06) RESIDENTIAL SCHOOLS: CANADA'S GENOCIDE

People's Voice Editorial

            After decades of speculation, figures are emerging about the extent of Deaths at Indian residential schools. At least 3,000 children died while attending the schools, which were infamously designed to "take the Indian out of the child." The findings are the result of the first systematic search of government, school and other records, carried out by the Missing Children Project. The numbers will rise as more documents from government archives are studied.

            Researchers say that the 3,000 deaths are all proven by primary documentation indicating dates and circumstances. The biggest killer was disease, particularly tuberculosis which spread rapidly in dormitories. The Spanish flu epidemic of 1918‑1919 killed 20 children at one Ontario residential school alone. Others died of malnutrition, or accidents such as fires and drowning.

            About 150,000 children went through 140 church‑run schools from the 1870s until the 1990s, a deliberate policy of "civilizing" Aboriginal peoples. Students were forbidden to speak their own languages, and contact with families was severely limited. Many were physically, mentally and sexually abused, causing frequent suicides. Student deaths were considered a part of the system; architectural plans for many schools included cemeteries, and fifty burial sites have been identified.

            This all fits the term genocide, under the definition adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948. The reverberations of this crime continue: an ongoing epidemic of suicides among Aboriginal peoples, the loss of irreplaceable cultural knowledge, and devastating poverty. A lawsuit by survivors resulted in a $1.9‑billion settlement, a government apology, and the creation of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

            And yet the Conservatives still fling accusations at First Nations leaders, and refuse to take responsibility for the appalling legacy of racism and colonialism. Legislation such as Bills C-45 and C-37 inflict new damage on indigenous peoples, and indeed all Canadians. "Shameful" is much too polite a term for this government's actions.

(The above article is from the March 1-15, 2013, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1.)