When did the Residential Schools close in Canada?
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The George Gordon First Nation was the location of Gordon Indian Residential School, the longest-running residential school in Canada. The Anglican Church of Canada established a day school on Gordon’s Reserve in 1876. It was expanded in 1888 to provide housing to students attending the school. In 1929 the school was destroyed by fire and eventually rebuilt. Problems with water supply and maintenance led to its being closed for much of the time between 1947 and 1953. The school was closed in 1996. Children attending Gordon Indian Residential School were reported to have suffered various forms of abuse, inflicting severe damage to the Gordon community. The schools have been proven to have facilitated the abuse of children under their care. The federal government knew of these abuses, and has since apologized and paid compensation to the victims. The extent of the damage done to these communities is still yet known. The residential school system is widely regarded as cultural genocide, due to the action of destroying Indigenous culture, language, and religion, as well as the intent to do so. On the reserve, the Gordon Recovery and Wellness Centre provides services and support to the victims of the abuse that occurred during the Residential School System.
George Gordon First Nation
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The Indian residential schools of Canada were a network of "residential" (boarding) schools for Aboriginal peoples of Canada (First Nations, Métis, and Inuit) funded by the Canadian government's Department of Indian Affairs, and administered by Christian churches, most notably the Catholic Church in Canada and the Anglican Church of Canada. The system had origins in pre-Confederation times, but was primarily active following the passage of the "Indian Act" in 1876, until the mid-twentieth century. The last residential school was not closed until 1996.
Human rights in Canada
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Residential Schools operated in Canada from the 1800s until 1996. These schools were said to be a primary weapon of the government and the missionaries in their attempt to systematically destroy Native culture. Generations of First Nations people were scarred from the effects of their policies.
When the video was made, there was very little discussion about the crucial subject of residential schools either in the education system, or in the mass media. This controversial subject did not seem to be part of the collective consciousness at that time. Hanah was quoted saying she had no awareness of any books or films on the subject when she made the documentary. Her intention was to further the subject into general awareness and in the public forum to begin further examination and exposure. Also in following the acts of Shirley Cheechoo’s play, Hanah hoped to reinforce the healing that comes from exposing these stories.
Sleeping Children Awake
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The Spanish Indian Residential Schools were part of the Canadian Indian residential school system and one of the 130 schools for First Nations, Métis, and Inuit children that operated in Canada between 1874 and 1996. Operated by the Jesuits of English Canada, the Daughters of the Heart of Mary and the Government of Canada the residential schools operated in Spanish, Ontario from 1913 to 1965.
Spanish Indian Residential Schools
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The system had its origins in laws enacted before Confederation, but was primarily active from the passage of the Indian Act in 1876. An amendment to the Indian Act in 1884 made attendance at day schools, industrial schools, or residential schools compulsory for First Nations children. Due to the remote nature of many communities, school locations meant that for some families residential schools were the only way to comply. The schools were intentionally located at substantial distances from Indigenous communities to minimize contact between families and their children. Indian Commissioner Hayter Reed argued for schools at greater distances to reduce family visits, which he thought counteracted efforts to civilize Indigenous children. Parental visits were further restricted by the use of a pass system designed to confine Indigenous peoples to reserves. The last federally operated residential school closed in 1996. Schools operated in every province and territory with the exception of New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island.
Canadian Indian residential school system
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Not all Aboriginal children attended residential schools. During the period in which the schools operated, more than a third of indigenous children attended federal day schools, and about a third received no schooling at all. It is however the residential school system that receives much of the blame for the various problems and challenges facing Canada's indigenous people today. During the years in which the residential schools operated, they were regarded by most Canadians as a sensible and beneficial solution to native education, and in some cases, Aboriginal communities specifically requested that a residential school be built. When the system began to closing down in the 1960s, a significant number of communities asked that their school remain open.
First Nations
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Canada's residential school system was implemented by the federal government and administered by various churches. Its purpose was to educate Aboriginal children in Euro-Canadian and Christian values so they could become part of mainstream society. The school system was in effect from the 1880s until 1996, when the last school closed. Children were forcibly removed from their families and homes for extended period of times. The schools' policies forbade the children from speaking their own languages or acknowledging their culture in any way. Survivors of the residential schools have come forward and spoken out about physical, spiritual, sexual and psychological abuse they experienced at the hand of the residential school staff. The lasting cultural impact on First Nations families and communities has been widespread and extensive.
Sixties Scoop
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From 1920 to 1973 Alberni Residential School was in operation. The Canadian Federal government now says that this was a big blot on race relations in Canada. The residential school system run by the United Church forcibly separated children from their families and communities. The residential school was closed in the late 1970s and in 2009 was demolished.
Port Alberni
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Also known as Sioux Lookout Indian Residential School, Pelican Lake Indian Residential School was established in 1926 and officially opened in 1929. The school was one of the approximately three dozen schools operated by the Anglican Church of Canada. It was the state-enforced Indian Residential School for Ojibway and Cree students from both Treaty Three and Treaty Nine territories in northern Ontario and eastern Manitoba. When it initially opened it housed a total of 125 both boys and girls, but this number increased to 150 by the late 1940s. As like most residential schools, the school was designed in a way that the male and female students had limited interaction with each other. Usually students were removed from their families and brought to the school when they were six years old and stayed until they were twelve.
Pelican Lake Indian Residential School
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Most residential schools closed in the 1970s. Criminal and civil suits against the government and the churches began in the late 1980s and shortly thereafter the last residential school closed. By 2002 the number of lawsuits had passed 10,000. In the 1990s, beginning with the United Church, the churches that ran the residential schools began to issue formal apologies. And in 1998 the Canadian government issued the Statement of Reconciliation, and committed $350 million in support of a community-based healing strategy to address the healing needs of individuals, families and communities arising from the legacy of physical and sexual abuse at residential schools. The money was used to launch the Aboriginal Healing Foundation.
In the 19th and 20th century, the Canadian federal government's Indian Affairs Department officially encouraged the growth of the Indian residential school system as an agent in a wider policy of assimilating Native Canadians into European-Canadian society. This policy was enforced with the support of various Christian churches, who ran many of the schools. Over the course of the system's existence, approximately 30% of native children, roughly some 150,000, were placed in residential schools nationally, with the last school closing in 1996. There has long been controversy about the conditions experienced by students in the residential schools. While day schools for First Nations, Metis, and Inuit children always far outnumbered residential schools, a new consensus emerged in the early 21st century that the latter schools did significant harm to Aboriginal children who attended them by removing them from their families, depriving them of their ancestral languages, undergoing forced sterilization for some students, and by exposing many of them to physical leading to sexual abuse by staff members, and other students, and dis-enfranchising them forcibly.
Institutional racism
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The Mohawk Institute Residential School was a Canadian Indian residential school in Brantford, Ontario, Canada. The School operated under the Government of Canada from July 1, 1885 to June 27, 1970. Prior to 1885 the Anglican Church of Canada was involved in the operation of a school and residential school in the same location. Enrollment at the school ranged from 90 to 200 students per year.
Mohawk Institute Residential School