CPTnet
5 September 2012
ABORIGINAL JUSTICE: “Kill the Indian, save the man”: truth and reconciliation after ethnocide

by Chris Sabas

Residential schools and boarding schools for indigenous people in Canada and the United States officially date back to the 1870’s. Over 130 residential schools were located across Canada. The last one closed in 1996. Church and State colluded in setting up the schools as a means to eliminate Aboriginal parents’ involvement in their children's intellectual, cultural and spiritual development. “A great general has said that the only good Indian is a dead one,” said US Army Officer Richard Pratt in 1892. “In a sense, I agree with the sentiment, but only in this: that all the Indian there is in the race should be dead.  Kill the Indian in him and save the man.”

During this time, more than 150,000 First Nations, Métis and Inuit children were placed in these schools, often against their parents’ wishes. They were forbidden to speak their languages and practice their own cultures. Many were physically, sexually and mentally abused. As many as a third never returned and school officials did not notify parents and families of their fate. While an estimated 80,000 former students are living today, the schools’ impacts have been felt throughout generations, and they continue to contribute to existing social problems.

Former residential school students took the federal government and sponsoring churches to court. Their cases led to the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement, the largest class-action settlement in Canadian history, which sought to begin repairing harm caused by the schools. Aside from providing compensation to former students, the agreement established Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), with a five-year, $60 million budget. In addition, on 11 June 2008, Prime Minister Stephen Harper, on behalf of the Government of Canada, delivered a formal apology in the House of Commons to former students, their families and communities for Canada’s role in the operation of the residential schools.

In pursuit of its mandate to document what happened in the residential schools and present it to all Canadians, the TRC will research records of schools’ operators and funders and take testimony from administrative officials and survivors, their families, communities and anyone personally affected by the residential school experience and its subsequent impacts.

The TRC has hosted four national events in different regions of Canada since 2010, has plans for three more, and supports regional events as well. The events educate the Canadian public about the history of the residential school system, the experience of former students and their families, and the institutions’ ongoing legacies within communities. They also provide opportunities to celebrate regional diversity and honour people touched by residential schools.