Objective conditions
The Canadian Residential School System was an extensive schooling system throughout Canada funded by the government and run by the church, meant to educate and assimilate Aboriginal children into the dominating Western culture. Over 150,000 (1.) Aboriginal children were removed from their families into the 132 federally supported schools in Canada, of which 36 (2.) were administered by the Anglican Church.
The main objectives of the residential school system was to remove and isolate children from their home, family, tradition and culture. Europeans believed that the Aboriginal cultures and spiritual beliefs were inferior from their religions, and fought to 'kill the Indian in the child'. From the time they were taken, or often kidnapped, from their parent's home, all students were banned from speaking their native language as well as being forced to practice Western religions. (3.) Teachers were often under-qualified, and a strong emphasis on vocational skills such as cooking, sewing, and agriculture was put into place. This meant students spent half the day working at tiring jobs, such as woodworking and plowing the fields. (4.)
Living conditions at residential schools were despicable due to lack of funding. Food was almost always rotten, the schools were not properly protected against harsh winters, and clothing was ill-fitting. Milk was often found with manure at the bottom of the pails, and lice was a common problem that resulted in most children's hair being trimmed off. Students were given 'medicine' from the same spoon daily, causing widespread disease and many deaths. (5.)
The government's desire to assimilate Natives with the least amount of money possible was also evident in the poorly constructed buildings, which were the foundation of the spreading of diseases, namely tuberculosis, that killed so many children. Although proffesionals were hired to design and build the schools, they were often constructed on primitive plans, without regard for lighting, heating or ventilation. Father Lacombe visited the brand-new Kamloops Industrial School, and later wrote about his experience.
"The Architest and contractors, I suppose, never saw or never heard about an institution of the kind. It is a pity to see the inside. For instance considerthat there is not a little space for a chapel, not a small room for laundry, for bakery when the matrons are obliged to bake three times a day in the cooking stove and imagine what kind of temperature it will be during summer, no place for a stove, no bathroom for girls!" -Father Lacombe, 1890 (6.)
In fact, an article in the Toronto Empire revealed that the hospital wing was completely open to the classrooms, providing a perfect setting for diseases to spread throughtout the school.
However, abysmal living conditions and the children's isolation from their own culture was only one part of the story. Students of the residential school system not only suffered from malnutrition and preventable diseases, but mental, physical and sexual abuse as well.
A residential school survivor recounts her memories:
"The Sisters didn't treat me good. They gave me rotten food to eat and punished me for not eating it -the meat and soup were rotten and tasted so bad they made the girls sick sometimes. I have been sick from eating it. I used to hide the meat in my pocket and throw it away. I told the Sisters to look at the meat as it was rotten, and they said it was not rotten and we must eat it. The sisters did not eat the same kind of food as they gave the girls, If we didn't eat our porridge at breakfast, it was given to us for our dinner, and even for supper, and we got nothing else till it was eaten. I was locked in a cold and dark room, fed bread and water and beaten with a strap, sometimes on the face, and sometimes [they] took my clothes off and beat me." -Mary Carpenter, 1995 (7.)
Shockingly, many schools reported a death toll among students ranging from 15% to as high as 24%. This number does not even account for the deaths in Aboriginal homes, where critically ill students were sent home to die. At Duck Lake residential school, over 50% (8.) of all the students sent there died from disease and malnutrition, mostly tuberculosis.
Anything from uttering a single word in their language, to causing a disturbance or commotion among the caretakers would result in a severe beating with tractor belting, and a punishment to the entire girls or boys side. Children were often made to stand for hours at a time until a confession was made, or were locked in rooms with no interaction for days. Any sort of punishment -needles pushed through their tongue, starvation, even forced feeding of their own vomit -was commonly used. (9.)
Mrs. S. Patrick, a graduate of Lijac School, recalled her experiences in school with vivid detail:
"Even when we just smiled at one of the boys they gave us that much, 30 strokes with the strap on each hand. When we spoke our own language, The Sister made us take down our drawers and she strapped us on the backside with a big strap. Sometimes we ate worms in the meat, just beans sometimes and sometimes just barley." -S. Patrick (10.)
The main objectives of the residential school system was to remove and isolate children from their home, family, tradition and culture. Europeans believed that the Aboriginal cultures and spiritual beliefs were inferior from their religions, and fought to 'kill the Indian in the child'. From the time they were taken, or often kidnapped, from their parent's home, all students were banned from speaking their native language as well as being forced to practice Western religions. (3.) Teachers were often under-qualified, and a strong emphasis on vocational skills such as cooking, sewing, and agriculture was put into place. This meant students spent half the day working at tiring jobs, such as woodworking and plowing the fields. (4.)
Living conditions at residential schools were despicable due to lack of funding. Food was almost always rotten, the schools were not properly protected against harsh winters, and clothing was ill-fitting. Milk was often found with manure at the bottom of the pails, and lice was a common problem that resulted in most children's hair being trimmed off. Students were given 'medicine' from the same spoon daily, causing widespread disease and many deaths. (5.)
The government's desire to assimilate Natives with the least amount of money possible was also evident in the poorly constructed buildings, which were the foundation of the spreading of diseases, namely tuberculosis, that killed so many children. Although proffesionals were hired to design and build the schools, they were often constructed on primitive plans, without regard for lighting, heating or ventilation. Father Lacombe visited the brand-new Kamloops Industrial School, and later wrote about his experience.
"The Architest and contractors, I suppose, never saw or never heard about an institution of the kind. It is a pity to see the inside. For instance considerthat there is not a little space for a chapel, not a small room for laundry, for bakery when the matrons are obliged to bake three times a day in the cooking stove and imagine what kind of temperature it will be during summer, no place for a stove, no bathroom for girls!" -Father Lacombe, 1890 (6.)
In fact, an article in the Toronto Empire revealed that the hospital wing was completely open to the classrooms, providing a perfect setting for diseases to spread throughtout the school.
However, abysmal living conditions and the children's isolation from their own culture was only one part of the story. Students of the residential school system not only suffered from malnutrition and preventable diseases, but mental, physical and sexual abuse as well.
A residential school survivor recounts her memories:
"The Sisters didn't treat me good. They gave me rotten food to eat and punished me for not eating it -the meat and soup were rotten and tasted so bad they made the girls sick sometimes. I have been sick from eating it. I used to hide the meat in my pocket and throw it away. I told the Sisters to look at the meat as it was rotten, and they said it was not rotten and we must eat it. The sisters did not eat the same kind of food as they gave the girls, If we didn't eat our porridge at breakfast, it was given to us for our dinner, and even for supper, and we got nothing else till it was eaten. I was locked in a cold and dark room, fed bread and water and beaten with a strap, sometimes on the face, and sometimes [they] took my clothes off and beat me." -Mary Carpenter, 1995 (7.)
Shockingly, many schools reported a death toll among students ranging from 15% to as high as 24%. This number does not even account for the deaths in Aboriginal homes, where critically ill students were sent home to die. At Duck Lake residential school, over 50% (8.) of all the students sent there died from disease and malnutrition, mostly tuberculosis.
Anything from uttering a single word in their language, to causing a disturbance or commotion among the caretakers would result in a severe beating with tractor belting, and a punishment to the entire girls or boys side. Children were often made to stand for hours at a time until a confession was made, or were locked in rooms with no interaction for days. Any sort of punishment -needles pushed through their tongue, starvation, even forced feeding of their own vomit -was commonly used. (9.)
Mrs. S. Patrick, a graduate of Lijac School, recalled her experiences in school with vivid detail:
"Even when we just smiled at one of the boys they gave us that much, 30 strokes with the strap on each hand. When we spoke our own language, The Sister made us take down our drawers and she strapped us on the backside with a big strap. Sometimes we ate worms in the meat, just beans sometimes and sometimes just barley." -S. Patrick (10.)
Fig. 1:
Department of Indian Affairs. Thomas Moore before Tuition at Regina Indian Industrial School. 1897. Saskatchewan Archives Board. In A National Crime.
Fig. 2:
Department of Indian Affairs. Thomas Moore after Tuition at Regina Indian Industrial School. 1897. Saskatchewan Archives Board. In A National Crime.
1. These two photographs were taken by the Department of Indian Affairs to raise awareness of the need of funding for residential schools, by illustrating the effects schools would have on Aboriginal children.
2. The first was most probably taken near the child's home, and the second at the Regina Indian Industrial School, which he attended before graduation.
3. The photos show residential school student Thomas Moore firstly standing beside rolls of fur, dressed in a traditional Aboriginal outfit, and on the right, in european style clothes standing confidently in a well constructed building with moulding common in higher-end houses. On the left, Thomas is holding a gun in one hand to show the instability and 'savageness' of aboriginals, and is shown shoe-less. On the right, he poses with a plant -possibly symbolizing growth and prosperity -to his left.
4. In the first photo, Thomas looks to be around 7-9 years old, and in the second he is 13 or 14, as was the standard age for graduation from residential schools at the time. On the left, Thomas's hair is long and he is decorated with traditional necklaces, beads, and bracelets. He dons Aboriginal clothing with contrasting shades and graphic patterns. In the photograph on the right, Thomas wears a suit with dress shoes and hat on the platform beside him. He, like all the other Aboriginal children, was a student of the canadian residential school system.
5. On the photograph to the left, the young Thomas Moore is portrayed as a uncivilized member of an Aboriginal tribe. The gun in hand and the animal furs to his right show the Native American's reliance on hunting and gathering, rather than european style agriculture. This photo was taken when Thomas was admitted to the Regina Indian Industrial School.
On the right, Thomas has graduated from the residential school at which he had attended. He has his hand on his hip, standing confidently, ready to succeed in a European-dominated world. He is a civilized young adult that has been seemingly assimilated within the settlers of Canada.
6. The purpose of these photographs was to gain government attention at the needs and advantages of residential schools for Aboriginals. These photos were most probably taken by a professional photographer, carefully planned out to show all the aspects of life a residential school would change for a young Aboriginal child. Because this photograph was meant to be seen by important Canadian politicians, as a way of raising money for they system, it would have had a large impact on the readers of the report, that may have later been published by a newspaper of magazine.
7. These photos show the existence of a social problem in Canada because it clearly displays the loss of culture as a residential school student makes his or her way through the system. Not only is the student seen without his traditional clothing, but without his sense of belonging, or identity. Although this is something the government and other non-Aboriginals saw as successful assimilation, this was a large problem for Aboriginal families, broken up by the trauma of the residential school system.
The first photo of Thomas Moore also shows the prejudice Europeans had towards the aboriginal population in Canada. The most evident is is the gun he holds in his right hand, the weapon of a 'savage' young Native American, when in truth, the Natives had always maintained a somewhat peaceful ideology, only abandoning this during times in which action needed to be taken to prevent the death of their population.
Although these photos were not meant to show the existence of a social problem when they were taken and published, the examination and analysis of these images today reveal not a complicated web of planned attacks, or even an effort to assure dominance over another race, but simply a schooling system that took away the identity of thousands of first nations children and left them scarred for life.
2. The first was most probably taken near the child's home, and the second at the Regina Indian Industrial School, which he attended before graduation.
3. The photos show residential school student Thomas Moore firstly standing beside rolls of fur, dressed in a traditional Aboriginal outfit, and on the right, in european style clothes standing confidently in a well constructed building with moulding common in higher-end houses. On the left, Thomas is holding a gun in one hand to show the instability and 'savageness' of aboriginals, and is shown shoe-less. On the right, he poses with a plant -possibly symbolizing growth and prosperity -to his left.
4. In the first photo, Thomas looks to be around 7-9 years old, and in the second he is 13 or 14, as was the standard age for graduation from residential schools at the time. On the left, Thomas's hair is long and he is decorated with traditional necklaces, beads, and bracelets. He dons Aboriginal clothing with contrasting shades and graphic patterns. In the photograph on the right, Thomas wears a suit with dress shoes and hat on the platform beside him. He, like all the other Aboriginal children, was a student of the canadian residential school system.
5. On the photograph to the left, the young Thomas Moore is portrayed as a uncivilized member of an Aboriginal tribe. The gun in hand and the animal furs to his right show the Native American's reliance on hunting and gathering, rather than european style agriculture. This photo was taken when Thomas was admitted to the Regina Indian Industrial School.
On the right, Thomas has graduated from the residential school at which he had attended. He has his hand on his hip, standing confidently, ready to succeed in a European-dominated world. He is a civilized young adult that has been seemingly assimilated within the settlers of Canada.
6. The purpose of these photographs was to gain government attention at the needs and advantages of residential schools for Aboriginals. These photos were most probably taken by a professional photographer, carefully planned out to show all the aspects of life a residential school would change for a young Aboriginal child. Because this photograph was meant to be seen by important Canadian politicians, as a way of raising money for they system, it would have had a large impact on the readers of the report, that may have later been published by a newspaper of magazine.
7. These photos show the existence of a social problem in Canada because it clearly displays the loss of culture as a residential school student makes his or her way through the system. Not only is the student seen without his traditional clothing, but without his sense of belonging, or identity. Although this is something the government and other non-Aboriginals saw as successful assimilation, this was a large problem for Aboriginal families, broken up by the trauma of the residential school system.
The first photo of Thomas Moore also shows the prejudice Europeans had towards the aboriginal population in Canada. The most evident is is the gun he holds in his right hand, the weapon of a 'savage' young Native American, when in truth, the Natives had always maintained a somewhat peaceful ideology, only abandoning this during times in which action needed to be taken to prevent the death of their population.
Although these photos were not meant to show the existence of a social problem when they were taken and published, the examination and analysis of these images today reveal not a complicated web of planned attacks, or even an effort to assure dominance over another race, but simply a schooling system that took away the identity of thousands of first nations children and left them scarred for life.