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Former Member

6,000 aboriginal children died in residential school system, report finds

Final report from Truth and Reconciliation Commission to be released June 3

By John Paul Tasker, CBC News, Posted: May 29, 2015 9:04 PM ET. Last Updated: May 29, 2015 9:39 PM ET; Source

 

At least 6,000 aboriginal children died while in the residential school system, says Justice Murray Sinclair, the chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

 

Sinclair, who has been tasked with studying the legacy of the residential schools, says that the figure is just an estimate and is likely much higher. Residential schools were established in the 19th century and the last ones closed in 1996.

 

"We think that we have not uncovered anywhere near what the total would be because the record keeping around that question was very poor," Sinclair told Rosemary Barton of CBC's Power & Politics. "You would have thought they would have concentrated more on keeping track."

 

Sinclair offered the figure of 6,000 in a later interview with Evan Solomon to air Saturday on CBC Radio's The House — much higher than earlier estimates that put the number of school children who died in the system at less than 4,000.

 

Sinclair, who was Manitoba's first aboriginal judge, estimates 24 to 42 per cent of aboriginal children who attended the residential schools died at school or shortly after leaving school.

 

Most of the children died from malnourishment or disease. Some children who attended the schools in the 1940s and 1950s were even subjected to science experiments in which they were deprived essential nutrients and dental care.

 

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission, struck in 2009, is writing an exhaustive history of the residential school system. The commissioners interviewed over 7,000 people, and the final report, which is expected to be released on June 3, will span six volumes and include over two million words.

'Cultural genocide'

The new death toll comes in the wake of comments made by Beverly McLachlin, the chief justice of the Supreme Court. At an event on Thursday, McLachlin said that Canada attempted to commit "cultural genocide" against aboriginal peoples. 

 

"The most glaring blemish on the Canadian historic record relates to our treatment of the First Nations that lived here at the time of colonization," McLachlin said. She was delivering the fourth annual Pluralism Lecture of the Global Centre for Pluralism, founded in 2006 by the Aga Khan, spiritual leader of Ismaili Muslims, and the federal government.

 

Truth and Reconciliation Commission Chair Justice Murray Sinclair

Truth and Reconciliation Commission Chair Justice Murray Sinclair releases his final report next week. (Darryl Dyck/Canadian Press)

 

Canada, she said, developed an "ethos of exclusion and cultural annihilation."

 

Sinclair said he agrees with McLachlin's characterization of the country's history.

 

"I think as commissioners we have concluded that cultural genocide is probably the best description of what went on here. But more importantly, if anybody tried to do this today, they would easily be subject to prosecution under the genocide convention," Sinclair told Evan Solomon of CBC Radio's The House.

 

"The evidence is mounting that the government did try to eliminate the culture and language of indigenous people for well over a hundred years. And they did it by forcibly removing children from their families and placing them within institutions that were cultural indoctrination centres.

"That appears to us to fall within the definition of genocide under the UN convention," Sinclair said.

 

The United Nations' convention on the prevention and punishment of the crime of genocide does not address "cultural genocide," but it says genocide may include causing "mental harm" to a racial or religious group.

 

A spokesperson for Bernard Valcourt, the minister of aboriginal affairs, would not comment on the chief justice's remarks, but issued a statement saying, "While we cannot undo the past, we can learn from it and we have taken the steps necessary to bring closure to the legacy of the Indian residential schools." 

Policy of 'aggressive assimilation' 

In the 19th century, the Canadian government developed a policy of "aggressive assimilation" calling for aboriginal children to be taught at church-run, government-funded residential schools.

 

The government felt children were easier to mould than adults, and the concept of a boarding school was the best way to prepare them for life in mainstream society.

 

Canada's first prime minister, Sir John A. Macdonald, was a strong proponent of the system.

 

"When the school is on the reserve, the child lives with his parents who are savages; he is surrounded by savages, and though he may learn to read and write, his habits and training and mode of thought are Indian. He is simply a savage who can read and write," he told the House of Commons in 1883.

 

The last residential schools, St. Michael's Indian Residential School and Gordon Indian Residential School, both located in Saskatchewan, closed in 1996.

 

In 2008, Prime Minister Harper made a historic apology for the harm caused by the residential school system.

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Canada’s Indian residential schools: by the numbers

Report to be released Tuesday on cumulative study with over 7,000 victims

 

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission examining Canada’s Indian residential schools is to release a summary of its final report Tuesday after hearing testimony from 7,000 survivors over five years. Here is a by-the-numbers look at residential schools:

 

The 1840s — Church-run schools are established for aboriginal children.

 

1883 — The year the federal government establishes three large residential schools in Western Canada to “kill the Indian in the child.”

 

1920 — The year the Indian Act is amended to make it compulsory for status Indian children between seven and 15 to attend residential school.

 

70 — The number of residential schools operating by the 1930s.

 

130 — The total number of residential schools that received support from the federal government at the program’s peak.

 

60 per cent — The proportion of residential schools run by the Catholic Church.

 

1996 — The year the last residential school closes outside Regina.

 

150,000 — The estimated number of children who went through the residential school system.

 

80,000 — The estimated number of residential school students still alive.

 

Unknown — The number of children who died in Canada’s residential schools. Provinces are still handing over death certificates for aboriginal children from the residential school era.

 

60 per cent — The mortality rate reached at some residential schools, according to Truth and Reconciliation chairman Justice Murray Sinclair.

 

$1.9 billion — The federal government’s compensation package offered to former residential school students.

FM
Last edited by Former Member

Education a first step in 'long journey' to aboriginal reconciliation, commission chairman says

Justice Murray Sinclair, head of the aboriginal residential schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission. says one of the most important messages that will come from his report is that the consequences of the school system are far more wide-reaching than many realize.

Justice Murray Sinclair, head of the aboriginal residential schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

 

The “secret” to reconciliation and mutual respect between aboriginal and non-aboriginal Canadians lies in how parents and teachers educate their children, Manitoba Justice Murray Sinclair told a packed audience at the University of Ottawa Saturday.

 

Sinclair’s speech, which received a prolonged standing ovation, was a prelude to four days of activity in the National Capital Region to mark Tuesday’s release of the Truth and Reconciliation report into the treatment of aboriginal children at residential schools.

 

Sinclair chaired the commission.

 

For generations aboriginal children were taught that they were inferior to children of European immigrant families, he said.

 

“But it also had the effect of educating non-aboriginal children to believe that their cultures and ancestors were superior,’ he added, “when in some cases aboriginal societies were far superior in the way they functioned.”

 

The abuse suffered by tens of thousands of aboriginal schools has had a lasting effect not only on the survivors but deep into the fabric of aboriginal life in Canada, said Sinclair.

 

The federal government funded the church-run Indian Residential Schools for more than 120 years during which children were systematically stripped of their language, culture and traditions.

 

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission was established following the 2007 Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement.

 

Sinclair did not reveal any of the report’s recommendations but gave a clear indication Saturday of what to expect when it is tabled:

  • Children were physically and sexually abused and their health neglected. Diseases were rampant in the schools and many children died.
  • Residential schools destroyed relationships between the resident children, their families and their communities.
  • Children were often disbelieved by their parents when they told them of abuse and many parents who did believe their children told them ‘don’t tell anybody because if you tell anybody you’re going to get even more punishment.’
  • Those people lost trust and sense of belief in their families, said Sinclair. “You can’t grow up in an institution – from being a young child to becoming a young adult — and have a sense of family. So knowing how to function in a family setting was a significant challenge for many.”
  • Children of survivors have also been affected. The commission heard many reports of lack of affection and love; of parents emotionally incapable of showing love to their children — sometime fearful of showing love. Some survivors told the commission that they were afraid to hold their child because it reminded them of how they were held by the people who abused them.
  • Substance abuse, mental illness and poverty were, and are, common in survivor families.
  • Survivors’ lack of faith in the education system has been passed through generations often resulting in a lack of education and lack of family support for subsequent generations.

The ongoing disappearance, abuse and murder of young aboriginal women is a direct result of an ingrained attitude dating back to the fur trade.

 

“It was part of the normal way of things, and that belief has permeated the thinking of many men is western Canadian society and western society generally: To think about indigenous women as being less than their counterparts. Victimization of young girls in residential schools occurred at a much more significant rate than young boys although victimization of both was serious.”

 

“The question now,” said Sinclair, is ‘what do we do about all of this?

 

“The first step is a need to inform ourselves,” he said. “The secret to reconciliation is how we educate our children to make sure they have a proper understanding. The ultimate goal is establishing a relationship of mutual respect. We have a lot of work to do.”

 

Post-secondary institutions have a special responsibility to ensure “that the academic freedoms they stand so proudly in defence of are extended to addressing the academic knowledge of indigenous people.”

 

Sinclair signaled that the commission report will be inadequate in its estimation of the numbers of missing children who attended residential schools.

 

“Children who were not able to make it home because they died in the schools or died in the way home,’ he said. “We have attempted to determine the numbers as best we can but our report is very incomplete.

 

“There is a crying need for more research into the question of how many children actually died in the schools so that we can help the aboriginal community – and non-aboriginal community — come to terms with this treatment in a meaningful way.

 

“Residential schools can’t be looked at in isolation,” he added. “They were part of an overall approach (of government and society) to force the assimilation of indigenous people into Canadian society.”

 

A ‘Walk for Reconciliation’ begins at noon Sunday from Gatineau’s École Secondaire de l’Île and will end at Marion Dewar Plaza at Ottawa City Hall via Portage Bridge and Victoria Island.

 

“Reconciliation is a process that involves everyone from all sectors, that is what this walk is about,” Sinclair said in an earlier statement. “It will take time and it will not be easy, but we need to start this journey today, so that our children and future generations can finish it.”

 

===========================

 

For more information on the entire four-day program go to www.trc.ca

 

http://www.trc.ca/websites/trc...tution/index.php?p=3

FM

First Nations, Aboriginals or as known Amerindians travelled from the northern part of Canada over 30,000 years ago to settle in Canada, US_of_A, Central and South America.

 

When Columbus was lost in his travels and landed in these parts, they slaughtered the aboriginals just for the pleasure of having fun.

 

Specific to what is now Guyana, the Aboriginals were always mistreated by the British and other colonial countries.

 

While still a colony, though self-governing from 1957 to independence, the PPP/C sought means to address their situations.

 

It would be of interest to know what the PNC did for the aboriginals from independence day on May 26, 1966 to 1992 when they-PNC were defeated as the government.

FM

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