Instruct: Given a question, retrieve relevant passages that answer the question.
Query: How many children were taken for the Residential Schools?
In Canada, the Indian residential school system[nb 1] was a network of boarding schools for Indigenous peoples.[nb 2] The network was funded by the Canadian government's Department of Indian Affairs and administered by Christian churches. The school system was created for the purpose of removing children from the influence of their own culture and assimilating them into the dominant Canadian culture. Over the course of the system's more than hundred-year existence, about 30 per cent of Indigenous children (around 150,000) were placed in residential schools nationally.[3][4]:2–3 The number of school-related deaths remains unknown due to an incomplete historical record, though estimates range from 3,200 upwards of 6,000.[5][6]
Like many residential institutions in the country, in 2009, following publication of the Ryan report, Ferryhouse was finally recognised as a place of systematic physical and sexual abuse of children carried on over a period of many years. Michael O'Brien, a survivor of abuse and a former pupil of the school, spoke on Questions and Answers of how he suffered horrendous physical and sexual abuse at the hands of the Rosminians, and how it affects him to this day.
Residential schools in Ontario were part of the larger Canadian Indian residential school system which spanned Canada. Notably, Egerton Ryerson, who is often celebrated for creating the free public education system in Ontario, was also a key architect of the residential school system. Many residential schools in Ontario were located in the North where Indigenous communities had either been forcibly relocated or pushed by encroaching colonists. However, the schools existed across the province. Increased attention has been brought to this suppressed history by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada which resulted from the settlement of a class action lawsuit between the Government of Canada, residential school survivors, churches involved in running the schools, the Assembly of First Nations, and other Indigenous groups. Since the closure of the schools, different approaches have been taken to dealing with the buildings. In Brantford, the building which once housed the Mohawk Institute Residential School is now part of the Woodland Cultural Centre. Residential schools were federally administered, meaning that the provincial government was not required to meet treaty obligations to Ontario First Nations for education. This saved the provincial government considerable funds and was key to funding education in the province. Reserve schools continue to be funded by the federal government today and recent inquiries have revealed that Indigenous students of Ontario in reserve schools receive 30% less funding than students at provincially funded schools.
Most residential schools closed in the 1970s. Criminal and civil suits against the government and the churches began in the late 1980s and shortly thereafter the last residential school closed. By 2002 the number of lawsuits had passed 10,000. In the 1990s, beginning with the United Church, the churches that ran the residential schools began to issue formal apologies. And in 1998 the Canadian government issued the Statement of Reconciliation, and committed $350 million in support of a community-based healing strategy to address the healing needs of individuals, families and communities arising from the legacy of physical and sexual abuse at residential schools. The money was used to launch the Aboriginal Healing Foundation.
In the 19th and 20th century, the Canadian federal government's Indian Affairs Department officially encouraged the growth of the Indian residential school system as an agent in a wider policy of assimilating Native Canadians into European-Canadian society. This policy was enforced with the support of various Christian churches, who ran many of the schools. Over the course of the system's existence, approximately 30% of native children, roughly some 150,000, were placed in residential schools nationally, with the last school closing in 1996. There has long been controversy about the conditions experienced by students in the residential schools. While day schools for First Nations, Metis, and Inuit children always far outnumbered residential schools, a new consensus emerged in the early 21st century that the latter schools did significant harm to Aboriginal children who attended them by removing them from their families, depriving them of their ancestral languages, undergoing forced sterilization for some students, and by exposing many of them to physical leading to sexual abuse by staff members, and other students, and dis-enfranchising them forcibly.
The Battleford Industrial School was a Canadian residential school for First Nations children in Battleford, Northwest Territories from 1883-1914. After its closure, many Indigenous children from around the Battlefords were sent to different schools in Saskatchewan, including Thunderchild Residential School at Delmas.
The school is housed in a Victorian villa from the 1870s, in a quiet residential area in Wimbledon, South West London. Many families with children registered at the school, choose to settle in the area. The pupils are a mix of longtime-residential in London and those who are staying for a shorter period of time. A part of the school building is rented out to The Norwegian Kindergarten in London, with whom there is close cooperation. Many of the longtime-residential children will attend both the Norwegian Kindergarten and the Norwegian School.
In 1990, cochlear implants were approved for children two years of age and up. This drastically changed education for deaf children. More children than ever were migrated out of bilingual-bicultural residential schools and into oral schools and mainstream programs with no extra supports. Parents were not encouraged to sign with their children because it was feared that it would slow down their speech, even though research has shown that the opposite is true. This move from residential schools to day schools and mainstreaming has caused many residential programs to downsize.
In 1920, under Scott's direction, and with the concurrence of the major religions involved in native education, an amendment to the Indian Act made it mandatory for all native children between the ages of seven and fifteen to attend school. Attendance at a residential school was made compulsory. Although a reading of Bill 14 states that no particular kind of school was stipulated. Scott was in favour of residential schooling for aboriginal children, as he believed removing them from the influences of home and reserve would hasten the cultural and economic transformation of the whole aboriginal population. In cases where a residential school was the only kind available, residential enrollment did become mandatory, and aboriginal children were compelled to leave their homes, their families and their culture, with or without their parents' consent. However, in 1901, 226 of the 290 Indian schools across Canada were day schools, and by 1961, the 377 day schools far outnumbered the 56 residential institutions.
By 1912, thousands of First Nations children attended residential schools, many of which were run by the Catholic Church. In 1990, Manitoba leader Phil Fontaine revealed that he had been sexually and physically abused in a Catholic residential school. He claimed that sexual abuse was common in residential schools in general. "In my grade three class, if there were 20 boys, every single one of them would have experienced what I experienced. They would have experienced some aspect of sexual abuse."
We Were Children is a 2012 Canadian documentary film about the experiences of First Nations children in the Canadian Indian residential school system. Directed by Tim Wolochatiuk and written by Jason Sherman, the film recounts the experiences of two resident school survivors: Lyna Hart, who was sent to the Guy Hill Residential School in Manitoba at age four, and Glen Anaquod, who was sent to the Lebret Indian Residential School in Saskatchewan. "We Were Children" combines interviews with the two with dramatic recreations of their experiences.
In 1921 many parents complained about the Rev. Prewer's role as principal and his treatment of students at the school. That year, over 150 people traveled to Chapleau to voice their complaints over the cruelty and neglect of the children at the school. Depositions were taken from some of these parents and as a result the offending principal was removed within a year
The date of September 30 was chosen for the annual event because it is the time of year in which Indigenous children were historically taken from their homes to residential schools. The event is similar to "Pink Shirt Day" which is an annual anti-bullying day which many school groups participate in.
With the goal of civilizing and Christianizing Aboriginal populations, a system of 'industrial schools' was developed in the 19th century which combined academic studies with "more practical matters" and schools for Natives began to appear in the 1840s. From 1879 on these schools were modelled after the Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania, whose motto was "Kill the Indian in him and save the man". It was felt that the most effective weapon for "killing the Indian" in them, was to remove children from their Native supports and so Native children were taken away from their homes, their parent, their families, friends and communities.
The 1876 Indian Act gave the federal government responsibility for Native education and by 1910 residential schools dominated the Native education policy. The government provided funding to religious groups such as the Catholic, Anglican, United Church and Presbyterian churches to undertake Native education. By 1920, attendance by natives was made compulsory and there were 74 residential schools operating nationwide. Following the ideas of Sifton and others like him, the academic goals of these schools were "dumbed down". As Duncan Campbell Scott stated at the time, they didn't want students that were "made too smart for the Indian villages":
"To this end the curriculum in residential schools has been simplified and the practical instruction given is such as may be immediately of use to the pupil when he returns to the reserve after leaving school."
In 2014 the project expanded to include 108 pairs of children's moccasin vamps in memory of children who died or went missing while attending a residential school . The children's vamps were added to the exhibition through a similar social media call to the one used at the start of the original project. Families and residential school survivors were encouraged to contribute children's vamps in memory of a loved one. This addition to the project occurred when the Walking With Our Sisters was at Algoma University, which is located on the site of the former Shingwauk Indian Residential School. A ceremony was held as part of the exhibition programming to honor the children being remembered through this initiative and to add the children's vamps to the exhibition.
Rose Salmons, a former nun who taught at the school recalled in 2015 how she was ill prepared for teaching at Shubenacadie when she became one of the 12 nuns teaching at the residential school. She said, “We certainly didn't have any training for dealing with children who were taken from their homes, and who really needed love.” According to Salmons, teachers were forbidden from expressing kindness or support. “It was written down: we were not to show affection for the children.”
The Shubenacadie Indian Residential School was part of the Canadian Indian residential school system and was located in Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia. It was the only one in Atlantic Canada and children from across the region were placed in the institution. The schools were funded through Indian Affairs and the Catholic Church. The institution was like an orphanage, which were the forerunners of contemporary child protection and welfare services. The first children arrived on February 5, 1930 and the institution was closed after 37 years on June 22, 1967. Approximately 10% of Mi'kmaq children lived at the institution. (Approximately 30% of native children were placed in residential schools nationally.) Over 1000 children are estimated to have been placed in the institution over 37 years.
The experience of student at the Mount Elgin residential school was similar to the experience of Indigenous children who attended residential schools across Canada. Students have spoken about the poor medical treatment and care provided to them while at Mount Elgin. Other students have spoken about the poor quality of food at the residential school and the lack of meat in their diet, despite the fact that the school's farm included numerous animals. Additionally, students have discussed the hard labor they were forced to undertaken on the school's farm and the physical abuse many of them endured while at the school.
Like many Indigenous communities across Canada, the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh also have a history of residential schools. The one residential school for was St. Paul’s Indian Residential School in North Vancouver. Some children were also forced to attend school in Sechelt. Some children would attend the school for 10 years at time. The children would be at the school 10 out or 12 months, seeing their parents of grandparents during the summer. Recently many elders are taking the Residential School package being offered by the Federal government.
Similar to other residential schools across Canada there were poor living conditions at Shingwauk and the quality of education that many children received was sub-par. Many survivors from Shingwauk have spoken about abuse, neglect, and the long term impacts of the assimilation process that occurred at residential schools. In latter years, many of the residents at the Shingwauk Home lived at the Home but went to school at the nearby elementary and high schools. Anna McCrea Public School and Sir James Dunn Collegiate and Vocational School (operated by the Algoma District School Board) were built on the original Shingwauk site in the 1950s as part of a government led integration process.
The internal primary school for the industrial school had a lower standard of education than that for the external school. Given their disadvantaged backgrounds, many of the children were in need of what would now be termed remedial education. No support or encouragement was given to children with serious educational problems such as little or no education.Children were taken out of school for domestic duties, with some being taken out more than others. In addition to the normal national school curriculum, children aged 13 and over participated in a domestic economy training module overseen by the Department of Education. Many children were only trained for domestic service.
The proselytizing by the Anglican Church and the Roman Catholic Church in the first half of the 20th century, which must be critically viewed in some respect, was also of fundamental significance for the cultural change of the Inuit. Although the Arctic nowadays is considered largely Christian, elements of Shamanism appear to persist fairly well at the subliminal level, side by side with Christian thought, despite its condemnation by the missionaries.
The adjustment to life in a modern industrialized country is easier for the young people who find new types of opportunities, but also all the problems that can be paraphrased by the keyword "TV culture". Compulsory education was introduced in the 1950s, replacing the traditional master-apprentice relationship between parents and children that did without reading and writing skills. Some Inuit were trained to be teachers and clergymen, but their numbers still were much too low. Basic education nowadays takes place in nearly all settlements. In Nunavut during the first three school years, the Inuit language, either Inuinnaqtun or Inuktitut, is the relevant language of instruction. In many schools of the Arctic, "elders", older residents who are recognized for their experience, are teaching the traditional knowledge, known as "Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit", about culture, customs and way of living from the pre-settlement time, during planned lectures. Despite all efforts, the number of dropout is generally rather high, because of lack of motivation, among other reasons.
As part if the Government of Canada's assimilation policy many Inuit children, along with First Nations, were sent to residential schools. Children were taken from their home communities in the summer and sent to a school in a centralized area where they would remain for an entire school year. These included Sir Alexander Mackenzie Day School in Inuvik which included the two residences, Stringer Hall for Anglicans and Grollier Hall for Catholics, and Chesterfield Inlet Indian Residential School which included the Turquetil residence. The year away from their homes caused multiple problems upon return. Children were not permitted to speak their native language while at school and thus had problems communicating to community members who spoke little or no English. At the same time the loss of traditional skills meant they were less able to occupy the roles that they would have normally taken up.
Many former students of Pelican Lake describe experiencing physical, psychological and sexual abuse while at the school. Physical abuse came in many different forms including: poor living conditions, and corporal punishments for speaking your traditional language. Rather than attending class, some students were required to spend the day doing labour. Psychological abuse began with the act of taking the students who were small children away from their families. This abuse continued within the school and included actions such as public humiliation for bed wetting. Many residential school survivors also were the victims of sexual abuse in various forms. Over a dozen students from Pelican Lake have come forward stating they were sexually assaulted while attending the school.
Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) documented the experiences of Indigenous children who were removed from their families and placed in residential schools by the government. TRC Commissioners, who were tasked with sharing this knowledge with all Canadians, focused on child welfare in the first five of 94 calls to action in their final report. Published in 2015, the TRC report addresses the effects of the Sixties Scoop as well that of residential schools on Indigenous communities:Today, the effects of the residential school experience and the Sixties Scoop have adversely affected parenting skills and the success of many Aboriginal families. These factors, combined with prejudicial attitudes toward Aboriginal parenting skills and a tendency to see Aboriginal poverty as a symptom of neglect, rather than as a consequence of failed government policies, have resulted in grossly disproportionate rates of child apprehension among Aboriginal people.The aftereffects of the Sixties Scoop remain an issue in child welfare provision for Aboriginal communities in Canada. Scholar Chris Walmsley notes in "Protecting Aboriginal Children" (2011) that some social workers find themselves in a similar alienated relationship to communities. Walmsley referred to one heavily publicised incident in which 71 children were removed from a community in 1998 (though not all were Aboriginal). One Aboriginal childcare worker said "to me it was very shocking ... it reminded me of the Sixties Scoop when kids on-reserve were taken without even their parents being aware of them [being] taken." Walmsley comments that,
CBC has reported that "In all, about 150,000 aboriginal, Inuit and Métis children were removed from their communities and forced to attend the schools." The 150,000 enrollment figure is an estimate not disputed by Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development, but it is not clear what percentage were "removed from their communities and forced to attend the schools." A percentage of the residential schools were in or close by the children's communities. Moreover, while many aboriginal parents distrusted the residential schools or preferred to raise and educate their children in a traditional manner, other parents willingly enrolled their children, partly from a belief that the schooling of the "white man" would benefit them, and partly from a knowledge that schools would provide shelter, food and clothing which dire conditions on the reserve could not provide. Harsh criticism has been leveled at Scott and the residential school system, as children who attended some of the more poorly maintained or administered schools lived in terrible conditions; in some cases the mortality rate exceeded fifty percent due to the spread of infectious disease. Furthermore, Scott continued with his advocacy knowing that death from illness (such as influenza and tuberculosis) and suicide was common. This situation was made worse by the federal policy that tied funding to enrollment numbers, which resulted in some schools enrolling sick children in order to boost their numbers. Echoing Scott's desire to absorb aboriginals into the wider Canadian population, many residential and day schools strongly discouraged students from speaking their native language, and harsh punishments were administered. Corporal punishment was sometimes justified by the belief that it was the only way to "save souls", "civilize" the native children and, in the residential schools, punish runaways who might make the school responsible for injury or death while trying to return home. Many reports of physical, sexual and psychological abuse in the residential schools have surfaced over the years. Exact numbers are unknown, as the government at the time did not see fit to keep track of such things. Because any kind of scandal coming out of the residential schools would have caused Indian Affairs, the churches and the government of the day much embarrassment, incidents of abuse were often discounted or covered up. However, based on survivor's accounts, as many as 75% of the children in particularly awful schools may have been sexually assaulted. He clearly condoned the policy of removing the children's cultural identity, praising practices such as referring to students only by a number and beating them when they dared to speak their own language.
As in many Canadian Indian Residential Schools (IRS), some children died while under the care of the school staff and administration. In one particularly tragic incident at the Lejac Residential School, four boys ran away on New Year's Day in 1937 and were found dead, frozen on a lake shortly thereafter. Allen Willie (age 8), Andrew Paul (age 9), Maurice Justin (age 8), and Johnny Michael (age 9) had fled the school "without caps and lightly clad" and had covered six of the seven miles to Nadleh reserve before succumbing to the cold. It was incidents of this sort that prompted some residential school administrators to inflict harsh punishment on those who attempted to run away from their school.