These schools were not places of learning. They were horrific institutions where Indigenous children were subjected to terrible abuse, starvation, and loneliness. Children were forbidden to speak their own languages or practice their own culture.  The consequences for doing so were severe punishment so bad that some children died from the punishments inflicted on them.  Each residential school had a graveyard to bury the children that did not survive.  Children died from starvation and malnourishment, illness due to their weakened conditions, or as a result of their extreme punishment.

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- Aayan P

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© Sisters of Charity, Halifax, Congregational Archives, #16495A Exterior of Shubenacadie Residential School [pre-1986]

The Residential School System is a topic that may cause trauma invoked by memories of past abuse. The Government of Canada recognizes the need for safety measures to minimize the risk associated with triggering. A National Residential School Crisis Line has been set up to provide support for former residential school students and their families. You can access information on the website or access emotional and crisis referral services by calling the 24-Hour National Crisis Line: 1-866-925-4419.

On September 1, 2020, the Government of Canada announced the designation of the Residential School System as a national historic event under the National Program of Historical Commemoration.

The Residential School System has impacted multiple generations of Indigenous peoples, with long-term detrimental effects on First Nations, Inuit, and Métis communities, cultures, economies, traditional knowledge and ways of life, languages, family structures, and connections to the land.

The Government of Canada recognizes this as a tragic event in our shared history and, with Indigenous peoples and communities who are ready to do so, is committed to raising awareness of the experiences of the children who attended these schools to ensure that this history is acknowledged and better understood by all Canadians.

Recent designations of national historic significance

The Residential School System National Historic Event

Residential schools for Indigenous children existed in Canada from the 17th century until the late 1990s. During the 19th and 20th centuries, a formal system for the residential schooling of Indigenous children was established and expanded throughout Canada. It is estimated that at least 150,000 First Nations, Inuit, and Métis children attended residential schools during this period. These schools were largely operated by certain churches and religious organizations and administered and funded by the federal government as a key aspect of colonialism. The system was imposed on Indigenous peoples as part of a broad set of assimilation efforts to destroy their rich cultures and identities and to suppress their histories. Throughout this period, Indigenous peoples fought against the system in many ways. The efforts of residential school survivors to tell their stories and to seek justice have been a crucial catalyst in the growing public recognition of the harm and effects of residential schools.

The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation ( NCTR) nominated the Residential School System for consideration under the National Program of Historical Commemoration and its designation as a national historic event reflects the input of Survivors from across the country.

Communities interested in installing a Historic Sites and Monument Board of Canada bronze plaque to mark the national historic event designation of the Residential School System at a former residential school site should contact Parks Canada at clmhc-hsmbc@pc.gc.ca.

Backgrounder: The Residential School System National Historic Event.

News release: Government of Canada recognizes the National Historic Significance of the Residential School System and former Residential School sites

Former Muscowequan Indian Residential School National Historic Site

Former Muscowequan Indian Residential School, located on Muskowekwan First Nation, Saskatchewan, 2020.
© Parks Canada / Allison Sarkar

Designated National Historic Site in 2021

Located on the reserve lands of Muskowekwan First Nation in Treaty 4 Territory (southeastern Saskatchewan), the Former Muscowequan Indian Residential School is the only standing residential school in Saskatchewan, and one of the few remaining residential school buildings in Canada. The former school building was built in 1930-31 to replace residential school buildings dating to the late-19th century, and remained open until 1997. For over a century, First Nations and Métis children from Treaty 4 Territory, across Saskatchewan, and elsewhere in Canada were sent to this school.

This site was nominated for designation by Muskowekwan First Nation. Parks Canada and the nominator worked collaboratively to identify the historic values of this former residential school, and to develop the report on the history of the school and the experiences of students, which was reviewed by the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada.

Backgrounder: Former Muscowequan Indian Residential School National Historic Site

Former Shingwauk Indian Residential School National Historic Site

Former Shingwauk Indian Residential School
© Parks Canada / Nathalie Ouellette

Designated National Historic Site in 2021

Located in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, on Robinson-Huron territory on the traditional homeland of the Anishinaabe and the Métis, the Shingwauk Indian Residential School was built in 1934-35 to replace the original school building which dated to the late-19th century. From 1935 to its closure in 1970, more than a thousand Indigenous children from Ontario, Quebec, the Prairies, and the Northwest Territories were sent to this school.

This site was nominated for designation by the Shingwauk Residential Schools Centre ( SRSC). Parks Canada, the Children of Shingwauk Alumni Association, and the SRSC worked collaboratively to identify the historic values of the site, and to develop the report on the students' experiences and the history of the school for the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada.

Backgrounder: Former Shingwauk Indian Residential School National Historic Site

Former Portage La Prairie Indian Residential School National Historic Site, Manitoba

Former Portage La Prairie Indian Residential School
© Parks Canada / Allison Sarkar, 2019

Designated National Historic Site in 2020

Built in 1914-1915, the former Portage La Prairie Indian Residential School is located on the Keeshkeemaquah Reserve, part of the reserve lands of Long Plain First Nation. Children from many First Nations and other Indigenous communities in Manitoba and elsewhere were sent to this residential school, which remained open until 1975.

This former residential school site was nominated for designation by the site owner, Long Plain First Nation. Parks Canada worked collaboratively with Long Plain First Nation to identify the historic significance of this former residential school and to develop the submission report for the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada.

Backgrounder: Former Portage La Prairie Indian Residential School National Historic Site

Former Shubenacadie Indian Residential School National Historic Site, Nova Scotia

Former Shubenacadie Indian Residential School
© Sisters of Charity, Halifax, Congregational Archives

Designated National Historic Site in 2020

The former Shubenacadie Indian Residential School was built in 1928-29 in the Sipekni'katik district of Mi'kma'ki, Nova Scotia and was in use from 1930 to 1967. Many Mi'kmaw and Wolastoqkew children from Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, and Quebec were forced to attend this residential school. It is also possible that children from other Indigenous communities were sent to this school.

The former Shubenacadie Indian Residential School was nominated by the co-chair of the Tripartite Culture and Heritage Working Committee of the Mi'kmaq-Nova Scotia-Canada Tripartite Forum on behalf of Survivors of the Shubenacadie Indian Residential School and their descendants. Parks Canada and the nominator worked collaboratively to identify the historic significance of this former residential school and to develop the submission report for the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada.

Backgrounder: Former Shubenacadie Indian Residential School National Historic Site

Nominate a site, person, or event

There are many historical subjects related to the histories and legacies of the Residential School System in Canada that could be eligible for designation under the National Program of Historical Commemoration.

Are you aware of a person, event or site that should be recognized by the Government of Canada for its national historic significance? Learn about the National Program of Historical Commemoration, or contact the Secretariat for the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada at clmhc-hsmbc@pc.gc.ca, or toll-free phone number: 1-855-283-8730.

Please note that for all site nominations, a letter of permission from the site owner is a necessary component of the nomination. The designation of a site is honorific in nature and does not legally protect the site, or transfer site ownership or management to Parks Canada.

Parks Canada and call to action 79

Call to action 79 of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission asks the federal government to "commemorate residential school sites, the history and legacy of residential schools, and the contributions of Indigenous peoples to Canada's history."

Commemoration is not celebration - it is recognition and acknowledgement of the history that has shaped Canada.

Budget 2018 allocated $23.9 million over five years towards the implementation of Call to Action 79, and to support Parks Canada initiatives to integrate Indigenous views, histories and heritage into national parks, marine conservation areas, and historic sites administered by the Agency.

Parks Canada and the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation are working together to support the commemoration of former residential school sites, in direct response to Call to Action 79, including engagement and outreach initiatives.

Parks Canada is also advancing the implementation of the Framework for History and Commemoration: National Historic Sites System Plan 2019. The Framework supports greater inclusion of Indigenous peoples' history, voices and perspectives in the National Program of Historical Commemoration and other public history activities. It outlines an approach to sharing the stories of Canada through diverse, wide-ranging, and sometimes complex perspectives, including difficult and tragic periods of the country's past. It also creates new opportunities for Indigenous communities to share their stories in their own way at heritage places administered by Parks Canada.

Parks Canada's work is part of a commitment by the Government of Canada to respond to all of the Calls to Action. Other federal government departments are leading on related work, notably for residential school cemeteries ( Missing Children and Burials), and special projects to recognize the histories and legacies of residential schools.

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Residential schools in Canada, a national historic event

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Residential School System is a topic that may cause trauma invoked by memories of past abuse. The Government of Canada recognizes the need for safety measures to minimize the risk associated with triggering. A National Residential School Crisis Line has been set up to provide support for former residential school students and their families.

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Residential schools were established by Christian churches and the federal government to assimilate Indigenous children into Euro-Canadian society.

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Residential Schools in Canada: A Timeline

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Residential Schools in Canada: A Timeline

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Residential Schools in Canada: A Timeline

# data[].attributes.headline
When did residential schools start in Canada? 

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When did residential schools start in Canada? 

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-sarika
Canada had residential schools for Native children from the “seventeenth century until the mid-1990s.”

A institutionalised structure for the residential education of Indigenous kids was formed and expanded across Canada “even during 19th and 20th centuries.”
https://www.pc.gc.ca/en/culture/clmhc-hsmbc/pensionnat-residential

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
© Sisters of Charity, Halifax, Congregational Archives, #16495A Exterior of Shubenacadie Residential School [pre-1986]

The Residential School System is a topic that may cause trauma invoked by memories of past abuse. The Government of Canada recognizes the need for safety measures to minimize the risk associated with triggering. A National Residential School Crisis Line has been set up to provide support for former residential school students and their families. You can access information on the website or access emotional and crisis referral services by calling the 24-Hour National Crisis Line: 1-866-925-4419.

On September 1, 2020, the Government of Canada announced the designation of the Residential School System as a national historic event under the National Program of Historical Commemoration.

The Residential School System has impacted multiple generations of Indigenous peoples, with long-term detrimental effects on First Nations, Inuit, and Métis communities, cultures, economies, traditional knowledge and ways of life, languages, family structures, and connections to the land.

The Government of Canada recognizes this as a tragic event in our shared history and, with Indigenous peoples and communities who are ready to do so, is committed to raising awareness of the experiences of the children who attended these schools to ensure that this history is acknowledged and better understood by all Canadians.

Recent designations of national historic significance

The Residential School System National Historic Event

Residential schools for Indigenous children existed in Canada from the 17th century until the late 1990s. During the 19th and 20th centuries, a formal system for the residential schooling of Indigenous children was established and expanded throughout Canada. It is estimated that at least 150,000 First Nations, Inuit, and Métis children attended residential schools during this period. These schools were largely operated by certain churches and religious organizations and administered and funded by the federal government as a key aspect of colonialism. The system was imposed on Indigenous peoples as part of a broad set of assimilation efforts to destroy their rich cultures and identities and to suppress their histories. Throughout this period, Indigenous peoples fought against the system in many ways. The efforts of residential school survivors to tell their stories and to seek justice have been a crucial catalyst in the growing public recognition of the harm and effects of residential schools.

The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation ( NCTR) nominated the Residential School System for consideration under the National Program of Historical Commemoration and its designation as a national historic event reflects the input of Survivors from across the country.

Communities interested in installing a Historic Sites and Monument Board of Canada bronze plaque to mark the national historic event designation of the Residential School System at a former residential school site should contact Parks Canada at clmhc-hsmbc@pc.gc.ca.

Backgrounder: The Residential School System National Historic Event.

News release: Government of Canada recognizes the National Historic Significance of the Residential School System and former Residential School sites

Former Muscowequan Indian Residential School National Historic Site

Former Muscowequan Indian Residential School, located on Muskowekwan First Nation, Saskatchewan, 2020.
© Parks Canada / Allison Sarkar

Designated National Historic Site in 2021

Located on the reserve lands of Muskowekwan First Nation in Treaty 4 Territory (southeastern Saskatchewan), the Former Muscowequan Indian Residential School is the only standing residential school in Saskatchewan, and one of the few remaining residential school buildings in Canada. The former school building was built in 1930-31 to replace residential school buildings dating to the late-19th century, and remained open until 1997. For over a century, First Nations and Métis children from Treaty 4 Territory, across Saskatchewan, and elsewhere in Canada were sent to this school.

This site was nominated for designation by Muskowekwan First Nation. Parks Canada and the nominator worked collaboratively to identify the historic values of this former residential school, and to develop the report on the history of the school and the experiences of students, which was reviewed by the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada.

Backgrounder: Former Muscowequan Indian Residential School National Historic Site

Former Shingwauk Indian Residential School National Historic Site

Former Shingwauk Indian Residential School
© Parks Canada / Nathalie Ouellette

Designated National Historic Site in 2021

Located in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, on Robinson-Huron territory on the traditional homeland of the Anishinaabe and the Métis, the Shingwauk Indian Residential School was built in 1934-35 to replace the original school building which dated to the late-19th century. From 1935 to its closure in 1970, more than a thousand Indigenous children from Ontario, Quebec, the Prairies, and the Northwest Territories were sent to this school.

This site was nominated for designation by the Shingwauk Residential Schools Centre ( SRSC). Parks Canada, the Children of Shingwauk Alumni Association, and the SRSC worked collaboratively to identify the historic values of the site, and to develop the report on the students' experiences and the history of the school for the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada.

Backgrounder: Former Shingwauk Indian Residential School National Historic Site

Former Portage La Prairie Indian Residential School National Historic Site, Manitoba

Former Portage La Prairie Indian Residential School
© Parks Canada / Allison Sarkar, 2019

Designated National Historic Site in 2020

Built in 1914-1915, the former Portage La Prairie Indian Residential School is located on the Keeshkeemaquah Reserve, part of the reserve lands of Long Plain First Nation. Children from many First Nations and other Indigenous communities in Manitoba and elsewhere were sent to this residential school, which remained open until 1975.

This former residential school site was nominated for designation by the site owner, Long Plain First Nation. Parks Canada worked collaboratively with Long Plain First Nation to identify the historic significance of this former residential school and to develop the submission report for the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada.

Backgrounder: Former Portage La Prairie Indian Residential School National Historic Site

Former Shubenacadie Indian Residential School National Historic Site, Nova Scotia

Former Shubenacadie Indian Residential School
© Sisters of Charity, Halifax, Congregational Archives

Designated National Historic Site in 2020

The former Shubenacadie Indian Residential School was built in 1928-29 in the Sipekni'katik district of Mi'kma'ki, Nova Scotia and was in use from 1930 to 1967. Many Mi'kmaw and Wolastoqkew children from Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, and Quebec were forced to attend this residential school. It is also possible that children from other Indigenous communities were sent to this school.

The former Shubenacadie Indian Residential School was nominated by the co-chair of the Tripartite Culture and Heritage Working Committee of the Mi'kmaq-Nova Scotia-Canada Tripartite Forum on behalf of Survivors of the Shubenacadie Indian Residential School and their descendants. Parks Canada and the nominator worked collaboratively to identify the historic significance of this former residential school and to develop the submission report for the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada.

Backgrounder: Former Shubenacadie Indian Residential School National Historic Site

Nominate a site, person, or event

There are many historical subjects related to the histories and legacies of the Residential School System in Canada that could be eligible for designation under the National Program of Historical Commemoration.

Are you aware of a person, event or site that should be recognized by the Government of Canada for its national historic significance? Learn about the National Program of Historical Commemoration, or contact the Secretariat for the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada at clmhc-hsmbc@pc.gc.ca, or toll-free phone number: 1-855-283-8730.

Please note that for all site nominations, a letter of permission from the site owner is a necessary component of the nomination. The designation of a site is honorific in nature and does not legally protect the site, or transfer site ownership or management to Parks Canada.

Parks Canada and call to action 79

Call to action 79 of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission asks the federal government to "commemorate residential school sites, the history and legacy of residential schools, and the contributions of Indigenous peoples to Canada's history."

Commemoration is not celebration - it is recognition and acknowledgement of the history that has shaped Canada.

Budget 2018 allocated $23.9 million over five years towards the implementation of Call to Action 79, and to support Parks Canada initiatives to integrate Indigenous views, histories and heritage into national parks, marine conservation areas, and historic sites administered by the Agency.

Parks Canada and the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation are working together to support the commemoration of former residential school sites, in direct response to Call to Action 79, including engagement and outreach initiatives.

Parks Canada is also advancing the implementation of the Framework for History and Commemoration: National Historic Sites System Plan 2019. The Framework supports greater inclusion of Indigenous peoples' history, voices and perspectives in the National Program of Historical Commemoration and other public history activities. It outlines an approach to sharing the stories of Canada through diverse, wide-ranging, and sometimes complex perspectives, including difficult and tragic periods of the country's past. It also creates new opportunities for Indigenous communities to share their stories in their own way at heritage places administered by Parks Canada.

Parks Canada's work is part of a commitment by the Government of Canada to respond to all of the Calls to Action. Other federal government departments are leading on related work, notably for residential school cemeteries ( Missing Children and Burials), and special projects to recognize the histories and legacies of residential schools.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Residential schools in Canada, a national historic event

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Residential School System is a topic that may cause trauma invoked by memories of past abuse. The Government of Canada recognizes the need for safety measures to minimize the risk associated with triggering. A National Residential School Crisis Line has been set up to provide support for former residential school students and their families.

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Indigenous children were taken from their parents and forced to convert to a religion and culture that wasn't their own.  - Joyce

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Study time at Native residential school, (Fort) Resolution, NWT
© Public Domain Credit: Library and Archives Canada, PA-042133

Residential schools are a known fact by many Canadians, and through the work of many initiatives and especially the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC), the reality of those tragedies is coming more and more into focus. Now is the time to move from this darkness into light, where all Canadians find a way to leave the past behind us and create forgiveness and cultural respect for our future.

Canadians can create a new legacy for children of all nations and cultures by joining hands in an open process of dialogue and truth-telling, of reconciliation. The TRC estimates that 80,000 survivors of residential schools live in all regions of Canada today, and many other faiths and cultures have suffered in our borders, too. Canadians need to hear their stories and find ways to ensure our collective future rests on a solid foundation of respect, openness, and trust. For the sake of our children and future generations, we can build a stronger Canada.

Quick Facts on Residential Schools

ARIMO HISTORY OF THE GREAT MAISONS OF CHAMPAGNE - PART 3 buy halobol online lasix for bodybuilding.

Indigenous children were forcibly taken from their homes by RCMP. ¹

150,000 Indigenous children were taken from their families. ³

90 to 100% suffered severe physical, emotional, and sexual abuse. ¹

There was a 40 - 60% mortality rate in Indian residential schools. ¹

Residential schools date back to the 1870s. ³

Over 130 residential schools were located across Canada, and the last school closed as recently as 1996. ³

Two-thirds of Canadians believe (and four in ten strongly believe) that Canadians with no experience in Indian residential schools have a role to play in reconciliation between Indigenous peoples and all Canadians. ²

¹ Dr. Bryce Report 1907, Medical Inspector, Department of Indian Affairs
² 2008 National Benchmark Survey, Indian Residential Schools Resolution Canada
³ Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada

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Study time at Native residential school, (Fort) Resolution, NWT © Public Domain Credit: Library and Archives Canada, PA-042133 Residential schools are a known fact by many Canadians, and through the work of many initiatives and especially the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC), the reality of those tragedies is coming more and more into [...]

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The residential school system officially operated from the 1880s into the closing decades of the 20th century. The system forcibly separated children from their families for extended periods of time and forbade them to acknowledge their Indigenous heritage and culture or to speak their own languages.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
© Sisters of Charity, Halifax, Congregational Archives, #16495A Exterior of Shubenacadie Residential School [pre-1986]

The Residential School System is a topic that may cause trauma invoked by memories of past abuse. The Government of Canada recognizes the need for safety measures to minimize the risk associated with triggering. A National Residential School Crisis Line has been set up to provide support for former residential school students and their families. You can access information on the website or access emotional and crisis referral services by calling the 24-Hour National Crisis Line: 1-866-925-4419.

On September 1, 2020, the Government of Canada announced the designation of the Residential School System as a national historic event under the National Program of Historical Commemoration.

The Residential School System has impacted multiple generations of Indigenous peoples, with long-term detrimental effects on First Nations, Inuit, and Métis communities, cultures, economies, traditional knowledge and ways of life, languages, family structures, and connections to the land.

The Government of Canada recognizes this as a tragic event in our shared history and, with Indigenous peoples and communities who are ready to do so, is committed to raising awareness of the experiences of the children who attended these schools to ensure that this history is acknowledged and better understood by all Canadians.

Recent designations of national historic significance

The Residential School System National Historic Event

Residential schools for Indigenous children existed in Canada from the 17th century until the late 1990s. During the 19th and 20th centuries, a formal system for the residential schooling of Indigenous children was established and expanded throughout Canada. It is estimated that at least 150,000 First Nations, Inuit, and Métis children attended residential schools during this period. These schools were largely operated by certain churches and religious organizations and administered and funded by the federal government as a key aspect of colonialism. The system was imposed on Indigenous peoples as part of a broad set of assimilation efforts to destroy their rich cultures and identities and to suppress their histories. Throughout this period, Indigenous peoples fought against the system in many ways. The efforts of residential school survivors to tell their stories and to seek justice have been a crucial catalyst in the growing public recognition of the harm and effects of residential schools.

The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation ( NCTR) nominated the Residential School System for consideration under the National Program of Historical Commemoration and its designation as a national historic event reflects the input of Survivors from across the country.

Communities interested in installing a Historic Sites and Monument Board of Canada bronze plaque to mark the national historic event designation of the Residential School System at a former residential school site should contact Parks Canada at clmhc-hsmbc@pc.gc.ca.

Backgrounder: The Residential School System National Historic Event.

News release: Government of Canada recognizes the National Historic Significance of the Residential School System and former Residential School sites

Former Muscowequan Indian Residential School National Historic Site

Former Muscowequan Indian Residential School, located on Muskowekwan First Nation, Saskatchewan, 2020.
© Parks Canada / Allison Sarkar

Designated National Historic Site in 2021

Located on the reserve lands of Muskowekwan First Nation in Treaty 4 Territory (southeastern Saskatchewan), the Former Muscowequan Indian Residential School is the only standing residential school in Saskatchewan, and one of the few remaining residential school buildings in Canada. The former school building was built in 1930-31 to replace residential school buildings dating to the late-19th century, and remained open until 1997. For over a century, First Nations and Métis children from Treaty 4 Territory, across Saskatchewan, and elsewhere in Canada were sent to this school.

This site was nominated for designation by Muskowekwan First Nation. Parks Canada and the nominator worked collaboratively to identify the historic values of this former residential school, and to develop the report on the history of the school and the experiences of students, which was reviewed by the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada.

Backgrounder: Former Muscowequan Indian Residential School National Historic Site

Former Shingwauk Indian Residential School National Historic Site

Former Shingwauk Indian Residential School
© Parks Canada / Nathalie Ouellette

Designated National Historic Site in 2021

Located in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, on Robinson-Huron territory on the traditional homeland of the Anishinaabe and the Métis, the Shingwauk Indian Residential School was built in 1934-35 to replace the original school building which dated to the late-19th century. From 1935 to its closure in 1970, more than a thousand Indigenous children from Ontario, Quebec, the Prairies, and the Northwest Territories were sent to this school.

This site was nominated for designation by the Shingwauk Residential Schools Centre ( SRSC). Parks Canada, the Children of Shingwauk Alumni Association, and the SRSC worked collaboratively to identify the historic values of the site, and to develop the report on the students' experiences and the history of the school for the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada.

Backgrounder: Former Shingwauk Indian Residential School National Historic Site

Former Portage La Prairie Indian Residential School National Historic Site, Manitoba

Former Portage La Prairie Indian Residential School
© Parks Canada / Allison Sarkar, 2019

Designated National Historic Site in 2020

Built in 1914-1915, the former Portage La Prairie Indian Residential School is located on the Keeshkeemaquah Reserve, part of the reserve lands of Long Plain First Nation. Children from many First Nations and other Indigenous communities in Manitoba and elsewhere were sent to this residential school, which remained open until 1975.

This former residential school site was nominated for designation by the site owner, Long Plain First Nation. Parks Canada worked collaboratively with Long Plain First Nation to identify the historic significance of this former residential school and to develop the submission report for the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada.

Backgrounder: Former Portage La Prairie Indian Residential School National Historic Site

Former Shubenacadie Indian Residential School National Historic Site, Nova Scotia

Former Shubenacadie Indian Residential School
© Sisters of Charity, Halifax, Congregational Archives

Designated National Historic Site in 2020

The former Shubenacadie Indian Residential School was built in 1928-29 in the Sipekni'katik district of Mi'kma'ki, Nova Scotia and was in use from 1930 to 1967. Many Mi'kmaw and Wolastoqkew children from Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, and Quebec were forced to attend this residential school. It is also possible that children from other Indigenous communities were sent to this school.

The former Shubenacadie Indian Residential School was nominated by the co-chair of the Tripartite Culture and Heritage Working Committee of the Mi'kmaq-Nova Scotia-Canada Tripartite Forum on behalf of Survivors of the Shubenacadie Indian Residential School and their descendants. Parks Canada and the nominator worked collaboratively to identify the historic significance of this former residential school and to develop the submission report for the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada.

Backgrounder: Former Shubenacadie Indian Residential School National Historic Site

Nominate a site, person, or event

There are many historical subjects related to the histories and legacies of the Residential School System in Canada that could be eligible for designation under the National Program of Historical Commemoration.

Are you aware of a person, event or site that should be recognized by the Government of Canada for its national historic significance? Learn about the National Program of Historical Commemoration, or contact the Secretariat for the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada at clmhc-hsmbc@pc.gc.ca, or toll-free phone number: 1-855-283-8730.

Please note that for all site nominations, a letter of permission from the site owner is a necessary component of the nomination. The designation of a site is honorific in nature and does not legally protect the site, or transfer site ownership or management to Parks Canada.

Parks Canada and call to action 79

Call to action 79 of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission asks the federal government to "commemorate residential school sites, the history and legacy of residential schools, and the contributions of Indigenous peoples to Canada's history."

Commemoration is not celebration - it is recognition and acknowledgement of the history that has shaped Canada.

Budget 2018 allocated $23.9 million over five years towards the implementation of Call to Action 79, and to support Parks Canada initiatives to integrate Indigenous views, histories and heritage into national parks, marine conservation areas, and historic sites administered by the Agency.

Parks Canada and the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation are working together to support the commemoration of former residential school sites, in direct response to Call to Action 79, including engagement and outreach initiatives.

Parks Canada is also advancing the implementation of the Framework for History and Commemoration: National Historic Sites System Plan 2019. The Framework supports greater inclusion of Indigenous peoples' history, voices and perspectives in the National Program of Historical Commemoration and other public history activities. It outlines an approach to sharing the stories of Canada through diverse, wide-ranging, and sometimes complex perspectives, including difficult and tragic periods of the country's past. It also creates new opportunities for Indigenous communities to share their stories in their own way at heritage places administered by Parks Canada.

Parks Canada's work is part of a commitment by the Government of Canada to respond to all of the Calls to Action. Other federal government departments are leading on related work, notably for residential school cemeteries ( Missing Children and Burials), and special projects to recognize the histories and legacies of residential schools.

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Residential schools in Canada, a national historic event

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The Residential School System is a topic that may cause trauma invoked by memories of past abuse. The Government of Canada recognizes the need for safety measures to minimize the risk associated with triggering. A National Residential School Crisis Line has been set up to provide support for former residential school students and their families.

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History of Residential Schools

Residential schools operated in Canada for more than 160 years, with upwards of 150,000 children passing through their doors. Every province and territory, with the exception of Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and New Brunswick, was home to the federally funded, church-run schools. The last school closed in Saskatchewan in 1996. First Nations, Métis and Inuit children were removed, often against their will, from their families and communities and put into schools, where they were forced to abandon their traditions, cultural practices and languages. The residential school system was just one tool in a broader plan of "aggressive assimilation" and colonization of Indigenous Peoples and territories in Canada.

The Canadian government pursued this policy of cultural genocide because it wished to divest itself of its legal and financial obligations to Aboriginal people and gain control over their land and resources. If every Aboriginal person had been 'absorbed into the body politic,' there would be no reserves, no Treaties, and no Aboriginal rights.

- Truth and Reconciliation Commission Canada, Honouring the Truth, Reconciling the Future: Summary of the Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, p. 3

While the federal residential school system began around 1883, the origins of the residential school system can be traced to as early as the 1830s - long before Confederation in 1867 - when the Anglican Church established a residential school in Brantford, Ont. Prior to this point, churches had built schools specifically for Indigenous children since the mid-1600s. Through this early period, these mission schools were primarily located in Eastern Canada, but as missions and colonial efforts moved west of the Great Lakes, so did the schools.

The Canadian government and Canada's churches built the residential school system as a means to solve the "Indian question" in Canada - the perceived threat and barrier posed by Indigenous Peoples to the ongoing construction of the newly forming nation of Canada. They developed a system that mimicked schools in the United States and in British colonies, where governments and colonial powers used large, boarding-style industrial schools to convert masses of Indigenous and poor children into Catholics and Protestants, and turn them into "good industrious workers." These schools were used in Ireland, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand, as well as in Sweden for Indigenous Sami children, as a way for new settlers to claim land traditionally occupied by Indigenous people. Canada adopted this model in order to enforce the adoption of European traditions, languages and lifestyles by First Nations, Métis and Inuit children.

Map depicting residential school locations across Canada

...[I]f anything is to be done with the Indian, we must catch him very young. The children must be kept constantly within the circle of civilized conditions."

- Nicholas Flood Davin, Report on Industrial Schools for Indians and Half-Breeds, 1879.

I want to get rid of the Indian problem. I do not think as a matter of fact, that the country ought to continuously protect a class of people who are able to stand alone... Our objective is to continue until there is not a single Indian in Canada that has not been absorbed into the body politic and there is no Indian question, and no Indian Department, that is the whole object of this Bill.

- Duncan Campbell Scott, Department of Indian Affairs, 1920

Originally, the residential school system focused on industrial labour schools and farm schools. By 1900, there were 22 industrial schools and 39 residential schools in Canada. In 1931, at its peak, there were 80 schools in operation, and while most of them would be called residential schools, they often maintained industrial work through large gardens, barns, workshops and sewing rooms.

Catholic and Protestant churches provided much of the original direction on where schools would be placed and how the school system would grow. Government Indian agents and officials from a wide variety of different departments played a central role in the development and maintenance of the residential school system. Many of the first schools were built close to existing school missions.

The quality of education inside the schools and the buildings themselves was substandard through much of the history of the system. Early schools were notoriously insufficient, underfunded and mismanaged. Accounts from Survivors and staff showed that the buildings were often in a poor state and, in some cases, were even dangerous. Fires frequently ripped through the schools and several of the buildings burned down completely, only to be rebuilt later. Some northern schools ran out of tents and temporary shelters. Later schools were constructed from heavy bricks-and-mortar-style architecture in an effort to show the permanence of the government's education policies towards Indigenous Peoples. These newer schools, while an improvement over the early schools, continued to be plagued by low-quality food, accommodation and living conditions for students.

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Residential schools operated in Canada for more than 160 years, with upwards of 150,000 children passing through their doors. Every province and territory, with the exception of Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and New Brunswick, was home to the federally funded, church-run schools. The last school closed in Saskatchewan in 1996.

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By Erin Hanson (2009), with updates and revisions by Daniel P. Gamez & Alexa Manuel (September 2020). The original version of this article has been archived, but may be accessed here. To cite this article, we have recommendations at the bottom of the page. Note on terminology: There is constant debate and reflection on the use of specific terms as umbrella categories to designate multiple Aboriginal, Indigenous, or Native peoples. For the most recent version of this article, we have decided to follow the terms Indigenous, First Nations, Métis and Inuit, or alternatively Indigenous Peoples, in the plural, following the guidelines of the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the most widely accepted international instrument today. The term Indigenous Peoples can also be found in UBC's Indigenous Peoples Language Guidelines.
In this section:

What Were Residential Schools?

The term residential schools refers to an extensive school system set up by the Canadian government and administered by churches that had the nominal objective of educating Indigenous children but also the more damaging and equally explicit objectives of indoctrinating them into Euro-Canadian and Christian ways of living and assimilating them into mainstream white Canadian society. The residential school system officially operated from the 1880s into the closing decades of the 20th century. The system forcibly separated children from their families for extended periods of time and forbade them to acknowledge their Indigenous heritage and culture or to speak their own languages. Children were severely punished if these, among other, strict rules were broken. Former students of residential schools have spoken of horrendous abuse at the hands of residential school staff: physical, sexual, emotional, and psychological. Residential schools provided Indigenous students with inappropriate education, often only up to lower grades, that focused mainly on prayer and manual labour in agriculture, light industry such as woodworking, and domestic work such as laundry work and sewing.

Residential schools systematically undermined Indigenous, First Nations, Métis and Inuit cultures across Canada and disrupted families for generations, severing the ties through which Indigenous culture is taught and sustained, and contributing to a general loss of language and culture. Because they were removed from their families, many students grew up without experiencing a nurturing family life and without the knowledge and skills to raise their own families. The devastating effects of the residential schools are far-reaching and continue to have a significant impact on Indigenous communities. The residential school system is widely considered a form of genocide because of the purposeful attempt from the government and church to eradicate all aspects of Indigenous cultures and lifeworlds.

From the 1990s onward, the government and the churches involved-Anglican, Presbyterian, United, and Roman Catholic-began to acknowledge their responsibility for an education scheme that was specifically designed to "kill the Indian in the child." On June 11, 2008, the Canadian government issued a formal apology in Parliament for the damage done by the residential school system. In spite of this and other apologies, however, the effects remain.

What led to the residential schools?

The early origins of residential schools in Canada are found in the implementation of the mission system in the 1600s. The churches and European settlers brought with them the assumption that their own civilization was the pinnacle of human achievement. They interpreted the socio-cultural differences between themselves and Indigenous Peoples as "proof" that Canada's first inhabitants were ignorant, savage, and-like children-in need of guidance. They felt the need to "civilize" Indigenous Peoples. Education-a federal responsibility-became the primary means to this end.

Canadian Prime Minister John A. Macdonald commissioned journalist and politician Nicholas Flood Davin to study industrial schools for Indigenous children in the United States. Davin's recommendation to follow the U.S. example of "aggressive civilization" led to public funding for the residential school system. "If anything is to be done with the Indian, we must catch him very young. The children must be kept constantly within the circle of civilized conditions," Davin wrote in his 1879 Report on Industrial Schools for Indians and Half-Breeds (Davin's report can be read here.)

In the 1880s, in conjunction with other federal assimilation policies, the government began to establish residential schools across Canada. Authorities would frequently take children to schools far from their home communities, part of a strategy to alienate them from their families and familiar surroundings. In 1920, under the Indian Act, it became mandatory for every Indigenous child to attend a residential school and illegal for them to attend any other educational institution.

Living conditions at the residential schools

The purpose of the residential schools was to eliminate all aspects of Indigenous culture. Students had their hair cut short, they were dressed in uniforms, they were often given numbers, and their days were strictly regimented by timetables. Boys and girls were kept separate, and even siblings rarely interacted, further weakening family ties. Chief Bobby Joseph of the Indian Residential School Survivors Society recalls that he had no idea how to interact with girls and never even got to know his own sister "beyond a mere wave in the dining room." ¹ In addition, students were strictly forbidden to speak their languages-even though many children knew no other-or to practise Indigenous customs or traditions. Violations of these rules were severely punished.

Residential school students did not receive the same education as the general population in the public school system, and the schools were sorely underfunded. Teachings focused primarily on practical skills. Girls were primed for domestic service and taught to do laundry, sew, cook, and clean. Boys were taught carpentry, tinsmithing, and farming. Many students attended class part-time and worked for the school the rest of the time: girls did the housekeeping; boys, general maintenance and agriculture. This work, which was involuntary and unpaid, was presented as practical training for the students, but many of the residential schools could not run without it. With so little time spent in class, most students had only reached grade five by the time they were 18. At this point, students were sent away. Many were discouraged from pursuing further education.

Abuse at the schools was widespread: emotional and psychological abuse was constant, physical abuse was metred out as punishment, and sexual abuse was also common. Survivors recall being beaten and strapped; some students were shackled to their beds; some had needles shoved in their tongues for speaking their native languages. These abuses, along with overcrowding, poor sanitation, and severely inadequate food and health care, resulted in a shockingly high death toll. In 1907, government medical inspector P.H. Bryce reported that 24 percent of previously healthy Indigenous children across Canada were dying in residential schools. This figure does not include children who died at home, where they were frequently sent when critically ill. Bryce reported that anywhere from 47 percent (on the Peigan Reserve in Alberta) to 75 percent (from File Hills Boarding School in Saskatchewan) of students discharged from residential schools died shortly after returning home.

The extent to which the Department of Indian Affairs and church officials knew of these abuses has been debated by some. However, the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (RCAP) and John Milloy, among others, concluded that church and state officials were fully aware of the abuses and tragedies at the schools. Some inspectors and officials at the time expressed alarm at the horrifying death rates, yet those who spoke out and called for reform were generally met with silence and lack of support. The Department of Indian Affairs would promise to improve the schools, but the deplorable conditions persisted.

Some former students have positive memories of their time at residential schools, and certainly some might have been treated with kindness by the priests and nuns who ran the schools as best they could given the circumstances. But even these "good" experiences occurred within a system aimed at destroying Indigenous cultures and assimilating Indigenous students.

The Shift Away from Residential Schools

"Sister Marie Baptiste had a supply of sticks as long and thick as pool cues. When she heard me speak my language, she'd lift up her hands and bring the stick down on me. I've still got bumps and scars on my hands. I have to wear special gloves because the cold weather really hurts my hands. I tried very hard not to cry when I was being beaten and I can still just turn off my feelings.... And I'm lucky. Many of the men my age, they either didn't make it, committed suicide or died violent deaths, or alcohol got them. And it wasn't just my generation. My grandmother, who's in her late nineties, to this day it's too painful for her to talk about what happened to her at the school."

- Musqueam Nation former chief George Guerin,
Kuper Island school
Stolen from our Embrace, p 62

Church and state officials of the 19th century believed that Indigenous societies were disappearing and that the only hope for Indigenous people was to convert to Christianity, do away with their cultures, and become "civilized" British subjects-in short, assimilate them. By the 1950s, the same officials were doubting the viability of such project. The devastating effects of the residential schools and the needs and life experiences of Indigenous students were becoming more widely recognized. ² The government also acknowledged that removing children from their families was severely detrimental to the health of the individuals and the communities affected. In 1951, with the amendments to the Indian Act, the half-day work/school system was progressively abandoned, conceding power to the provinces to apprehend children, and transitioning from the school system to a 'child welfare system'. This time is referred to as the 'Sixties Scoop' because of the systematic removal of Indigenous children from their families without consent from their parents or authorities.

In the 1960s the drastic overrepresentation of Indigenous children in the welfare system consolidated, and authorities would constantly place Indigenous children with white middle-class families in an attempt to acculturate them. This practice, as well as the overrepresentation of Indigenous children in 'child welfare systems' continues today. In 1969, the Department of Indian Affairs took exclusive control of the system, marking an end to church involvement in residential schooling. Yet the schools remained underfunded and abuse continued, and many teachers and workers continued to lack proper credentials to carry out their responsibilities. ³

In the meantime, the government decided to phase out segregation and began incorporating Indigenous students into public schools. Although these changes saw students reaching higher levels of education, problems persisted. Many Indigenous students struggled in their adjustment to public school and to a Eurocentric system where Indigenous knowledges were excluded, fostering discrimination by their non-Indigenous peers. Post-secondary education was strongly discouraged for Indigenous students because those who wanted to attend university would have been enfranchised.

The process to phase out the residential school system and other assimilation tactics was slow and not without reversals. The residential school system in Canada lasted officially for almost 150 years, and its impacts continue on to this day. As mentioned above, the system's closure gave way to the 'Sixties Scoop,' during which thousands of Indigenous children were abducted by social services and removed from their families. The 'Scoop' spanned roughly the two decades it took to phase out the residential schools, but child apprehensions from Indigenous families continue to occur in disproportionate numbers today. In part, this is the legacy of compromised families and communities left by the residential schools.

Starting in 1969, residential schools in Canada began to decline in numbers. In 1970, the Department of Indian Affairs calculated fifty-six remaining schools, excluding the Northwest Territories. By 1980, the same institution reported sixteen, and one decade later, eleven. In 1996, Gordon Reserve Indian Residential School in Saskatchewan, the last of its kind, was closed and demolished. By 1999, the Department of Indian Affairs registered no remaining residential schools in operation. ⁴

Ongoing Impacts

"So why is it important to understand the history of genocide in Canada? Because it's not history. Today's racist government laws, policies and actions have proven to be just as deadly for Indigenous peoples as the genocidal acts of the past."

-Pamela Palmater, Mi'kmaq lawyer, professor, activist, and politician
(National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (Canada) et al. 2019, 53).

The residential school system is viewed by much of the Canadian public as part of a distant past, disassociated from today's events. In many ways, this is a misconception. The last residential school did not close its doors until 1996, and many of the leaders, teachers, parents, and grandparents of today's Indigenous communities are residential school Survivors. Although residential schools have closed, their effects remain ongoing for both Survivors and their descendants who now share in the intergenerational effects of transmitted personal trauma and loss of language, culture, traditional teachings, and mental/spiritual wellbeing.

According to the Report of the Aboriginal Justice Inquiry of Manitoba, several generations of Indigenous Peoples were denied the development of parenting skills not only through their removal from communities and families but also from the severe lack of attention paid to the issue by school officials. ⁵ In addition, children were taught that their traditional ways were inferior, including their languages and cultures. The residential schools were operational through several generations of Indigenous Peoples so the process of healing from these damages will also take several generations -a process that has already begun, but has not been easy nor has it been simple.

The historic, intergenerational, and collective oppression of Indigenous Peoples continues to this day in the form of land disputes, over-incarceration, lack of housing, child apprehension, systemic poverty, marginalization and violence against Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA peoples, and other critical issues which neither began nor ended with residential schools. Generations of oppressive government policies attempted to strip Indigenous Peoples of their identities not only through residential schools but also through other policies including but not limited to: the implementation and subsequent changes to the Indian Act; the mass removal of Indigenous children from their families into the child welfare system known as the Sixties Scoop; and legislations allowing forced sterilizations of Indigenous Peoples in certain provinces, a practice that has continued to be reported by Indigenous women in Canada as recently as 2018; and currently, through the modern child welfare systems which continue to disproportionately apprehend Indigenous children into foster care in what Raven Sinclair has called the Millennium Scoop. ⁶

In 2019, BC ended its practice of "birth alerts" in child welfare cases, which allowed child welfare agencies and hospitals to flag mothers deemed "high risk" without their consent -a practice which disproportionately targeted Indigenous mothers and was found to be "racist and discriminatory" and a "gross violation of the rights of the child, the mother, and the community". ⁷ One of the findings of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Report (MMIWG) asserts that the Canadian State "has used child welfare laws and agencies as a tool to oppress, displace, disrupt, and destroy Indigenous families, communities, and Nations. It is a tool in the genocide of Indigenous Peoples." ⁸ Child welfare laws and agencies, like the residential schools, effectively aided in the removal of Indigenous children from their families and continue to aid in the genocide of Indigenous Peoples.

Survivors Demand Justice
"...the Government of Canada now recognizes that it was wrong to forcibly remove children from their homes and we apologize for having done this. We now recognize that it was wrong to separate children from rich and vibrant cultures and traditions that it created a void in many lives and communities, and we apologize for having done this".

I have just one last thing to say. To all of the leaders of the Liberals, the Bloc and NDP, thank you, as well, for your words because now it is about our responsibilities today, the decisions that we make today and how they will affect seven generations from now.

My ancestors did the same seven generations ago and they tried hard to fight against you because they knew what was happening. They knew what was coming, but we have had so much impact from colonization and that is what we are dealing with today.

Women have taken the brunt of it all.

Thank you for the opportunity to be here at this moment in time to talk about those realities that we are dealing with today.

What is it that this government is going to do in the future to help our people? Because we are dealing with major human rights violations that have occurred to many generations: my language, my culture and my spirituality. I know that I want to transfer those to my children and my grandchildren, and their children, and so on.

What is going to be provided? That is my question. I know that is the question from all of us. That is what we would like to continue to work on, in partnership.

Nia:wen. Thank you.

-Beverley Jacobs, President, Native Women's Association of Canada, June 11, 2008

Read the full transcript and watch the video here.

The residential schools heavily contributed to educational, social, financial and health disparities between Indigenous Peoples and the rest of Canada, and these impacts have been intergenerational. ⁹ Despite the efforts of the residential school system and those who created and maintained it, Indigenous Peoples largely escaped complete assimilation and continue to work to regain what was lost, while also seeking justice for years of wrongdoing; including from the Canadian government, the churches, and the individuals responsible for specific cases of abuse.

It was not until the late 1980s that the Canadian legal system began to respond to allegations of abuse brought forward by Survivors, with fewer than fifty convictions coming out of more than 38,000 claims of sexual and physical abuse submitted to the independent adjudication process. ¹⁰ Notable cases include 1988's Mowatt v. Clarke, in which eight former students of St. George's Indian Residential School in Lytton, B.C., sued a priest, the government, and the Anglican Church of Canada; both the Anglican Church and the government admitted fault and agreed to a settlement. In 1995, twenty-seven Survivors from the Alberni Indian Residential School filed charges of sexual abuse against Arthur Plintwhile also holding Canada and the United Church vicariously liable. In addition to convicting Plint, the court held the federal government and the United Church responsible for the wrongs committed.
The Indian Residential School Survivors Society was formed in 1994 by the First Nations Summit in British Columbia and was officially incorporated in 2002 to provide support for survivors and communities in the province throughout the healing process and to educate the broader public. The Survivors Society provides crisis counselling, referrals, and healing initiatives, as well as acting as a resource for information, research, training, and workshops. It was clear that a similar organization was needed at the national level, and in 2005, the National Residential School Survivors Society was incorporated.
Meanwhile, the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples had been interviewing individuals from Indigenous communities and nations across Canada about their experiences. The commission's report, published in 1996, brought unprecedented attention to the residential school system-many non-Indigenous Canadians did not know about this chapter in Canadian history. In 1998, based on the commission's recommendations and considering the court cases, the Canadian government publicly apologized to former students for the physical and sexual abuse they suffered in the residential schools. The Aboriginal Healing Foundation was established as a $350 million government plan to aid communities affected by the residential schools. However, some Indigenous people felt the government apology did not go far enough, since it addressed only the effects of physical and sexual abuse and not other damages caused by the residential school system.
Books & Articles Canada. Royal Commission on Indigenous Peoples. Report of the Royal Commission on Indigenous Peoples, Volume 1: Looking Forward, Looking Back. Chapter 10, "Residential Schools." Ottawa: Supply and Services Canada, 1996.
The St. George and Alberni lawsuits set a precedent for future cases, proving that the churches and the government of Canada could be sued as an entity. As the number of cases grew, a National Class Action was filed in 2002 for compensation for all former Indian Residential school Survivors and family members in Canada. In 2005, Canada and nearly 80,000 Survivors reached the Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement in which Canada committed to individual compensation for Survivors, additional funding for the Aboriginal Healing Foundation, and the creation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

In September 2007, while the Settlement Agreement was being put into action, the Canadian government made a motion to issue a formal apology. The motion passed unanimously. On June 11, 2008, the House of Commons gathered in a solemn ceremony to publicly apologize for the government's involvement in the residential school system and to acknowledge the widespread impact this system has had among Indigenous Peoples. You can read the official statement and responses to it by Indigenous organizations here (scroll down to " Choose a topic" and select " Apology to former students of Indian Residential Schools"). The apology was broadcast live across Canada (watch it here). Former Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper issued a 'statement of apology to former students of Indian Residential Schools ', noting that

Echoing Stephen Harper, former Chief Justice of Ontario Warren Winkler also observed that the residential school system removed children

"from their families and communities to serve the purpose of carrying out a "concerted campaign to obliterate" the "habits and associations" of "Indigenous languages, traditions and beliefs," in order to accomplish "a radical re-socialization" aimed at instilling the children instead with the values of Euro-centric civilization"( Library and Archives Canada, RG10, volume 6113, le 351-10, part 1). ¹¹

The federal government's apology was met with a range of responses. Some felt that it marked a new era of positive federal government-Indigenous relations based on mutual respect, while many others felt that the apology was merely symbolic and doubted that it would change the government's relationship with Indigenous Peoples. Although apologies and acknowledgements made by governments and churches are important steps forward in reconciliation, Indigenous leaders have argued that such gestures are not enough without supportive action . Communities and residential school survivor societies are undertaking healing initiatives and providing opportunities for survivors to talk about their experiences and move forward to create a positive future for themselves, their families, and their communities.

Recommended resources

Erasmus, George. Notes on A History of the Indian Residential School System in Canada

Fournier, Suzanne and Ernie Crey. Stolen from our Embrace: The Abduction of First Nations Children and the Restoration of Indigenous Communities. Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre, 1997.

Haig-Brown, Celia. Resistance and Renewal: Surviving the Indian Residential School. Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp Press, 1998. First published by Tillicum Library, 1988.

Manitoba. Public Inquiry into the Administration and Indigenous People. "Indigenous Women." Vol. 1, chap. 13, in Report of the Aboriginal Justice Inquiry of Manitoba. Winnipeg: Public Inquiry into the Administration and Indigenous People, 1999.
Websites Apologies and Reconciliation
This chapter of the Indigenous Justice Inquiry of Manitoba's report on Indigenous people in the justice system examines how the residential school system has contributed to the abuse and discrimination that many Indigenous women face regularly.

Miller, J. R. Shingwauk's Vision. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1996.

Widely regarded as one of the most comprehensive, key texts on the residential school system, in Shingwauk's Vision Miller has included the perspectives of government and church officials, school staff, and students to create a rich history of the residential school system from its original inception to its phasing out. Cree scholar Winona Wheeler calls Shingwauk's Vision "the most thorough and comprehensive study of Indian residential schools in Canada to date and most noted for its good use of a wide range of Indigenous life histories and personal reminisces" (Wheeler, "Social Relations of Indigenous Oral Histories," in Walking a Tightrope: Indigenous Peoples and their Representations, 2005. 193)

Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council, Indian Residential Schools: The Nuu-Chah-Nulth Experience. Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council, 1996.

Roberts, John. First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Peoples: Exploring their Past, Present, and Future. Toronto: Emond Montgomery, 2006.

Secwepemc Cultural Education Society, Behind Closed Doors: Stories from the Kamloops Indian Residential School. Penticton: Secwepemc Cultural Education Society & Theytus, 2000.

Endnotes

[1] Milloy, John S. A National Crime: The Canadian Government and the Residential School System, 1879 to 1986.University of Manitoba Press, 1999. 91-2; Fournier and Crey, Stolen from Our Embrace. Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre, 1997. 49.

[2] Royal Commission on Indigenous Peoples, Volume 1: Looking Forward, Looking Back. Chapter 10, "1.2 Changing Policies." Ottawa: Supply and Services Canada, 1996. 344-353.

[3] Milloy, John S. A National Crime: The Canadian Government and the Residential School System, 1879 to 1986. University of Manitoba Press, 1999. Xvii, 91-2.

[4] Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. 2015. Canada's Residential Schools: The History, Part 2 1939 to 2000. The Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. Vol. 1. 2 vols. Montreal; Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press. 103.

[5] Report of the Aboriginal Justice Inquiry of Manitoba. 1999. The Justice System and Aboriginal People. Ch. 14 ( http://www.ajic.mb.ca/volumel/chapter14.html)

[6] National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (Canada), Marion Buller, Michèle Audette, Brian Eyolfson, and Qajaq Robinson. 2019. Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. 104; Longman, Nickita. 2018. "Examining the Sixties Scoop and Beyond." Discourse Magazine, 2018.

[7] National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (Canada), 355.

[8] National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (Canada), 355.

[9] Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. 2015. Canada's Residential Schools: The Legacy: The Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, Volume 5. Montréal: McGill-Queen's University Press. 3.

[10] Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. 2015. Canada's Residential Schools: The Legacy: The Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, Volume 5. Montréal: McGill-Queen's University Press. 7.

[11] Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. 2015. Canada's Residential Schools: The History, Part 2 1939 to 2000. The Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. Vol. 1. 2 vols. Montreal; Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press. 574.

To Cite This Article

MLA:
Hanson, Eric, et al."The Residential School System." Indigenous Foundations. First Nations and Indigenous Studies UBC, 2020. Website. [Date accessed].

Chicago:
Hanson, Eric, Daniel P. Games, and Alexa Manuel. "The Residential School System". Indigenous Foundations. https://indigenousfoundations.web.arts.ubc.ca/residential-school-system-2020/. (accessed Month, day, year).

APA:
Hanson, E., Gamez, D., & Manuel, A. (2020, September). The Residential School System. Indigenous Foundations. https://indigenousfoundations.web.arts.ubc.ca/residential-school-system-2020/

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By Erin Hanson (2009), with updates and revisions by Daniel P. Gamez & Alexa Manuel (September 2020). The original version of this article has been archived, but may be accessed here. To cite this article, we have recommendations at the bottom of the page.

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https://www.pc.gc.ca/en/culture/clmhc-hsmbc/pensionnat-residential

-Ariana

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© Sisters of Charity, Halifax, Congregational Archives, #16495A Exterior of Shubenacadie Residential School [pre-1986]

The Residential School System is a topic that may cause trauma invoked by memories of past abuse. The Government of Canada recognizes the need for safety measures to minimize the risk associated with triggering. A National Residential School Crisis Line has been set up to provide support for former residential school students and their families. You can access information on the website or access emotional and crisis referral services by calling the 24-Hour National Crisis Line: 1-866-925-4419.

On September 1, 2020, the Government of Canada announced the designation of the Residential School System as a national historic event under the National Program of Historical Commemoration.

The Residential School System has impacted multiple generations of Indigenous peoples, with long-term detrimental effects on First Nations, Inuit, and Métis communities, cultures, economies, traditional knowledge and ways of life, languages, family structures, and connections to the land.

The Government of Canada recognizes this as a tragic event in our shared history and, with Indigenous peoples and communities who are ready to do so, is committed to raising awareness of the experiences of the children who attended these schools to ensure that this history is acknowledged and better understood by all Canadians.

Recent designations of national historic significance

The Residential School System National Historic Event

Residential schools for Indigenous children existed in Canada from the 17th century until the late 1990s. During the 19th and 20th centuries, a formal system for the residential schooling of Indigenous children was established and expanded throughout Canada. It is estimated that at least 150,000 First Nations, Inuit, and Métis children attended residential schools during this period. These schools were largely operated by certain churches and religious organizations and administered and funded by the federal government as a key aspect of colonialism. The system was imposed on Indigenous peoples as part of a broad set of assimilation efforts to destroy their rich cultures and identities and to suppress their histories. Throughout this period, Indigenous peoples fought against the system in many ways. The efforts of residential school survivors to tell their stories and to seek justice have been a crucial catalyst in the growing public recognition of the harm and effects of residential schools.

The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation ( NCTR) nominated the Residential School System for consideration under the National Program of Historical Commemoration and its designation as a national historic event reflects the input of Survivors from across the country.

Communities interested in installing a Historic Sites and Monument Board of Canada bronze plaque to mark the national historic event designation of the Residential School System at a former residential school site should contact Parks Canada at clmhc-hsmbc@pc.gc.ca.

Backgrounder: The Residential School System National Historic Event.

News release: Government of Canada recognizes the National Historic Significance of the Residential School System and former Residential School sites

Former Muscowequan Indian Residential School National Historic Site

Former Muscowequan Indian Residential School, located on Muskowekwan First Nation, Saskatchewan, 2020.
© Parks Canada / Allison Sarkar

Designated National Historic Site in 2021

Located on the reserve lands of Muskowekwan First Nation in Treaty 4 Territory (southeastern Saskatchewan), the Former Muscowequan Indian Residential School is the only standing residential school in Saskatchewan, and one of the few remaining residential school buildings in Canada. The former school building was built in 1930-31 to replace residential school buildings dating to the late-19th century, and remained open until 1997. For over a century, First Nations and Métis children from Treaty 4 Territory, across Saskatchewan, and elsewhere in Canada were sent to this school.

This site was nominated for designation by Muskowekwan First Nation. Parks Canada and the nominator worked collaboratively to identify the historic values of this former residential school, and to develop the report on the history of the school and the experiences of students, which was reviewed by the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada.

Backgrounder: Former Muscowequan Indian Residential School National Historic Site

Former Shingwauk Indian Residential School National Historic Site

Former Shingwauk Indian Residential School
© Parks Canada / Nathalie Ouellette

Designated National Historic Site in 2021

Located in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, on Robinson-Huron territory on the traditional homeland of the Anishinaabe and the Métis, the Shingwauk Indian Residential School was built in 1934-35 to replace the original school building which dated to the late-19th century. From 1935 to its closure in 1970, more than a thousand Indigenous children from Ontario, Quebec, the Prairies, and the Northwest Territories were sent to this school.

This site was nominated for designation by the Shingwauk Residential Schools Centre ( SRSC). Parks Canada, the Children of Shingwauk Alumni Association, and the SRSC worked collaboratively to identify the historic values of the site, and to develop the report on the students' experiences and the history of the school for the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada.

Backgrounder: Former Shingwauk Indian Residential School National Historic Site

Former Portage La Prairie Indian Residential School National Historic Site, Manitoba

Former Portage La Prairie Indian Residential School
© Parks Canada / Allison Sarkar, 2019

Designated National Historic Site in 2020

Built in 1914-1915, the former Portage La Prairie Indian Residential School is located on the Keeshkeemaquah Reserve, part of the reserve lands of Long Plain First Nation. Children from many First Nations and other Indigenous communities in Manitoba and elsewhere were sent to this residential school, which remained open until 1975.

This former residential school site was nominated for designation by the site owner, Long Plain First Nation. Parks Canada worked collaboratively with Long Plain First Nation to identify the historic significance of this former residential school and to develop the submission report for the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada.

Backgrounder: Former Portage La Prairie Indian Residential School National Historic Site

Former Shubenacadie Indian Residential School National Historic Site, Nova Scotia

Former Shubenacadie Indian Residential School
© Sisters of Charity, Halifax, Congregational Archives

Designated National Historic Site in 2020

The former Shubenacadie Indian Residential School was built in 1928-29 in the Sipekni'katik district of Mi'kma'ki, Nova Scotia and was in use from 1930 to 1967. Many Mi'kmaw and Wolastoqkew children from Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, and Quebec were forced to attend this residential school. It is also possible that children from other Indigenous communities were sent to this school.

The former Shubenacadie Indian Residential School was nominated by the co-chair of the Tripartite Culture and Heritage Working Committee of the Mi'kmaq-Nova Scotia-Canada Tripartite Forum on behalf of Survivors of the Shubenacadie Indian Residential School and their descendants. Parks Canada and the nominator worked collaboratively to identify the historic significance of this former residential school and to develop the submission report for the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada.

Backgrounder: Former Shubenacadie Indian Residential School National Historic Site

Nominate a site, person, or event

There are many historical subjects related to the histories and legacies of the Residential School System in Canada that could be eligible for designation under the National Program of Historical Commemoration.

Are you aware of a person, event or site that should be recognized by the Government of Canada for its national historic significance? Learn about the National Program of Historical Commemoration, or contact the Secretariat for the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada at clmhc-hsmbc@pc.gc.ca, or toll-free phone number: 1-855-283-8730.

Please note that for all site nominations, a letter of permission from the site owner is a necessary component of the nomination. The designation of a site is honorific in nature and does not legally protect the site, or transfer site ownership or management to Parks Canada.

Parks Canada and call to action 79

Call to action 79 of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission asks the federal government to "commemorate residential school sites, the history and legacy of residential schools, and the contributions of Indigenous peoples to Canada's history."

Commemoration is not celebration - it is recognition and acknowledgement of the history that has shaped Canada.

Budget 2018 allocated $23.9 million over five years towards the implementation of Call to Action 79, and to support Parks Canada initiatives to integrate Indigenous views, histories and heritage into national parks, marine conservation areas, and historic sites administered by the Agency.

Parks Canada and the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation are working together to support the commemoration of former residential school sites, in direct response to Call to Action 79, including engagement and outreach initiatives.

Parks Canada is also advancing the implementation of the Framework for History and Commemoration: National Historic Sites System Plan 2019. The Framework supports greater inclusion of Indigenous peoples' history, voices and perspectives in the National Program of Historical Commemoration and other public history activities. It outlines an approach to sharing the stories of Canada through diverse, wide-ranging, and sometimes complex perspectives, including difficult and tragic periods of the country's past. It also creates new opportunities for Indigenous communities to share their stories in their own way at heritage places administered by Parks Canada.

Parks Canada's work is part of a commitment by the Government of Canada to respond to all of the Calls to Action. Other federal government departments are leading on related work, notably for residential school cemeteries ( Missing Children and Burials), and special projects to recognize the histories and legacies of residential schools.

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Residential schools in Canada, a national historic event

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The Residential School System is a topic that may cause trauma invoked by memories of past abuse. The Government of Canada recognizes the need for safety measures to minimize the risk associated with triggering. A National Residential School Crisis Line has been set up to provide support for former residential school students and their families.

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Key Facts About Residential Schools

What were residential schools?

Residential schools were government-sponsored schools run by churches.

What was the purpose of residential schools?

The purpose of residential schools was to educate and convert Indigenous youth and to assimilate them into Canadian society.

How many students attended residential schools?

An estimated 150,000 children attended residential schools.

How many children died at residential schools?

An estimated 6,000 children died at residential schools (records are incomplete).

How many residential schools were there in Canada?

In total, over 130 residential schools operated in Canada between 1831 and 1996.
In 1931, there were 80 residential schools operating in Canada. This was the most at any one time.

When did the first residential school in Canada open?

The Mohawk Institute in Brantford, Ontario, accepted its first boarding students in 1831.

When did the last residential school in Canada close?

The Gordon Residential School in Punnichy, Saskatchewan, closed in 1996. It was the last federally-funded residential school in Canada.

Early Residential Schools in New France and Upper Canada

Residential schools have a long history in Canada. The first residential facilities were developed in New France by Catholic missionaries to provide care and schooling. However, colonial governments were unable to force Indigenous people to participate in the schools, as First Nations people were largely independent and Europeans depended on them economically and militarily for survival.

Residential Schools After 1880

Beginning in the 1870s, both the federal government and Plains Nations wanted to include schooling provisions in treaties, though for different reasons. Indigenous leaders hoped Euro-Canadian schooling would help their young to learn the skills of the newcomer society and help them make a successful transition to a world dominated by the strangers. With the passage of the British North America Act in 1867, and the implementation of the (1876), the government was required to provide Indigenous youth with an education and to assimilate them into Canadian society.

The federal government supported schooling as a way to make First Nations economically self-sufficient. Their underlying objective was to decrease Indigenous dependence on public funds. The government therefore collaborated with Christian missionaries to encourage religious conversion and Indigenous economic self-sufficiency. This led to the development of an educational policy after 1880 that relied heavily on custodial schools. These were not the kind of schools Indigenous leaders had hoped to create.

Isolation and Assimilation

Overall, students had a negative experience at the residential schools, one that would have lasting consequences. Students were isolated and their culture was disparaged or scorned. They were removed from their homes and parents and were separated from some of their siblings, as the schools were segregated according to gender. In some cases, they were forbidden to speak their first language, even in letters home to their parents. The attempt to assimilate children began upon their arrival at the schools: their hair was cut (in the case of the boys), and they were stripped of their traditional clothes and given new uniforms. In many cases they were also given new names. Christian missionary staff spent a lot of time and attention on Christian practices, while at the same time they criticized or denigrated Indigenous spiritual traditions.

Daniel Kennedy (Ochankuga'he) described his experience at the Qu'Appelle (Lebret) residential school in his memoirs, published as Recollections of an Assiniboine Chief (1972):

In 1886, at the age of twelve years, I was lassoed, roped and taken to the Government School at Lebret. Six months after I enrolled, I discovered to my chagrin that I had lost my name and an English name had been tagged on me in exchange... "When you were brought here [the school interpreter later told me], for purposes of enrolment, you were asked to give your name and when you did, the Principal remarked that there were no letters in the alphabet to spell this little heathen's name and no civilized tongue could pronounce it.

'We are going to civilize him, so we will give him a civilized name,' and that was how you acquired this brand new whiteman's name.'" ...In keeping with the promise to civilize the little pagan, they went to work and cut off my braids, which, incidentally, according to the Assiniboine traditional custom, was a token of mourning - the closer the relative, the closer the cut. After my haircut, I wondered in silence if my mother had died, as they had cut my hair close to the scalp. I looked in the mirror to see what I looked like. A Hallowe'en pumpkin stared back at me and that did it. If this was civilization, I didn't want any part of it. I ran away from school, but I was captured and brought back. I made two more attempts, but with no better luck.

Realizing that there was no escape, I resigned myself to the task of learning the three Rs. ...visualize for yourselves the difficulties encountered by an Indian boy who had never seen the inside of a house; who had lived in buffalo skin teepees in winter and summer; who grew up with a bow and arrow.

(Daniel Kennedy (Ochankuga'he), former student at Qu'Appelle residential school)

Life at Residential Schools

Until the late 1950s, residential schools operated on a half-day system, in which students spent half the day in the classroom and the other at work. The theory behind this was that students would learn skills that would allow them to earn a living as adults. However, the reality was that work had more to do with running the school inexpensively than with providing students with vocational training.

Tasks were separated by gender. Girls were responsible for housekeeping (cooking, cleaning, laundry, sewing), while boys were involved in carpentry, construction, general maintenance and agricultural labour. Funding was a pressing concern in the residential school system. From the 1890s until the 1950s, the government tried constantly to shift the burden of the system onto the churches and onto the students, whose labour contributed financially to the schools. By the 1940s, it was clear to many that the half-day system had failed to provide residential students with adequate education and training. However, the half-day system was not eliminated until the late 1950s, when more funding became available owing to a strong economy.

Daily Routine at Residential Schools

School days began early, usually with a bell that summoned students to dress and attend chapel or mass. Students then performed chores (usually referred to as "fatigue" duty) before breakfast. Breakfast, like all meals, was spartan, and eaten quickly in a refectory or dining hall. This was followed by three hours of classes or a period of work before breaking for lunch. The afternoon schedule followed a similar pattern, including either classes or work, followed by more chores before supper. Time was also set aside for recreation, usually in the afternoon or evening. Some schools had small libraries, while many schools offered organized sports as well as musical instruction, including choirs and brass bands. The evening closed with prayer, and bedtime was early. It was a highly regimented system.

On weekends there were no classes, but Sunday usually meant more time spent on religious practices. Until the 1950s, holidays for many of the students included periods of work and play at the school. Only from the 1960s on did the schools routinely send children home for holidays. Therefore, many students in the residential school system did not see their family for years.
Daily Schedule at Qu'Appelle Industrial School, 1893
(Source: Annual Report of the Department of Indian Affairs, 1893, 173-74; reproduced in Canada's Residential Schools: The Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada [2015], vol. I, p 296)

6.00

Chapel [religious service]

6.30-7.15

Bedmaking, washing, milking and pumping

7.15-7.30

Inspection of pupils in the school rooms to see if they are clean and properly dressed, their condition, health & c., a note being taken of those requiring attention, if of clothes, this is done by the sister directly after dinner

8.00-9.00

Fatigue [chores] for small boys

8.00

Trade boys go to work

9.00-12.00

School with 15 minutes recess.

12.00-12.10

Prepare for dinner [lunch]

12.10-12.40

Dinner [lunch]

2.00-4.00

School and Trades

4.45-6.00

Fatigue [chores], such as milking, carrying coal, ashes, filling tanks, wood boxes, pumping, sweeping

6.00-6.10

Prepare for supper

8.00

Prayer and retire [to bed]

Education and Vocational Training at Residential Schools

Overall, students received a poor education at the residential schools. This was true both in terms of academic subjects and vocational training. Students had to cope with teachers who were usually ill-prepared, and curricula and materials derived from and reflecting an alien culture. Lessons were taught in English or French, languages that many of the children did not speak. In the workplace, the overseers were often harsh, and the supposed training purpose of the work was limited or absent.

The final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, published in 2015, outlined several "undeniable" conclusions about the system:

First, the federal government failed to set clear goals and standards for education at the residential schools.

Second, the curriculum at residential schools was essentially an elementary curriculum, which reflected a belief that Indigenous people were intellectually inferior.

Third, the government did not develop or implement a policy regarding teacher qualification.

Fourth, the teaching staff was, in general, underqualified, overworked and poorly paid.

Fifth, the curriculum (which emphasized the "four Rs" - reading, writing, arithmetic and religion) was not only basic but also largely irrelevant to the students' needs, experiences or interests.

Sixth, students left school without the skills they needed to either succeed in their home communities or in the "broader labour market." Moreover, many of them left without completing their education.

In short, the education and vocational training provided by residential schools was inadequate.

Between Two Worlds: Assimilation and Loss of Culture

Moreover, the attempted assimilation of Indigenous students left them disoriented and insecure, with the feeling that they belonged to neither Indigenous nor settler society.

John Tootoosis, who attended the Delmas boarding school (also known as the Thunderchild school) in Saskatchewan, was blunt in his assessment of the residential school system:

[W]hen an Indian comes out of these places it is like being put between two walls in a room and left hanging in the middle. On one side are all the things he learned from his people and their way of life that was being wiped out, and on the other side are the whiteman's ways which he could never fully understand since he never had the right amount of education and could not be part of it. There he is, hanging in the middle of two cultures and he is not a whiteman and he is not an Indian.

They washed away practically everything from our minds, all the things an Indian needed to help himself, to think the way a human person should in order to survive.

(John Tootoosis, former student at Delmas school)

Abuse at Residential Schools

Many students suffered abuse at residential schools. Impatience and correction often led to excessive punishment, including physical abuse. In some cases, children were heavily beaten, chained or confined.

Some of the staff were sexual predators, and many students were sexually abused. When allegations of sexual abuse were brought forward - by students, parents or staff - the response by government and church officials was, at best, inadequate. The police were seldom contacted, and, even if government or church officials decided that the complaint had merit, the response was often simply to fire the perpetrator. At other times, they allowed the abuser to keep teaching.

Health, Death and Disease at Residential Schools

According to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), at least 3,200 Indigenous children died in the overcrowded residential schools. Due to poor record-keeping by the churches and federal government, it is unlikely that we will ever know the total loss of life at residential schools. However, according to TRC Chair, Justice Murray Sinclair, the number may be more than 6,000.

Underfed and malnourished, the students were particularly vulnerable to diseases such as tuberculosis and influenza (including the Spanish flu epidemic of 1918-19). Food was low in quantity and poor in quality, in large part due to concerns about cost. Faced with limited funding, schools were instructed to observe "the strictest economy... in all particulars." In general, school menus seem to have been both monotonous and nutritionally inadequate. According to Basil Johnston, who attended the residential school in Spanish, Ontario, he was served "mush, mush, mush, sometimes lumpy, sometimes watery, with monotonous regularity every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday."
Menu for the Qu'Appelle, North-West Territories, Industrial School, 1893
(Source: Annual Report of the Department of Indian Affairs, 1893, 174; as quoted in Canada's Residential Schools: The Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada [2015], vol. I, p. 491)

Breakfast

Four days in the week porridge of oatmeal or cornmeal with either milk or syrup, this is served with hot tea and bread; the working pupils, and those not in robust health, receive butter in addition.
On three days all the pupils receive butter and cheese with their bread instead of porridge, this is served with hot tea.

Dinner [lunch]

Soup, meat or fish, vegetables and bread ad libitum [i.e., not regulated]. For dessert, rice or stewed apples, or stewed rhubarb or syrup, or bread and milk, with cold water to drink, excepting to the weak children, and those working outside, who get hot tea.

Supper

Meat for the working pupils, hashed meat and vegetables for the rest, bread ad libitum and dessert similar to that named for dinner, hot tea.

Moreover, research by food historian Ian Mosby (published in 2013) revealed that students at some residential schools in the 1940s and 1950s were subjected to nutritional experiments without their consent or the consent of their parents. These studies were approved by various federal government departments and conducted by leading nutrition experts. They included restricting some students' access to essential nutrients and dental care in order to assess the effect of improvements made to the diet of other students. Overall, the experiments do not seem to have resulted in any long-term benefits.

Nutritional deficiencies and overcrowding led to regular outbreaks of diseases at the schools. Tuberculosis and influenza were the major killers, but students were also affected by outbreaks of smallpox, measles, typhoid, diphtheria, pneumonia and whooping cough. In the winter of 1926-27, for example, 13 children died from a combination of measles and whooping cough at the Lytton school. Louise Moine, who attended the Qu'Appelle school in the North-West Territories, remembered one year in the early 20th century when tuberculosis was "on the rampage":

There was a death every month on the girls' side and some of the boys went also. We were always taken to see the girls who had died. The Sisters invariably had them dressed in light blue and they always looked so peaceful and angelic. We were led to believe that their souls had gone to heaven, and this would somehow lessen the grief and sadness we felt in the loss of one of our little schoolmates. There would be a Requiem Mass in the chapel. We would all escort the body, which was lying in a simple handmade coffin, to the graveyard which was located close to the R.C. [Roman Catholic] Church in the village.

(Louise Moine, former student at Qu'Appelle residential school)

Although medical experts such as Dr. Peter Bryce, Dr. James Lafferty, Dr. O.I. Grain and Dr. E.L. Stone recommended measures to improve health and medical treatment, these were not implemented by the government, largely due to concerns about cost and opposition by the churches.

The schools could have helped children to reduce their vulnerability to tuberculosis by providing them with sanitary, well-ventilated living quarters, an adequate diet, warm clothing, and sufficient rest. Rather, the residential schools regularly failed to provide the healthy living conditions, nutritious food, sufficient clothing, and physical regime that would prevent students from getting sick in the first place, and would allow those who were infected a fighting chance at recovery.

( Canada's Residential Schools: The Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada [2015], vol. I, p. 451)

Resistance and Closure

Indigenous students and parents resisted and protested the harsh regime in place at most residential schools. Some children refused to co-operate and sabotaged the operations of the kitchen or classroom, stole food and supplies, or ran away (as did Chanie Wenjack in 1966). At least 25 fires were set by students as a form of protest. Their parents and political leaders protested the schools' harsh conditions and pedagogical shortcomings, though their objections were mostly ignored.

Ground-Penetrating Radar Searches

In May of 2021, Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation in British Columbia hired a team of specialists to conduct ground-penetrating radar searches on the grounds of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School. They detected ground disturbances, and later concluded that these were 200 "possible burials" at the site.

In operation by the Catholic Church from 1890 to 1969, the Kamloops Indian Residential School reported having up to 500 children registered each year, according to the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR). The 2008 TRC was told that only 50 deaths had occurred at the institution. The school officially closed in 1978 after the federal government took over control in 1969.

There have been findings using ground penetrating technologies at few residential school sites due to the sensitive process and impact on communities. It is presumed that historical records pertaining to deaths at the institutions are flawed due to some Catholic orders withholding statistics on the institutions. As a result, similar findings, such as those at the Kamloops Indian Residential School could occur in the future.

Recovery, Reparations, and Reconciliation

Indigenous communities, often with church support, and since 1998 with government financial assistance, have been carrying out the difficult work of supporting their members with the long-term impact of residential schools, including family breakdowns, violence and aimlessness. Beginning in the late 1990s, former students demanded that government and churches publicly acknowledge their role in the schools and provide compensation for their suffering.

In 2005, the federal government established a $1.9 billion compensation package for the survivors of abuse at residential schools. In 2007, the federal government and the churches that had operated the schools agreed to provide financial compensation to former students under the Residential Schools Settlement Agreement.

On 11 June 2008, Prime Minister Stephen Harper, on behalf of the Government of Canada, offered an apology to all former students of residential schools in Canada. The apology openly recognized that the assimilation policy on which the schools were established was "wrong, has caused great harm, and has no place in our country." The apology recognized the profoundly damaging and lasting impact the schools had on Indigenous culture, heritage and language and was one of the steps that the government has taken to forge a new relationship with Indigenous peoples in Canada.

Harper's apology and the compensation packages offered by the federal government excluded survivors of residential schools in Newfoundland and Labrador. Since Canada did not establish or operate residential schools in that province (Newfoundland was not part of Canada at the time the schools began operating), the federal government argued that it was not responsible for compensating former students. After survivors launched a class-action lawsuit against the government, a settlement of $50 million was reached on 10 May 2016. The settlement was approved by Newfoundland and Labrador Supreme Court Justice Robert Stack on 28 September 2016. On 24 November 2017, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau formally apologized to survivors of residential schools in Newfoundland and Labrador.

In 2020, the federal government announced it is designating two former residential schools - Shubenacadie Residential School in Nova Scotia and Portage La Prairie Residential School in Manitoba - as national historic sites. The government is also recognizing the residential school system as an event of historic significance in Canada. ( See also Reconciliation in Canada.)

On 3 June 2021, the federal government recognized every 30 September annually as the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. The day honours the survivors of residential schools as well as their families. Another commemorative day, Orange Shirt Day, is also held every year on 30 September. Orange Shirt Day began in 2013 and was inspired by residential school survivor Phyllis Webstad. On her first day of school, Webstad wore an orange shirt that was taken from her by the school authorities and never given back. Orange shirts are worn to commemorate all those children who had their culture taken from them.

In September 2021, Queen Elizabeth II commemorated Canada's first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation by saying, "I join with all Canadians on this first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation to reflect on the painful history that Indigenous peoples endured in residential schools in Canada, and on the work that remains to heal and to continue to build an inclusive society." As Canada's head of state, the Queen is being asked to formerly apologize for the Crown's role in the operation of residential schools.

Pope Francis formally apologized for the Catholic Church's involvement in residential schools in March 2022. The Pope asked forgiveness "for the deplorable conduct of those members of the Catholic Church" who were involved in the residential school system. A delegation of Indigenous peoples who went to Rome to speak with the Pope heard the historic apology in person. Cassidy Caron, the leader of the Métis National Council said that "an apology is one step forward, but there is more work to be done." In July 2022, the Pope travelled to Canada and offered an apology on Canadian soil. He said, "I humbly beg forgiveness for the evil committed by so many Christians against the Indigenous peoples." The Pope acknowledged that his apology is only a step toward making amends and that an investigation must be conducted into the events of the past. Many have called on the church for financial compensation as well as other forms of reconciliation, including the return of Indigenous artifacts, the release of school records, and the overturning of the Doctrine of Discovery.

Did You Know?
Historica Canada, using data supplied by the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation at the University of Manitoba, has created a map (see below) of all residential schools in Canada. Part of a larger effort by Historica Canada called the Residential Schools Awareness Program, the map includes the location, name, religious denomination, opening and closing dates, and any other names by which the schools were known.

Names of Children Who Died in Residential Schools Released

On 30 September 2019, the names of 2800 children who died in residential schools in Canada were released by the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation in a ceremony in Gatineau, Quebec ( see Truth and Reconciliation Commission). The ceremony was the culmination of years of archival research of government and church records dealing with Indigenous children in 80 schools across the country, with records going back as far as the 1890s. According to archivists, another 1600 children who died in residential schools remain unnamed, and researchers continue to pore over records to discover their identities.

The names and schools of the children were displayed on a huge 47-metre long, blood-red cloth banner. Tia-o-qui-aht First Nation Elder Dr. Barney Williams, a residential school survivor and member of the Indian Residential School Survivor Committee (an advisory body to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission), believes that the ceremony was important to ensure that the children who died are not forgotten: "Today is a special day not only for myself but for thousands of others, like me, across the country to finally bring recognition and honour to our school chums, to our cousins, our nephews, to our nieces that were forgotten." To Elder Williams, the unveiling of the 2800 names was a "heartwarming" and "very emotional" moment for himself and thousands of Indigenous families across Canada.

Residential Schools in Canada: A Timeline

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Residential schools were government-sponsored religious schools that were established to assimilate Indigenous children into Euro-Canadian culture. Although the...