How many children were taken for the Residential Schools?
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The Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement (IRSSA) is an agreement between the Government of Canada and approximately 86,000 Native Canadians who at some point were enrolled as children in the Canadian Indian residential school system, a system which was in place between 1879 and 1996. The IRSSA recognized the damage inflicted by the residential schools and established a $2 billion compensation package for all former IRS students and, in particular, those who had been abused or otherwise harmed. The agreement, announced in 2006, was the largest class action settlement in Canadian history. As of December 2012 a total of $1.62 billion has been paid to 78,750 former students.
Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement
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CBC has reported that "In all, about 150,000 aboriginal, Inuit and Métis children were removed from their communities and forced to attend the schools." The 150,000 enrollment figure is an estimate not disputed by Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development, but it is not clear what percentage were "removed from their communities and forced to attend the schools." A percentage of the residential schools were in or close by the children's communities. Moreover, while many aboriginal parents distrusted the residential schools or preferred to raise and educate their children in a traditional manner, other parents willingly enrolled their children, partly from a belief that the schooling of the "white man" would benefit them, and partly from a knowledge that schools would provide shelter, food and clothing which dire conditions on the reserve could not provide. Harsh criticism has been leveled at Scott and the residential school system, as children who attended some of the more poorly maintained or administered schools lived in terrible conditions; in some cases the mortality rate exceeded fifty percent due to the spread of infectious disease. Furthermore, Scott continued with his advocacy knowing that death from illness (such as influenza and tuberculosis) and suicide was common. This situation was made worse by the federal policy that tied funding to enrollment numbers, which resulted in some schools enrolling sick children in order to boost their numbers. Echoing Scott's desire to absorb aboriginals into the wider Canadian population, many residential and day schools strongly discouraged students from speaking their native language, and harsh punishments were administered. Corporal punishment was sometimes justified by the belief that it was the only way to "save souls", "civilize" the native children and, in the residential schools, punish runaways who might make the school responsible for injury or death while trying to return home. Many reports of physical, sexual and psychological abuse in the residential schools have surfaced over the years. Exact numbers are unknown, as the government at the time did not see fit to keep track of such things. Because any kind of scandal coming out of the residential schools would have caused Indian Affairs, the churches and the government of the day much embarrassment, incidents of abuse were often discounted or covered up. However, based on survivor's accounts, as many as 75% of the children in particularly awful schools may have been sexually assaulted. He clearly condoned the policy of removing the children's cultural identity, praising practices such as referring to students only by a number and beating them when they dared to speak their own language.
Duncan Campbell Scott
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Between 1949 and 1979, thousands of Indigenous children were taken from their communities to attend five residential schools that were run by the International Grenfell Association or Moravians. Many said they were sexually and physically abused, and suffered language and cultural losses.
International Grenfell Association
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As in many Canadian Indian Residential Schools (IRS), some children died while under the care of the school staff and administration. In one particularly tragic incident at the Lejac Residential School, four boys ran away on New Year's Day in 1937 and were found dead, frozen on a lake shortly thereafter. Allen Willie (age 8), Andrew Paul (age 9), Maurice Justin (age 8), and Johnny Michael (age 9) had fled the school "without caps and lightly clad" and had covered six of the seven miles to Nadleh reserve before succumbing to the cold. It was incidents of this sort that prompted some residential school administrators to inflict harsh punishment on those who attempted to run away from their school.
Lejac Residential School
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The formula for funding was on a per child basis. To raise money, the number of children placed in the institution was increased. The school was built for 125 students; however, in the first year 146 children were placed in the institution, 62 students were in the single grade 1 class By 1938, 175 children were placed in the institution to try to make up for the financial hardship the institution faced. In 1957, there were 160 students, divided among four classrooms. Inspector in 1957 indicated, children required “much more individual attention”
Shubenacadie Indian Residential School
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Some Poor Law Unions opted to send destitute children to the British colonies, in particular to Canada and Australia, where it was hoped the fruits of their labour would contribute to the defence of the empire and enable the colonies to buy more British exports. Known as Home Children, the Philanthropic Farm school alone sent more than 1000 boys to the colonies between 1850 and 1871, many of them taken from workhouses. In 1869 Maria Rye and Annie Macpherson, "two spinster ladies of strong resolve", began taking groups of orphans and children from workhouses to Canada, most of whom were taken in by farming families in Ontario. The Canadian government paid a small fee to the ladies for each child delivered, but most of the cost was met by charities or the Poor Law Unions.
Workhouse
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Catholic Missionaries were sent to convert First Nations children to Christianity. By 1891, the first group of students were sent to receive a so-called "formal" education. The program continued for the next six decades until a point when Native children were allowed into the public school system. Ninety years after the start of the Residential School program, the mission school closed circa 1981. Throughout that period, Indian agents were empowered to remove children from homes to attend St. Joseph's Mission school in 150 Mile House. This led some to attempt to hide their children by sneaking out to hunting grounds or fields. Children fled the schools, and within the first 30 years, three investigations on the physical abuse and malnutrition were conducted; however, the Natives were said to be "wild", deserving the treatment.
Tsilhqot'in
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Enrolments grew rapidly and the temporary buildings were extremely uncomfortable and overcrowded. By May 1878, 1,035 children were enrolled and this had grown to 1,405 by the end of the year. By 1879 there were 1,608 children enrolled. During the winter three teachers found the over-crowding and draughty conditions so difficult that they asked for removal to another school. No action was taken, since the new building was expected to solve the school's problems.
Crown Street Public School
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CINI has mainstreamed over 10,000 children into formal schools, both residential and non-residential. The majority of these children are from the slums, squatter colonies, railway platforms and red light areas.
Child In Need Institute
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The first school in the village was an iron building, originally constructed in 1906 in Forest Town near Mansfield Woodhouse and moved in 1924. It housed 120 pupils, and a further 100 were housed in a corrugated iron extension added in 1925. Soon, 70 children were taken to Carlton-in-Lindrick each day, and 90 infants were taught in the room above the Co-op. The first five classrooms in a permanent school were available from 1 September 1926, and the "Tin School" was abandoned in January 1927 when the new school was completed. An infant school was built on the same site, and was completed by September 1928. The infant school catered for 388 children, the junior school 360, and the senior school 384, although some pupils went to one of the Retford schools if they passed their 11+ examination. The older school, or "Tin School", as it was and is popularly referred to in the village and surrounding areas, was partially demolished between 2003 and 2004, and fully gone by 2007.
Langold