DI SPATC H E S| FIRST NATIONS
The residential schools tragedy By Laura Neilson Bonikowsky
Shown here is study period at Roman Catholic Indian Residential School, Fort Resolution, Northwest Territories. The latest residential school scandal made headlines across the globe, and China weaponized it in its dealings with Canada.
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for the residential school system in 1998 and 2008. The 1998 Statement of Reconciliation included $1.9 billion to pay 80,000 survivors. A more profound apology in 2008 paid $3.23 billion to 26,700 claimants in a class-action settlement. A cornerstone of the agreement was the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (established in 2007). Its widely publicized final report in 2015 noted missions near reserves had conducted burials of local and non-local children and adults. The report also identified known and suspected burial sites across Canada. It has never been a secret that residential schools had cemeteries. Sol Mamakwa, an Indigenous member of Ontario’s legislature, said, “It is a great open secret that our children lie on the properties of the former schools.” There is no reason Cana-
dians should not have known about the residential schools. We’re shocked because we’ve refused to look at the dark side of our history; it’s time we did, especially if the world is looking at us. History of residential schools
Roman Catholic missionaries established the first Indigenous residential schools in 17th-Century New France, which was ceded to Great Britain in 1763. With Confederation in 1867, the federal government assumed responsibility for Indigenous people with the mistaken belief that they needed to be managed. The Indian Act of 1876 incorporated colonial laws to assimilate Indigenous people into EuroCanadian society. In the 1950s and 60s, the government began integrating Indigenous children into provincial school systems. Closing FALL 2021 | OCT-NOV-DEC
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n May, Tk’emlúps te Sec wépemc leaders announced that the loss of children from B.C.’s Kamloops Indian Residential School had been confirmed by ground-penetrating radar. In the press release, Chief Rosanne Casimir said the presence of the graves was known, but the deaths appear to be undocumented and they “sought out a way to confirm that [knowing knowledge] out of deepest respect and love for those lost children and their families.” As other school sites revealed their findings, the media reported in sensationalist detail, sometimes with some historical context. Comments on social media revealed that many Canadians, surprisingly, knew nothing of the residential schools. The subject has been in provincial curricula for decades. Canada formally apologized
