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Canadian Indian residential school system

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146-452: The Canadian Indian residential school system was a network of boarding schools for Indigenous peoples . The network was funded by the Canadian government 's Department of Indian Affairs and administered by various Christian churches . The school system was created to isolate Indigenous children from the influence of their own culture and religion in order to assimilate them into

292-401: A total institution like boarding school has a significant impact and changed their perception and interaction with social relationships. National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation ( NCTR ; French : Centre national pour la vérité et la réconciliation , CNVR ) is the archival repository for all of the material collected by

438-575: A business integral to the country's economy. Their boarding schools offer instruction in several major languages and have a large number of quality facilities organized through the Swiss Federation of Private Schools . In 2015, a Swiss boarding school named A+ World Academy was established on the Norwegian Tall Ship Fullriggeren Sørlandet. Some of the most expensive boarding schools in the world include

584-484: A combination of architectural styles that vary from modern to hundreds of years old. Food quality can vary from school to school, but most boarding schools offer diverse menu choices for many kinds of dietary restrictions and preferences. Some boarding schools have a dress code for specific meals like dinner or for specific days of the week. Students are generally free to eat with friends, teammates, as well as with faculty and coaches. Extra curricular activities groups, e.g.

730-462: A concept of land ownership based on the discovery doctrine . As explained in the executive summary of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada 's (TRC) final report: "Underlying these arguments was the belief that the colonizers were bringing civilization to savage people who could never civilize themselves ... a belief of racial and cultural superiority." Assimilation efforts began as early as

876-559: A day school on the reserve was the result of pressure from missionary representatives. Reliant on student enrolment quotas to secure funding, they were struggling to attract new students due to increasingly poor school conditions. The introduction of the Family Allowance Act in 1945 stipulated that school-aged children had to be enrolled in school for families to qualify for the " baby bonus ", further coercing Indigenous parents into having their children attend. Students in

1022-646: A dormitory, bedroom, or cubicle. In case students are provided with a cubicle, then each student must be provided with a window and a floor area of 5.0 m at the least. A bedroom for a single student should be at least of the floor area of 6.0 m . Boarding schools must provide a total floor area of at least 2.3 m living accommodation for every boarder. This should also be incorporated with at least one bathtub or shower for every ten students. Boarding schools manifest themselves in different ways in different societies. For example, in some societies children enter at an earlier age than in others. In some societies,

1168-644: A few exist in Russia - in Moscow, Novosibirsk, and Yekaterinburg, though several boarding schools still operate in former Soviet republics, and even some new ones are being opened (e.g. MSU Gymnasium in Moscow, Russia, or Nazarbayev schools all over Kazakhstan). Other schools were associated with orphanages after which all children enrolled in Internat-school automatically. Also, separate boarding schools were established for children with special needs (schools for

1314-580: A health crisis within the schools and a financial crisis within the missionary groups. In 1911, in an attempt to alleviate the health crisis, the federal government increased per capita grant funding. However, the funding did not adjust for inflation. In the 1930s, throughout the Great Depression and World War II , it was repeatedly reduced, and by 1937, the per capita grant averaged just $ 180 per student per year. For perspective, per-capita costs for comparable institutions included: Manitoba School for

1460-410: A job due to poor educational training. Returning home was equally challenging due to an unfamiliarity with their culture and, in some cases, an inability to communicate with family members using their traditional language. Instead of intellectual achievement and advancement, it was often physical appearance and dress, like that of middle class , urban teenagers, or the promotion of a Christian ethic, that

1606-673: A larger report entitled Statistics Respecting Indian Schools . The Gradual Civilization Act of 1857 and the Gradual Enfranchisement Act of 1869 formed the foundations for this system prior to Confederation. These acts assumed the inherent superiority of French and British ways, and the need for Indigenous peoples to become French or English speakers, Christians, and farmers. At the time, many Indigenous leaders argued to have these acts overturned. The Gradual Civilization Act awarded 50 acres (200,000 m) of land to any Indigenous male deemed "sufficiently advanced in

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1752-510: A legal settlement. These gains were achieved through the persistent organizing and advocacy by Indigenous communities to draw attention to the residential school system's legacy of abuse, including their participation in hearings of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples . The Truth and Reconciliation Commission list three reasons behind the federal government's decision to establish residential schools. In addition to these three

1898-433: A life different from their parents and cause them to forget the customs, habits & language of their ancestors." In 1883 Parliament approved $ 43,000 for three industrial schools and the first, Battleford Industrial School , opened on December 1 of that year. By 1900, there were 61 schools in operation. The government began purchasing church-run boarding schools in the 1920s. During this period capital costs associated with

2044-640: A long association with boarding; see, for example, deaf education and Council of Schools and Services for the Blind . Some boarding schools offer an immersion into democratic education , such as Summerhill School . Others are international, such as the United World Colleges . The term boarding school often refers to classic British boarding schools and many boarding schools around the world which are modeled on these. A typical boarding school has several separate residential houses, either within

2190-501: A long tradition of boarding school education and the term public school has an elitist association. There are also some state boarding schools , many of which serve children from remote areas. In some societies and cultures, boarding schools are the most privileged educational option (such as Eton and Harrow in the UK, which have produced several prime ministers), whereas in other contexts, they serve as places to segregate children deemed

2336-459: A passable standard of health" and "[a]ll but four were infected with tuberculosis". In one classroom, he found 16 ill children, many near death, who were being forced to sit through lessons. In 2011, reflecting on the TRC's research, Justice Sinclair told The Toronto Star : "Missing children – that is the big surprise for me ... That such large numbers of children died at the schools. That

2482-472: A practice developed by early medieval times of sending boys to be taught by literate clergymen, either in monasteries or as pages in great households . The King's School, Canterbury , arguably the world's oldest boarding school, dates its foundation from the development of the monastery school in around 597 AD. The author of the Croyland Chronicle recalls being tested on his grammar by Edward

2628-706: A problem to their parents or wider society. The United States and Canada forcibly assimilated indigenous children in the Canadian Indian residential school system and American Indian boarding school institutions . Some functioned essentially as orphanages , e.g. the G.I. Rossolimo Boarding School Number 49 in Russia. Tens of millions of rural children are now educated at boarding schools in China . Therapeutic boarding schools offer treatment for psychological difficulties. Military academies provide strict discipline . Education for children with special needs has

2774-430: A role in the decision to halt the education programs. An increase in orphaned and foundling colonial children limited church resources, and colonists benefited from favourable relations with Indigenous peoples in both the fur trade and military pursuits. Educational programs were not widely attempted again by religious officials until the 1820s, prior to the introduction of state-sanctioned operations. Included among them

2920-433: A sense of entitlement to social class or hierarchy and power. Boarding schools are seen by certain families as centres of socialization where students mingle with others of similar social hierarchy to form what is called an old boy network . Elite boarding school students are brought up with the assumption that they are meant to control society. Significant numbers of them enter the political upper class of society or join

3066-782: A short time, efforts persisted. The Mohawk Institute Residential School , the oldest continuously operated residential school in Canada, opened in 1834 on Six Nations of the Grand River near Brantford , Ontario. Administered by the Anglican Church, the facility opened as the Mechanics' Institute, a day school for boys, in 1828 and became a boarding school four years later when it accepted its first boarders and began admitting female students. It remained in operation until June 30, 1970. The renewed interest in residential schools in

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3212-431: A student recreational center where food can be purchased during specified hours. Boarding schools also have infirmary , a small room with first aid or other emergencies medical aid. Students generally need permission to go outside defined school bounds; they may be allowed to travel off-campus at certain times. Depending on country and context, boarding schools generally offer one or more options: full (students stay at

3358-709: A system of monitors or prefects gives limited authority to senior students. Houses readily develop distinctive characters, and a healthy rivalry between houses is often encouraged in sport. Houses or dorms usually include study-bedrooms or dormitories , a dining room or refectory where students take meals at fixed times, a library and possibly study carrels where students can do their homework. Houses may also have common rooms for television and relaxation and kitchens for snacks, and occasionally storage facilities for bicycles or other sports equipment. Some facilities may be shared between several houses or dorms. In some schools, each house has students of all ages, in which case there

3504-495: A trade or being otherwise educated. Such employment he can get at home." Both academic research and the final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Committee relay evidence that students were included in several scientific research experiments without their knowledge, their consent or the consent of their parents. These experiments include nutrition experiments which involved intentional malnourishment of children, vaccine trials for

3650-504: A tradition has developed in which families send their children to the same boarding school for generations. One observation that appears to apply globally is that a significantly larger number of boys than girls attend boarding school and for a longer span of time. The practice of sending children, particularly boys, to other families or to schools so that they could learn together is of very long-standing, recorded in classical literature and in UK records going back over 1,000 years. In Europe,

3796-651: A year, approximately twelve weeks each, with a few days' half-term holidays during which students are expected to go home or at least away from school. There may be several exeats , or weekends, in each half of the term when students may go home or away (e.g. international students may stay with their appointed guardians, or with a host family). Boarding students nowadays often go to school within easy traveling distance of their homes, and so may see their families frequently; e.g. families are encouraged to come and support school sports teams playing at home against other schools, or for school performances in music, drama, or theatre. It

3942-468: Is 7–36% of what other Canadian child-welfare institutions were paying ($ 3,300 and $ 9,855) and 5–25% of what U.S. residential care was paying ($ 4,500 and $ 14,059.) Government officials believed that since many staff members belonged to religious orders with vows of poverty or missionary organizations, pay was relatively unimportant. Thus, almost all staff were poorly paid, and schools had trouble recruiting and retaining staff. In 1948, C.H. Birdsall, chair of

4088-562: Is Canada's only private military-style boarding school for boys in Grades 6 through 12. Most societies around the world decline to make boarding schools the preferred option for the upbringing of their children. However, boarding schools are one of the aspirational modes of education in some former British colonies or Commonwealth countries like India, Pakistan, Nigeria, and other former African colonies of Great Britain. For instance, in Ghana

4234-623: Is displayed in the boys forming cliques on the basis of wealth and social background, and the girls overtly accepting that they would marry only for money, while choosing only rich or affluent males as boyfriends. Students are not able to display much sensitivity and emotional response and are unable to have closer relationships except on a superficial and politically correct level, engaging in social behaviour that would make them seem appropriate and rank high in social hierarchy. This affects their perceptions of gender and social roles later in life. The aspect of boarding school life with its round

4380-508: Is governed by an administrative agreement between the TRC and the University of Manitoba. The Centre is overseen by a seven-member governing circle, composed of three Survivors, two representatives from the University of Manitoba, and two members from partner organizations. The NCTR is also overseen by a Survivor Circle, which includes First Nations , Métis , and Inuit survivors of the residential school system from across Canada. Under

4526-653: Is not as wealthy as eastern and central China. Many migrant workers and farmers send their children to boarding schools. In India , there exists a variety of boarding schools, which are operated by both private entities and governmental bodies at the state and central levels. Some notable examples government run institute include are Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya , Ekalavya Model Residential School , and Ashram Schools. Boarding schools in India are affiliated with various educational boards such as CBSE , ICSE , IB , NIOS , and AISSCE . Those institutions predominantly use English as

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4672-468: Is recommended that international boarding school students have an appointed educational guardian. Some boarding schools allow only boarding students, while others have both boarding students and day students who go home at the end of the school day. Day students are sometimes known as day boys or day girls. Some schools welcome day students to attend breakfast and dinner, while others charge a fee. For schools that have designated study hours or quiet hours in

4818-422: Is usually a prefect system, which gives older students some privileges and some responsibility for the welfare of the younger ones. In others, separate houses accommodate the needs of different years or classes. In some schools, day students are assigned to a dorm or house for social activities and sports purposes. Most school dormitories have an "in your room by" and a "lights out" time, depending on their age when

4964-731: The Indian Act by what was then the federal Department of the Interior . Adopted in 1876 as An Act to amend and consolidate the laws respecting Indians , it consolidated all previous laws placing Indigenous communities, land and finances under federal control. As explained by the TRC, the act "made Indians wards of the state, unable to vote in provincial or federal elections or enter the professions if they did not surrender their status, and severely limited their freedom to participate in spiritual and cultural practices." The report commissioned by Governor General Charles Bagot , titled Report on

5110-571: The BCG vaccine , as well as studies on extrasensory perception, vitamin D diet supplements, amebicides , isoniazid , hemoglobin , bedwetting, and dermatoglyphics . Residential school deaths were common and have been linked to poorly constructed and maintained facilities. The actual number of deaths remains unknown due to inconsistent reporting by school officials and the destruction of medical and administrative records in compliance with retention and disposition policies for government records. Research by

5256-536: The Grey Nuns of Montreal . The NCTR is engaged in a range of educational and research programming related to residential schools, healing, and reconciliation. Ongoing programming includes: On 30 September 2019, to coincide with Orange Shirt Day , the NCTR released in ceremony a memorial register that documents the 4,037 students who died while attending residential schools across Canada. The creation of this register

5402-603: The IB (International Baccalaureate), A-Level, and Article1 of the Japanese School Education Law. English is predominantly used as the primary medium of instruction in these institutions. As of 2015 there were about 100,000 boarding schools in rural areas of Mainland China , with about 33 million children living in them. In China some children are sent to boarding schools at 2 years of age. The majority of boarding schools are in western China, which generally

5548-504: The Indian Act made attendance at a day school, if there was a day school on the reserve on which the child resided, compulsory for status Indian children between 7 and 16 years of age. The changes included a series of exemptions regarding school location, the health of the children and their prior completion of school examinations. It was changed to children between 6 and 15 years of age in 1908. The introduction of mandatory attendance at

5694-526: The Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement , religious and government bodies involved in the operations of the residential schools were legally required to submit all relevant residential school records to the TRC, which would then be transferred to the NCTR. In 2018, it came to light that the NCTR was still waiting on over 3,000 photographs and numerous boxes of litigation material to be submitted from

5840-442: The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada , purposed to compile the complete history and legacy of Canada's residential school system . The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation was created as part of the 2007 Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement , which dictated that a permanent archive would be established to contain the records of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). The Centre contains all of

5986-486: The United Church of Canada , and 2 were operated by Presbyterians . The approach of using established school facilities set up by missionaries was employed by the federal government for economic expedience: the government provided facilities and maintenance, while the churches provided teachers and their own lesson-planning. As a result, the number of schools per denomination was less a reflection of their presence in

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6132-536: The residential school survivor testimony, archival documents, and other materials collected by the TRC from 2009 to 2015. The holdings include millions of church and government records, hundreds of residential school photographs, and over 7,000 survivor statements collected by the TRC. The NCTR opened in the fall of 2015 in Winnipeg , on the campus of the University of Manitoba . The digital archive portion of

6278-513: The 17th century with the arrival of French missionaries in New France . They were resisted by Indigenous communities who were unwilling to leave their children for extended periods. The establishment of day and boarding schools by groups including the Recollets , Jesuits and Ursulines was largely abandoned by the 1690s. The political instability and realities of colonial life also played

6424-504: The British achieve their imperial goals. One of the reasons sometimes stated for sending children to boarding schools is to develop wider horizons than their family can provide. A boarding school a family has attended for generations may define the culture parents aspire to for their children. Equally, by choosing a fashionable boarding school, parents may aspire to better their children by enabling them to mix on equal terms with children of

6570-628: The Commission stated a national security element and quoted Andsell Macrae, a commissioner with Indian Affairs: "it is unlikely that any Tribe or Tribes would give trouble of a serious nature to the Government whose members had children completely under Government control." The federal government sought to cut costs by adopting the residential industrial school system of the United States. Indian Commissioner Edgar Dewdney aspired to have

6716-604: The Confessor 's wife Queen Editha in the abbey cloisters as a Westminster schoolboy , in around the 1050s. Monastic schools as such were generally dissolved with the monasteries themselves under Henry VIII, although Westminster School was specifically preserved by the King's letters patent , and it seems likely that most schools were immediately replaced. Winchester College founded by Bishop William of Wykeham in 1382 and Oswestry School founded by David Holbache in 1407 are

6862-499: The Deaf: $ 642, Manitoba School for Boys: $ 550, U.S. Chilocco Indian Agricultural School : $ 350. The Child Welfare League of America stated per capita costs for "well-run institutions" ranged between $ 313 and $ 541; Canada was paying 57.5% of the minimum figure. Changes in per capita costs did not occur until the 1950s and were seen as insignificant. In 1966, Saskatchewan residential schools per capita costs ranged from $ 694 and $ 1,193, which

7008-540: The French Club, may have meetings and meals together. The Dining Hall often serves as a central place where lessons and learning can continue between students and teachers or other faculty mentors or coaches. Some schools welcome day students to attend breakfast and dinner, in addition to the standard lunch, while others charge a fee. Many boarding schools have an on-campus school store or snack hall where additional food and school supplies can be purchased; may also have

7154-633: The NCTR opened to the public on 3 November 2015. In December 2016, the Government of Canada allocated CA$ 10 million to the ongoing operations of the NCTR. In September 2019, the NCTR was added to the UNESCO Canada Memory of the World Register . The NCTR is intended to be a repository for the complete history and legacy of the residential school system, with the goal of teaching Canadians about this history. The NCTR

7300-572: The National Boarding Standards. One example of regulations covered within the National Boarding Standards are those for the minimum floor area or living space required for each student and other aspects of basic facilities. The minimum floor area of a dormitory accommodating two or more students is defined as the number of students sleeping in the dormitory multiplied by 4.2 m , plus 1.2 m . A minimum distance of 0.9 m should also be maintained between any two beds in

7446-547: The Native American children were exposed to and were likely to adopt some of the ideals set out by the whites operating these boarding schools, many resisted and rejected the gender norms that were being imposed upon them. In Canada, the largest independent boarding school is Columbia International College , with an enrollment of 1,700 students from all over the world. Robert Land Academy in Wellandport, Ontario

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7592-565: The Swiss schools Institut auf dem Rosenberg , Institut Le Rosey , Beau Soleil , Collège du Léman , Collège Champittet and Leysin American School . In Japan , there are several international boarding schools operated by private institution. Notable examples of privately-run institutions include NUCB International College and Hallow International School. These boarding schools are affiliated with various educational boards, such as

7738-558: The TRC concluded with the establishment of the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation and released a report that concluded that the school system amounted to cultural genocide . Ongoing efforts since 2021 have identified thousands of possible unmarked graves on the grounds of former residential schools, though no human remains have been exhumed. During a penitential pilgrimage to Canada in July 2022, Pope Francis reiterated

7884-495: The TRC revealed that at least 3,201 students had died, mostly from disease. TRC chair Justice Murray Sinclair has suggested that the number of deaths may exceed 6,000. The vast majority of deaths occurred before the 1950s. The 1906 Annual Report of the Department of Indian Affairs, submitted by chief medical officer Peter Bryce , highlighted that the "Indian population of Canada has a mortality rate of more than double that of

8030-423: The TRC's final report, dedicated to missing children and unmarked burials, was developed after the original TRC members realized, in 2007, that the issue required its own working group. In 2009, the TRC requested $ 1.5   million in extra funding from the federal government to complete this work, but was denied. The researchers concluded, after searching land near schools using satellite imagery and maps, that, "for

8176-581: The UK, most boarding schools are independent schools , which are not subject to the national curriculum or other educational regulations applicable to state schools . Nevertheless, there are some regulations, primarily for health and safety purposes, as well as the general law. The Department for Children, Schools and Families , in conjunction with the Department of Health of the United Kingdom, has prescribed guidelines for boarding schools, called

8322-550: The United Church committee responsible for the Edmonton school, in regard to the lack of funding for salaries, accommodations, and equipment, stated that it was "doubtful the present work with Indian Children could properly be called education." In 1948, Sechelt school staff were paying full-time staff a salary of $ 1800. In the 1960s, Christie school staff were paid $ 50 a month. The per capita grant system severely decreased

8468-510: The United Kingdom with over 100,000 children attending them all across the country. They are an important factor in the British class system . About one percent of British children are sent to boarding schools. Also in Britain children as young as 5 to 9 years of age are sent to boarding schools. Before the advent of universal public education in the United States, boarding school was often

8614-614: The United States. While the Indian and Northern Affairs estimates that 11,132 children were adopted between 1960 and 1990, the actual number may be as high as 20,000. In 1969, after years of sharing power with churches, the DIA took sole control of the residential school system. The last federally-funded residential school, Kivalliq Hall in Rankin Inlet , closed in 1997. Residential schools operated in every Canadian province and territory with

8760-727: The affairs of the Indians in Canada and referred to as the Bagot Report, is seen as the foundational document for the federal residential school system. It was supported by James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin , who had been impressed by industrial schools in the West Indies , and Egerton Ryerson , who was then the Chief Superintendent of Education in Upper Canada . This letter was published in 1898 as an appendix to

8906-588: The age of 13 are called junior boarding schools , and are relatively uncommon. The oldest junior boarding school is the Fay School in Southborough, Massachusetts (est. 1866). In the late 19th century, the United States government undertook a policy of educating Native American youth in the ways of the dominant Western culture so that Native Americans might then be able to assimilate into Western society. At these boarding schools, managed and regulated by

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9052-524: The apologies of the Catholic Church for its role, also acknowledging the system as genocide. In October 2022, the House of Commons unanimously passed a motion calling on the federal Canadian government to recognize the residential school system as genocide. Attempts to assimilate Indigenous peoples were rooted in imperial colonialism centred around European worldviews and cultural practices, and

9198-516: The approvals required to undertake expensive renovations and repairs. By the 1930s, government officials recognized that the residential school system was financially unsustainable and failing to meet the intended goal of training and assimilating Indigenous children into European-Canadian society. Robert Hoey , Superintendent of Welfare and Training in the Indian Affairs Branch of the federal Department of Mines and Resources, opposed

9344-685: The assimilation pursued by President of the United States Ulysses S. Grant . Davin's report relied heavily on findings he acquired through consultations with government officials and representatives of the Five Civilized Tribes in Washington, DC , and church officials in Winnipeg , Manitoba. He visited only one industrial day school, in Minnesota , before submitting his findings. In his report Davin concluded that

9490-496: The best way to assimilate Indigenous peoples was to start with children in a residential setting, away from their families. Davin's findings were supported by Vital-Justin Grandin , who felt that while the likelihood of civilizing adults was low, there was hope when it came to Indigenous children. He explained in a letter to Public Works Minister Hector-Louis Langevin that the best course of action would be to make children "lead

9636-530: The blind, deaf, and others). General schools offered "extended stay" programs (Russian: Группа продленного дня) featuring cheap meals for children and preventing them from coming home too early before parents were back from work (education in the Soviet Union was free). In post-Soviet countries, the concept of boarding school differs from country to country. The Swiss government developed a strategy of fostering private boarding schools for foreign students as

9782-564: The care of stock, and the maintenance of fruit orchards" (Adams 149). These ideas of domesticity were in stark contrast to those existing in native communities and on reservations: many indigenous societies were based on a matrilineal system where the women's lineage was honored and the women's place in society respected in different ways. For example, women in native society held powerful roles in their own communities, undertaking tasks that Western society deemed only appropriate for men: indigenous women could be leaders, healers, and farmers. While

9928-525: The classroom, so that English or French would be learned and their own languages forgotten. In some schools, they were subject to physical violence for speaking their own languages or for practicing non-Christian faiths. Most schools operated with the stated goal of providing students with the vocational training and social skills required to obtain employment and integrate into Canadian society after graduation. In actuality, these goals were poorly and inconsistently achieved. Many graduates were unable to land

10074-448: The clock habitation of students with each other in the same environment, involved in studying, sleeping, and socializing can lead to pressures and stress in boarding school life. This is manifested in the form of hypercompetitiveness , use of recreational or illegal drugs and psychological depression that at times may manifest in suicide or its attempt. Studies show that about 90% of boarding school students acknowledge that living in

10220-530: The collegiate universities of Oxford and Cambridge , as in many ways they still do, and were accordingly staffed almost entirely by clergymen until the 19th century. Private tuition at home remained the norm for aristocratic families, and for girls in particular, but after the 16th century, it was increasingly accepted that adolescents of any rank might best be educated collectively. The institution has thus adapted itself to changing social circumstances over 1,000 years. Boarding preparatory schools tend to reflect

10366-409: The control sample. Details of the mistreatment of students were published numerous times throughout the 20th century by government officials reporting on school conditions, and in the proceedings of civil cases brought forward by survivors seeking compensation for the abuse they endured. The conditions and impact of residential schools were also brought to light in popular culture as early as 1967, with

10512-510: The domestic management of the house by a housekeeper often known in U.K. or Commonwealth countries as matron , and by a house tutor for academic matters, often providing staff of each gender. In the U.S., boarding schools often have a resident family that lives in the dorm, known as dorm parents. They often have janitorial staff for maintenance and housekeeping, but typically do not have tutors associated with an individual dorm. Nevertheless, older students are often less supervised by staff, and

10658-481: The dominant Euro-Canadian culture. Over the course of the system's more than hundred-year existence, around 150,000 children were placed in residential schools nationally. By the 1930s, about 30 percent of Indigenous children were attending residential schools. The number of school-related deaths remains unknown due to incomplete records. Estimates range from 3,200 to over 30,000, mostly from disease. The system had its origins in laws enacted before Confederation , but it

10804-625: The early 1800s can be linked to the decline in military hostility faced by the settlers, particularly after the War of 1812 . With the threat of invasion by American forces minimized, Indigenous communities were no longer viewed as allies but as barriers to permanent settlement. This change was also associated with the transfer of responsibility for interactions with Indigenous communities from military officials, familiar with and sympathetic to their customs and way of life, to civilian representatives concerned only with permanent colonial settlement. Beginning in

10950-400: The education quality. British Columbia Indian Superintendent Arthur Wellesley Vowell in response to one of his agents recommending they only approve qualified teaching staff stated that that would require more funding and that Indian Affairs did not "entertain requests for increased grants to Indian boarding and industrial schools." The pay was so low relative to provincial schools that many of

11096-517: The elementary branches of education" and would automatically enfranchise him, removing any tribal affiliation or treaty rights. With this legislation, and through the creation of residential schools, the government believed Indigenous peoples could eventually become assimilated into the general population. Individual allotments of farmland would require changes in the communal reserve system, something fiercely opposed by First Nations governments. In January 1879, John A. Macdonald , Prime Minister of what

11242-409: The elitist tradition of preparatory boarding schools has declined due to the development of modern economy and the political rise of the liberal west coast of the United States of America. The boarding school socialization of control and hierarchy develops deep rooted and strong adherence to social roles and rigid gender stratification . In one studied school the social pressure for conformity

11388-640: The establishment of the residential school. On June 24, 2021, Chief Cadmus Delorme of Cowessess First Nation held a virtual press conference. From June 2 to 23 they found an estimated 751 unmarked graves. Delorme went on to state: Boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of " room and board ", i.e. lodging and meals. As they have existed for many centuries, and now extend across many countries, their functioning, codes of conduct and ethos vary greatly. Children in boarding schools study and live during

11534-649: The evenings, students on campus (including day students) are usually required to observe the same "quiet" rules (such as no television, students must stay in their rooms, library or study hall, etc.). Schools that have both boarding and day students sometimes describe themselves as semi-boarding schools or day boarding schools. Some schools also have students who board during the week but go home on weekends: these are known as weekly boarders, quasi-boarders, or five-day boarders. Boarding schools are residential schools; however, not all residential schools are "classic" boarding schools. Other forms of residential schools include: In

11680-644: The exception of New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island . It is estimated that the number of residential schools reached its peak in the early 1930s with 80 schools and more than 17,000 enrolled students. About 150,000 children are believed to have attended a residential school over the course of the system's existence. Some parents and families of Indigenous children resisted the residential school system throughout its existence. Children were kept from schools and, in some cases, hidden from government officials tasked with rounding up children on reserves. Parents regularly advocated for increased funding for schools, including

11826-450: The expansion of new schools, noting in 1936 that "to build educational institutions, particularly residential schools, while the money at our disposal is insufficient to keep the schools already erected in a proper state of repair, is, to me, very unsound and a practice difficult to justify." He proposed the expansion of day schools, an approach to educating Indigenous children that he would continue to pursue after being promoted to director of

11972-409: The financial elite in fields such as international banking and venture capital . Elite boarding school socialization causes students to internalize a strong sense of entitlement and social control or hierarchy. This form of socialization is called "deep structure socialization" by Peter Cookson & Caroline Hodges (1985). This refers to the way in which boarding schools not only manage to control

12118-692: The former Soviet Union these schools were sometimes known as Internat-schools (Russian: Школа-интернат ) (from Latin: school-internat ). They varied in their organization. Some schools were a type of specialized schools with a specific focus in a particular field or fields such as mathematics, physics, language, science, sports, etc. For example, in the 1960s Soviet official established a new type of boarding school, an AESC - Advanced educational scientific center (Russian: СУНЦ - Специализированный учебно-научный центр ) (SESC - Specialized Educational and Scientific Center ). Those schools were parts of some major universities and prepared students to study there. Now, only

12264-567: The general population, but rather their legacy of missionary work. Although the British North America Act , 1867 made education in Canada the jurisdiction of the provincial governments, the Indigenous peoples and their treaties fell under the jurisdiction of the federal government. As a condition of several treaties, the federal government agreed to provide for Indigenous education. Residential schools were funded under

12410-481: The government, Native American students were subjected to a number of tactics to prepare them for life outside their reservation homes. In accordance with the assimilation methods used at the boarding schools, the education that the Native American children received at these institutions centered on the dominant society's construction of gender norms and ideals. Thus boys and girls were separated in almost every activity and their interactions were strictly regulated along

12556-599: The impact of the illness. Streptomycin , the first effective treatment, was not introduced until 1943. In 1920 and 1922, Regina physician F.   A. Corbett was commissioned to visit the schools in the west of the country, and found similar results to those reported by Bryce. At the Ermineskin school in Hobbema , Alberta, he found that 50 percent of the children had tuberculosis. At Sarcee Boarding School near Calgary , he noted that all 33 students were "much below even

12702-434: The increase of centrally located day schools to improve access to their children, and made repeated requests for improvements to the quality of education, food, and clothing being provided at the schools. Demands for answers in regards to claims of abuse were often dismissed as a ploy by parents seeking to keep their children at home, with government and school officials positioned as those who knew best. In 1894, amendments to

12848-428: The information of their deaths was not communicated back to their families." The Truth and Reconciliation Commission wrote that the policy of Indian Affairs was to refuse to return the bodies of children home due to the associated expense, and to instead require the schools to bear the cost of burials. The TRC concluded that it may be impossible to ever identify the number of deaths or missing children, in part because of

12994-419: The intervals at which they visit their family. Full-term boarders visit their homes at the end of an academic year, semester boarders visit their homes at the end of an academic term, weekly boarders visit their homes at weekends. There are also semi-boarders who attend a boarding school in the school hours for formal instruction and activities but return home by the end of the day. In some cultures, boarders spend

13140-501: The late 1800s, the Canadian government's Department of Indian Affairs (DIA) officially encouraged the growth of the residential school system as a valuable component in a wider policy of integrating Indigenous people into European Canadian society. The TRC found that the schools, and the removal of children from their families, amounted to cultural genocide , a conclusion that echoed the words of historian John S. Milloy, who argued that

13286-403: The legal responsibility of the school. Overcrowding, poor sanitation, inadequate heating, and a lack of medical care led to high rates of influenza and tuberculosis ; in one school, the death rate reached 69 percent. Federal policies that tied funding to enrollment numbers led to sick children being enrolled to boost numbers, thus introducing and spreading disease. The problem of unhealthy children

13432-530: The lines of Victorian ideals. In addition, the instruction that the children received reflected the roles and duties that they were to assume once outside the reservation. Thus girls were taught skills that could be used in the home, such as "sewing, cooking, canning, ironing, child care, and cleaning" (Adams 150). Native American boys in the boarding schools were taught the importance of an agricultural lifestyle, with an emphasis on raising livestock and agricultural skills like "plowing and planting, field irrigation,

13578-450: The majority of the secondary schools are boarding. In some countries, such as New Zealand and Sri Lanka , a number of state schools have boarding facilities. These state boarding schools are frequently traditional single-sex state schools, whose ethos is much like that of their independent counterparts. Furthermore, the proportion of boarders at these schools is often much lower than at independent boarding schools, typically around 10%. In

13724-640: The majority of their childhood and adolescent life away from their families. Boarding schools are relatively more prevalent in the United Kingdom, India, China, and parts of Africa. These countries begin boarding schools at a very early age and for a longer span of time. However, boarding schools are relatively less prevalent in Europe and the US where it is mostly seen for grades seven or nine through grade twelve—the high school years. Some are for either boys or girls while others are co-educational . The United Kingdom has

13870-399: The monitoring of child welfare . With no requirement for specialized training regarding the traditions or lifestyles of the communities they entered, provincial officials assessed the welfare of Indigenous children based on Euro-Canadian values that, for example, deemed traditional diets of game, fish and berries insufficient and grounds for taking children into custody. This period resulted in

14016-650: The most part, the cemeteries that the Commission documented are abandoned, disused, and vulnerable to accidental disturbance". In May 2021, a possible burial site was found in the Kamloops Indian Residential School in Kamloops, British Columbia , on the lands of the Tkʼemlúps te Secwépemc First Nation . The site was located with the assistance of a ground-penetrating radar specialist and Tk’emlups te Secwepemc Chief Rosanne Casimir wrote that

14162-477: The oldest boarding schools in continuous operation. Boarding schools in Britain started in medieval times when boys were sent to be educated by literate clerics at a monastery or noble household. In the 12th century, the Pope ordered all Benedictine monasteries such as Westminster to provide charity schools, and many public schools started when such schools attracted paying students. These public schools reflected

14308-537: The only secondary school option for students in rural New England communities. Some states, especially Massachusetts , sponsored and subsidized semi-public boarding schools, often called "academies," to educate students from the surrounding rural areas. Some of the oldest remaining academies include West Nottingham Academy (est. 1744), Linden Hall (est. 1756), The Governor's Academy (est. 1763), Phillips Academy (est. 1778), and Phillips Exeter Academy (est. 1781). The market for semi-public academies narrowed in

14454-664: The pass system restricted and closely monitored the movement of Indigenous peoples off reserves. Launched in 1885 as a response to the North-West Rebellion , and later replaced by permits, the system was designed to prevent Indigenous people from leaving reserves without a pass issued by a local Indian agent. Instruction provided to students was rooted in an institutional and European approach to education. It differed dramatically from child rearing in traditional knowledge systems based on 'look, listen, and learn' models. Corporal punishment and loss of privileges characterized

14600-497: The practice of burying students in unmarked graves. The work is further complicated by a pattern of poor record keeping by school and government officials, who neglected to keep reliable numbers about the number of children who died or where they were buried. While most schools had cemeteries on site, their location and extent remain difficult to determine as cemeteries that were originally marked were found to have been later razed, intentionally hidden or built over. The fourth volume of

14746-399: The primary medium of instruction . Some elite university-preparatory boarding schools for students from age 13 to 18 are seen by sociologists as centers of socialization for the next generation of the political upper class and reproduces an elitist class system . This attracts families who value power and hierarchy for the socialization of their family members. These families share

14892-518: The procedures enforced in the prison system. In some cases schools denied parents access to their children altogether. Others required families to meet with them in the presence of school officials and speak only in English; parents who could not speak in English were unable to talk to their children. The obstacles families faced to visit their children were further exacerbated by the pass system . Introduced by Reed, without legislative authority to do so,

15038-799: The public schools they feed. They often have a more or less official tie to particular schools. The classic British boarding school became highly popular during the colonial expansion of the British Empire. British colonial administrators abroad could ensure that their children were brought up in British culture at public schools at home in the UK, and local rulers were offered the same education for their sons. More junior expatriates would send their children to local British-run schools, which would also admit selected local children who might travel from considerable distances. The boarding schools, which inculcated their own values, became an effective way to encourage local people to share British ideals, and so help

15184-518: The publication of "The Lonely Death of Chanie Wenjack " by Ian Adams in Maclean's and the Indians of Canada Pavilion at Expo 67 . In the 1990s, investigations and memoirs by former students revealed that many students at residential schools were subjected to severe physical, psychological , and sexual abuse by school staff members and by older students. Among the former students to come forward

15330-437: The rampant disrepair present in the buildings resulted in their having no economic value. Schools continued to be maintained by churches in instances where they failed to reach an agreement with government officials with the understanding that the government would provide support for capital costs. The understanding ultimately proved complicated due to the lack of written agreements outlining the extent and nature of that support or

15476-498: The remote nature of many communities, school locations meant that for some families, residential schools were the only way to comply. The schools were intentionally located at substantial distances from Indigenous communities to minimize contact between families and their children. Indian Commissioner Hayter Reed argued for schools at greater distances to reduce family visits, which he thought counteracted efforts to assimilate Indigenous children. Parental visits were further restricted by

15622-473: The residential school system were faced with a multitude of abuses by teachers and administrators, including sexual and physical assault. They suffered from malnourishment and harsh discipline that would not have been tolerated in any other Canadian school system. Corporal punishment was often justified by a belief that it was the only way to save souls or punish and deter runaways – whose injuries or death sustained in their efforts to return home would become

15768-527: The residential school system, while traditional Indigenous approaches to education favour positive guidance toward desired behaviour through game-based play, story-telling, and formal ritualized ceremonies. While at school, many children had no contact with their families for up to 10 months at a time, and in some cases had no contact for years. The impact of the disconnect from their families was furthered by students being discouraged or prohibited from speaking Indigenous languages , even among themselves and outside

15914-453: The residential school system. Prime Minister Stephen Harper offered a public apology on his behalf and that of the other federal political party leaders. On June 1, 2008, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) was established to uncover the truth about the schools. The commission gathered about 7,000 statements from residential school survivors through various local, regional and national events across Canada. In 2015,

16060-415: The residential schools, through forced labour , be financially independent a few years after opening. The government believed through the industrial system and cheap labour costs of missionary staff it could "operate a residential school system on a nearly cost-free basis." Students "were expected to raise or grow and prepare most of the food they ate, to make and repair much of their clothing, and to maintain

16206-510: The school full-time), weekly (students stay in the school from Monday through Friday, then return home for the weekend), or on a flexible schedule (students choose when to board, e.g. during exam week). Each student has an individual timetable, which in the early years allows little discretion. Boarders and day students are taught together in school hours and in most cases continue beyond the school day to include sports, clubs and societies, or excursions. British boarding schools have three terms

16352-403: The school grounds or in the surrounding area. A number of senior teaching staff are appointed as housemasters, housemistresses, dorm parents, prefects , or residential advisors, each of whom takes quasi-parental responsibility ( in loco parentis ) for anywhere from 5 to 50 students resident in their house or dormitory at all times but particularly outside school hours. Each may be assisted in

16498-423: The school year with their fellow students and possibly teachers or administrators. Some boarding schools also have day students who attend the institution during the day and return home in the evenings. Boarding school pupils are typically referred to as "boarders". Children may be sent for one year to twelve years or more in boarding school, until the age of eighteen. There are several types of boarders depending on

16644-474: The schools led to student malnutrition, starvation, and disease. Students were also subjected to forced enfranchisement as "assimilated" citizens that removed their legal identity as Indians. Disconnected from their families and culture and forced to speak English or French, students often graduated being unable to fit into their communities but remaining subject to racist attitudes in mainstream Canadian society. The system ultimately proved successful in disrupting

16790-402: The schools were assumed by the government, leaving administrative and instructional duties to church officials. The hope was that minimizing facility expenditures would allow church administrators to provide higher quality instruction and support to the students in their care. Although the government was willing to, and did, purchase schools from the churches, many were acquired for free given that

16936-496: The schools." Most schools did this through a system where students studied for half the day and did "vocational training" for the other half. This system failed and the schools never became self-supporting. By 1891, the government cut already low salaries, stopped covering operating costs, and implemented a fixed amount of funding per student. This policy drove competition and encouraged the admission of students that were deemed "too young or too sick." The chronic underfunding developed

17082-587: The second half of the nineteenth century as local governments began establishing free, public secondary day schools. Some academies joined the public school system, and others shut down. Towards the turn of the twentieth century, a new generation of boarding schools was established. These schools generally followed the British public school model and focused on preparing students aged roughly 14–18 for college entrance examinations. Because of their college-preparatory approach, they were dubbed prep schools , although most American prep schools educate only day students. At

17228-436: The shift in policy from educational assimilation to integration, the removal of Indigenous children from their families by state officials continued through much of the 1960s and 70s. The removals were the result of the 1951 addition of section 88 of the Indian Act , which allowed for the application of provincial laws to Indigenous peoples living on reserves in instances where federal laws were not in place. The change included

17374-578: The site was undocumented and that work was underway to determine if related records were held at the Royal British Columbia Museum . As of May 2024, no remains have been excavated. On June 23, 2021, ground-penetrating radar suggested the presence of an estimated 751 unmarked graves on the site of Marieval Indian Residential School in Marieval, Saskatchewan , on the lands of Cowessess First Nation . Some of these graves predated

17520-528: The students are required to prepare for bed, after which no talking is permitted. Such rules may be difficult to enforce; students may often try to break them, for example by using their laptop computers or going to another student's room to talk or play computer games. International students may take advantage of the time difference between countries (e.g. 7 hours between UK and China) to contact friends or family. Students sharing study rooms are less likely to disturb others and may be given more latitude. As well as

17666-434: The students' physical lives but also their emotional lives. Boarding school establishment involves control of behavior regarding several aspects of life including what is appropriate and/or acceptable which adolescents would consider as intrusive. This boarding school socialization is carried over well after leaving school and into their dealings with the social world. Thus it causes boarding school students to adhere to

17812-408: The system's aim was to "kill the Indian in the child." Over the course of the system's more than hundred-year existence, around 150,000 children were placed in residential schools nationally. As the system was designed as an immersion program, Indigenous children were in many schools prohibited from, and sometimes punished for, speaking their own languages or practising their own faiths. The primary goal

17958-597: The teachers lacked any teaching qualifications. Federal cuts to funding during the Great Depression resulted in students paying the price. By 1937, at the Kamloops Indian Residential School , milk production among the schools dairy herds was reduced by 50%. The federal government refused to fund construction for an additional barn to increase milk production and isolate the sick animals. Even among other schools dairy herds, funding

18104-445: The transmission of Indigenous practices and beliefs across generations. The legacy of the system has been linked to an increased prevalence of post-traumatic stress , alcoholism , substance abuse , suicide , and intergenerational trauma which persist within Indigenous communities today. Starting in the late 2000s, Canadian politicians and religious communities have begun to recognize, and issue apologies for, their respective roles in

18250-414: The trip that Indian Commissioner Hayter Reed argued that the schools should be moved farther from the reserves to make visiting more difficult. He also objected to allowing children to return home during school breaks and holidays because he believed the trips interrupted their assimilation. Visitation, for those who could make the journey, was strictly controlled by school officials in a manner similar to

18396-561: The turn of the twenty-first century, 0.5% of U.S. school children attended boarding schools, about half the percentage of British children. In recent years, various governments have established public boarding schools. Some provide additional resources for academically promising students, like the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics (est. 1980). Others provide a more focused environment for students from at-risk backgrounds. Boarding schools for students below

18542-445: The upper classes. However, such stated reasons may conceal other reasons for sending a child away from home. These might apply to children who are considered too disobedient or underachieving, children from families with divorced spouses, and children to whom the parents do not much relate. These reasons are rarely explicitly stated, though the child might be aware of them. In 1998, there were 772 private-sector boarding schools in

18688-524: The use of a pass system designed to confine Indigenous peoples to reserves . The last federally-funded residential school, Kivalliq Hall in Rankin Inlet , closed in 1997. Schools operated in every province and territory with the exception of New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island . The residential school system harmed Indigenous children significantly by removing them from their families , depriving them of their ancestral languages , and exposing many of them to physical and sexual abuse . Conditions in

18834-499: The usual academic facilities such as classrooms, halls, libraries, and laboratories, boarding schools often provide a wide variety of facilities for extracurricular activities such as music rooms, gymnasiums, sports fields and school grounds, boats, squash courts, swimming pools, cinemas, and theaters. A school chapel is often found on site. Day students often stay on after school to use these facilities. Many North American boarding schools are located in beautiful rural environments and have

18980-525: The values of the elite social class which they come from or which they aspire to be part of. Nick Duffell, author of Wounded Leaders: British elitism and the Entitlement Illusion – A Psychohistory , states that the education of the elite in the British boarding school system leaves the nation with "a cadre of leaders who perpetuate a culture of elitism, bullying and misogyny affecting the whole of society". According to Peter W Cookson Jr (2009)

19126-488: The welfare and training branch in 1945. The proposal was resisted by the United Church, the Anglican Church, and the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate , who believed that the solution to the system's failure was not restructuring but intensification. Between 1945 and 1955, the number of First Nations students in day schools run by Indian Affairs expanded from 9,532 to 17,947. This growth in student population

19272-406: The whole population, and in some provinces more than three times". Among the list of causes he noted the infectious disease of tuberculosis and the role residential schools played in spreading the disease by way of poor ventilation and medical screening. In 1907, Bryce reported on the conditions of Manitoba and North-West residential schools: "we have created a situation so dangerous to health that I

19418-651: The widespread removal of Indigenous children from their traditional communities, first termed the Sixties Scoop by Patrick Johnston, the author of the 1983 report Native Children and the Child Welfare System . Often taken without the consent of their parents or community elders, some children were placed in state-run child welfare facilities, increasingly operated in former residential schools, while others were fostered or placed up for adoption by predominantly non-Indigenous families throughout Canada and

19564-564: Was Phil Fontaine , then Grand Chief of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs , who in October 1990 publicly discussed the abuse he and others suffered while attending Fort Alexander Indian Residential School. After the government closed most of the schools in the 1960s, the work of Indigenous activists and historians led to greater awareness by the public of the damage the schools had caused, as well as to official government and church apologies, and

19710-541: Was a school established by John West , an Anglican missionary, at the Red River Colony in what is today Manitoba . Protestant missionaries also opened residential schools in what is now the province of Ontario , spreading Christianity and working to encourage Indigenous peoples to adopt subsistence agriculture as a way to ensure they would not return to their original, nomadic ways of life upon graduation. Although many of these early schools were open for only

19856-437: Was accompanied by an amendment to the Indian Act in 1951 that allowed federal officials to establish agreements with provincial and territorial governments and school boards regarding the education of Indigenous students in the public school system. These changes marked the government's shift in policy from assimilation-driven education at residential schools to the integration of Indigenous students into public schools. Despite

20002-436: Was arduous, and severely compromised the academic and social development of the students. School books and textbooks were drawn mainly from the curricula of the provincially funded public schools for non-Indigenous students, and teachers at the residential schools were often poorly trained or prepared. During this period, Canadian government scientists performed nutritional tests on students and kept some students undernourished as

20148-438: Was further exacerbated by the conditions of the schools themselves – overcrowding and poor ventilation, water quality and sewage systems. Until the late 1950s, when the federal government shifted to a day school integration model, residential schools were severely underfunded and often relied on the forced labour of their students to maintain their facilities, although it was presented as training for artisanal skills. The work

20294-478: Was no longer working for the government, published The Story of a National Crime: Being a Record of the Health Conditions of the Indians of Canada from 1904 to 1921. In particular, he alleged that the high mortality rates could have been avoided if healthy children had not been exposed to children with tuberculosis. At the time, no antibiotic had been identified to treat the disease, and this exacerbated

20440-438: Was often surprised that the results were not even worse than they have been shown statistically to be." In 1909, Bryce reported that, between 1894 and 1908, mortality rates at some residential schools in western Canada ranged from 30 to 60 per cent over five years (that is, five years after entry, 30 to 60 per cent of students had died, or 6 to 12 per cent per annum). These statistics did not become public until 1922, when Bryce, who

20586-519: Was primarily active from the passage of the Indian Act in 1876, under Prime Minister Alexander MacKenzie . Under Prime Minister John A. Macdonald , the government adopted the residential industrial school system of the United States, a partnership between the government and various church organizations. An amendment to the Indian Act in 1894, under Prime Minister Mackenzie Bowell , made attendance at day schools , industrial schools , or residential schools compulsory for First Nations children. Due to

20732-531: Was so low that milk was separated with "skimmed milk served to the children" and the fat turned to dairy products sold to fund the schools. In 1939, the Presbyterian school in Kenora began charging students 10 cents a loaf until their Indian agent ordered the school to stop. Parents and family members regularly travelled to the schools, often camping outside to be closer to their children. So many parents made

20878-531: Was so severe that several students abused performance drugs like Adderall and Ritalin for both academic performance and to lose weight. The distinct and hierarchical nature of socialization in boarding school culture becomes very obvious in the manner students sit together and form cliques , especially in the refectory , or dining hall. This leads to pervasive form of explicit and implicit bullying, and excessive competition between cliques and between individuals. The rigid gender stratification and role control

21024-527: Was then post-Confederation Canada , commissioned politician Nicholas Flood Davin to write a report regarding the industrial boarding-school system in the United States. Now known as the Davin Report, the Report on Industrial Schools for Indians and Half-Breeds was submitted to Ottawa on March 14, 1879, and made the case for a cooperative approach between the Canadian government and the church to implement

21170-512: Was to convert Indigenous children to Christianity and acculturate them. Many of the government-funded residential schools were run by churches of various denominations. Between 1867 and 1939, the number of schools operating at one time peaked at 80 in 1931. Of those schools, 44 were operated by 16 Catholic dioceses and about three dozen Catholic communities; 21 were operated by the Church of England / Anglican Church of Canada ; 13 were operated by

21316-470: Was used as a sign of successful assimilation. There was no indication that school attendees achieved greater financial success than those who did not go to school. As the father of a pupil who attended Battleford Industrial School, in Saskatchewan, for five years explained: "he cannot read, speak or write English, nearly all his time having been devoted to herding and caring for cattle instead of learning

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