Looking for books on the stripping of culture, abuse, and massacres at the Native American boarding schools. Thanks.
The wikipedia page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Indian_residential_school_system) gives quite a long list of movies and novels based on those events. I was wondering if any of those stand out. I'm looking for something that's both reasonably historically accurate and a good story.
Do you have anything to suggest?
Right now, I only know the outline of the events so documentaries are good too. It can be either in English or French.
Thanks
Where they were beaten, raped, forced to speak English, and forced to convert to Christianity all in an effort to "beat the indian out of them."
And what was the final result? What was the light at the end of the tunnel for them? Being thrown in a mass grave, forgotten and discarded like a piece of trash. Some of these children were as young as three
Absolutely and 100% fuck the Church
I've paraphrased from this document, https://www.omfrc.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/specialedition8.pdf
Doctor Peter Bryce visited 15 Western Canadian residential schools compiling mortality statistics from 1892 to 1907 finding that 30 to 60% of students had died from smallpox and tuberculosis over those 14-15-years and further that 25 to 50% had died in the very first year of school. He suggested the overall numbers could be even higher, noting that in one school alone, the death toll reached 69 per cent.
He submits a full report to the Department of Indian Affairs in 1909. The government and Indian Affairs does nothing.
In 1910, Duncan Scott (a high level Indian Affairs Agent) in a letter to British Columbia Indian Agent GeneralMajor D. MacKay, (in response to Doctor Bryce‟s 1909 report) states: “It is readily acknowledged that Indian children lose their natural resistance to illness by habituating so closely in the residential schools and that they die at a much higher rate than in their villages. But this does not justify a change in the policy of this Department which is geared towards a Final Solution of our Indian Problem.”
In 1922, out of frustration, Doctor Bryce self -publishes “The Story of a National Crime” exposing the Churches and Canadian government‟s agenda of genocide. He wrote that Catholic and Protestant churches were deliberately exposing native children to smallpox and tuberculosis in residential schools across Canada, and letting them die untreated and that thousands of children had died as a result.
His book is largely ignored by the Federal Government and the public.
Ryerson University is a well-known Canadian institute of higher learning in Toronto. It is being renamed due to the questionable history of the person for whom it was originally named - Egerton Ryerson. In this case, the rationale for the renaming is that he was an architect of the residential school system which resulted in many horrors, and has recently been in the news due to the ongoing discoveries of the unmarked graves of thousands of indigenous children.
I certainly support the renaming of the institution on these grounds - the residential schools were an abomination. However a lot of comments/arguments have been made by otherwise rational and reasonable people stipulating that he was not in fact key in the residential schools and had a good relationship with indigenous peoples. Some have said that he was involved in attempts to provide education to the indigenous and provided input to the creation of a school system, but not as a way of reprogramming or eliminating their culture (which was the goal of the residential schools).
From the standpoint of factual history in regard to the Canadian residential schools, was Egerton Ryerson an architect?
It seems to be more political show than practical effect !!
The government’s policy needs to move on from individual apologies in interpersonal relations to the reshaping of collective relationship, and concern about everyday problem that prevent the indigenous peoples from succeeding in the contemporary world. If not, the past conflict will weave broader structural and systemic inequalities.
Here's a brief but pointed summary of the shocking but uncontroversial facts: https://m.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10157701832147827&id=560722826&set=a.178212897826&source=48
Because the indigenous people are in mourning over the discovery of the unmarked mass graves, many Canadians are not celebrating Canada day with fireworks this year.
All authors welcomed, but lived experience preferred, to help contextualize widespread cancellation of Canada Day.
[x-post: /r/suggestmeabook]
There is currently debate around the removal of statues of historical figures, in Canada, that supported the Residential school system. One common argument for the perseverance of these statues is that past figures should not be judged against today's woke society (particularly if they were instrumental in the creation of Canada). I'm having a hard time finding information about white allies that fought against this racist system, that didn't simply accept this part of colonialism (perhaps there were no prominent figures?). I personally believe that the naming of an institution, or a statue, is about celebrating history; and thus should be figures that the entire country can be proud of. Complicated historical figures can continue to persist in history books, with a less than flattering footnote of course.
EDIT: I am well aware of Louis Riel, I'm curious about other figures not tied to him specifically.
Most of us don't know the extent of the cruelty in the Canadian residential school system. Here's a brief but pointed summary of the shocking but uncontroversial facts: https://m.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10157701832147827&id=560722826&set=a.178212897826&source=48
Because the indigenous people are in mourning over the discovery of the unmarked mass graves, many Canadians are not celebrating Canada day with fireworks this year.
