Life under the Indian Act:

1. Life under the Indian Act: The legacy of Residential Schools

2. Indian Act of 1876 • A consolidation of all the aboriginal laws • Main goal: assimilation! = eliminate the “Indian Problem” • Gov’t working under the idea that they had to look out for Aboriginals best interest (protecting them from whiskey traders and Americans) • The Indian Act allowed the Canadian gov’t to extinguish Aboriginal rights and title to land completely and created treaties that granted back certain specific rights.

3. What is an “Indian”? The Indian Act of 1876 defined “Indian” as: • Any male person of Indian blood that belongs to a particular band • Any child of such person • Any woman who is or was lawfully married to such person.

4. The Loss of Aboriginal Rights • Defined who was “Indian” (identity was a number) • No self government (end of hereditary chiefs) • Not allowed to vote (unless gave up status) • Prohibited from buying or consuming alcohol • Couldn’t leave the reserve without the Indian Agent’s permission • Forbidden from holding traditional ceremonies (i.e. potlatch, Sun Dance) • Educated at government run schools (residential schools)

5. First Residential School in BC • St Mary’s in Mission 1861

6. Aggressive Assimilation Policy 1879 • Policy to forcibly remove children

7. Dr. Bryce’s Report. • Controversy in the early 20th Century…why are Aboriginal students dying in schools? • 1907- Dr. Bryce was assigned as Chief Medical Examiner to produce a report on the health conditions at the schools

8. Dr. Bryce – “National Crime” “Indian Children were being systematically and deliberately killed in Residential school.” - Dr Bryce, 1907 • Tuberculosis epidemic = National Crime • “Inadequate funding, poorly constructed schools, sanitary and ventilation problems, inadequate diet, clothing and medical care” • 24% of all the students who had been at the schools were known to be dead

9. 1920 Duncan Campbell Scott made Attendance Mandatory to Indian Residential School All Children ages 7 - 15 How children were transported

10. Canada’s Assimilation Policy “I want to get rid of the Indian problem. I do not think as a matter of fact, that the country ought to continuously protect a class of people who are able to stand alone… Our objective is to continue until there is not a single Indian in Canada that has not been absorbed into the body politic and there is no Indian question, and no Indian Department, that is the whole object of this Bill.” Dr. Duncan Campbell Scott – 1920 Department of Indian Affairs 1913 - 1932

11. Genocide Convention • 1948 United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide • The Convention defines genocide as any of the following acts committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: a. Killing members of the group;b. Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;c. Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; d. Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;e. Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

12. Cultural Genocide Cultural genocide is the systematic destruction of traditions, values, language, and other elements which make one group of people distinct from other groups.

13. Life back on the reserves • When students returned to the reserve, they often found they didn't belong. • They didn't have the skills to help their parents, and became ashamed of their native heritage. • The skills taught at the schools were generally substandard; many found it hard to function in an urban setting. • The aims of assimilation meant devastation for those who were subjected to years of mistreatment. • Intergenerational Impacts

14. What are Intergenerational Impacts? When someone experiences or witnesses a traumatic experience and that experience is not dealt with – those effects are passed on to the children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren of Aboriginal people who attended the residential school system.

15. Impacts • Misuse of Alcohol and Drugs • FASD and NAS • Violence • Self-worth • Dysfunctional families and relationships • Parenting skills • Suicide • Teen pregnancy • Depression/Anger • Passive Aggressive behaviour • Poverty Spiritual Confusion Internalized Inferiority Toxic Communication Co-dependency Disconnection to natural world Feel like you have no voice Eating disorders Sleeping disorders Fear Sexual abuse Education

16. Last School to close in Canada Gordon’s Indian Residential School, Saskatchewan, 1996

17. Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement • Initiated by survivors, it’s the largest class action lawsuit in Canada to date • Common Experience Payment (CEP): offers direct payments to all former students of federally run residential schools. Application had to be before 2011. • Independent Assessment Process (IAP): revolve and compensate claims of sexual abuse, serious physical abuse, or other wrongful acts that caused psychological damage • Healing fund of $125 million to continue the healing of survivors.

18. 130 “recognized” schools in Canada

19. Truth and Reconciliation Commission • Gather testimony from survivors to create a historical record that is available to the public • Promote public awareness and education to all Canadians • A report recommending what is to be done regarding the legacy of residential schools • Support commemoration of former Residential school students and their families

20. Was this a learning institution?

21. Some questions to consider • What was the Indian Problem? • Why was it a problem? • Who’s problem was it?

22. Curriculum • 40% of the teaching staff had no professional training • Half the day was spent on academics, the other was spent between manual labor and receiving religious instructions • Grade 9 education was made available, very few achieved this level • Centered on vocational training, like animal husbandry, homemaking and general labor.

23. What life was like • They were right about institutions – Total Institutions • All activities were under strict guidance and control • 24 hour surveillance • They were given a number • Not given much of an education • Chores! Chores! Chores!

24. Cleanliness Children were told they were “dirty little Indians” and were reprimanded for bed wetting etc Told that their parents had done poor jobs raising them

25. What went wrong? • Residential schools were established with the assumption that aboriginal culture was unable to adapt to a rapidly modernizing society. • Students were discouraged from speaking their first language or practising native traditions. If they were caught, they would experience severe punishment. • Throughout the years, students lived in substandard conditions and endured physical and emotional abuse. There are also many allegations of sexual abuse. • Students at residential schools rarely had opportunities to see examples of normal family life. They were in school 10 months a year, away from their parents. All correspondence from the children was written in English, which many parents couldn't read. • Brothers and sisters at the same school rarely saw each other, as all activities were segregated by gender.