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Honouring the Truth, Reconciling for the Future: Summary of the Final Report of the Truth and Reconcilliatiom Commission of Canada
This book contains the Summary of the Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, released in June 2015.
527 pages, ebook
First published January 1, 2015
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Summary of the Summary
This is a summary of the official summary of the final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), which was published in 2015 after 6 years of research and investigation.
Why was the "Indian" residential school system created?
"Canada separated children from their parents, sending them to residential schools. This was done not to educate them, but primarily to break their link to their culture and family" (p. 2).
Indeed, Prime Minister John A Macdonald told the House of Commons in 1883,
"When the school is on the reserve the child lives with its 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. It has strongly been pressed on myself, as head of the Department, that Indian children should be withdrawn as much as possible from the parental influence, and the only way to do that would be to put them in central training industrial schools where they will acquire the habits and modes of thought of white men" (p. 2).
Although attendance was initially voluntary, in 1894 the federal government put in place regulations that allowed for an Indian agent or justice of the peace to place an indigenous child (between the ages of 6 and 16) in a residential school if that child was "not being properly cared for or educated, and that the parent, guardian or other person having charge or control over the child is unfit or unwilling to provide for the child's education" (p. 64).
"From the 1940s onward, residential schools increasingly served as orphanages and child-welfare facilities. By 1960, the federal government estimated that 50% of the children in residential school were there for child-welfare reasons" (p.186). They were then transferred into foster care in the "Sixties Scoop" when the schools began to close around that time.
"In 1920, the Indian Act was amended to allow the government to compel any First Nations child to attend residential school. However, residential school was never compulsory for all First Nations children" (p. 66). Even at the height of the residential school system, no more than 31% of indigenous kids were in residential schools: "In the 1944-45 school year, there were 8,865 students in residential schools, and 7,573 in Indian Affairs day schools. In that year, there were reportedly 28,429 school-aged Aboriginal children. This means that 31.1% of the school-aged Aboriginal children were in residential schools" (p. 66). Some did not go to school at all.
"Parents were eager to have their children properly educated, and often proposed realistic and effective solutions. In 1905, parents of children attending the Roman Catholic boarding school in Squash, British Columbia, petitioned to have the school converted into an industrial school. The request was not granted, despite the fact that Indian Affairs officials recognized that the boarding school grant allowed for only "the bare necessities of food and clothing" (p. 121).
"Some First Nations leaders who had originally supported residential schools later publicly regretted their decision. Chief Napahkesit of the Pine Creek Band in Manitoba said in 1917 that he was sorry he had ever supported the construction of the Pine Creek school. According to the local Indian agent, the chief felt "the children know less when they come out that they did when they went in." What was needed, the chief said, was a day school. Calls for day schools were, in fact, a common parental request. A 1949 call from parents for a day school at the Ossess Reserve eventually proved to be successful" (p. 121).
In light of this, perhaps it should be said that separating children from their parents was, at most, an ulterior motive. The ostensible motive, apart from child welfare considerations, was to provide ingenious kids who lived in isolated, thinly populated areas (where day schools would have been expensive) with an education so that they could successfully assimilate into the rest of Canadian society, being "absorbed into the body politic." This, in turn, would help free the federal government from its "legal and financial obligations to Aboriginal people" (p. 3).
Were children allowed to speak their native languages? As a general rule, no. However, fixed times where native languages could be spoken were sometimes put in place.
"In 1889, Deputy Minister of Indian Affairs Lawrence Vankoughnet informed Bishop Paul Durieu that in the new Cranbrook, British Columbia, school, mealtime conversations were to be "conducted exclusively in the English language." The principal was also to set a fixed time during which Aboriginal languages could be spoken" (p. 84).
Prior to the establishment of the Residential School System, the Jesuits had a day school on Manitoulin Island where indigenous kids were taught in Ojibwe. Also, "the 1898 report from the principal of the Anglican school at Onion Lake indicated that the school was one of the few exceptions where the children were taught to "read and write in both Cree and English." But inspectors viewed the continued use of Aboriginal languages by the students as a sign of failure" (p. 85).
"It was not until the 1960's that attitudes began to change about the place of Aboriginal language and culture in residential schools. Alex Alikashuak said that at the Churchill school, which operated in the 1960s, there were no restrictions on the use of Aboriginal languages. He recalled, "The only time, real time we spoke English was when we were in the classroom, or we're talking to one of the administration staff, or somebody from out of town that's not Inuit, but otherwise we, everybody spoke our language" (p. 87).
Residential schools were poorly constructed and poorly-ventilated. Overcrowding and a lack of funding for heating in the wintertime, nutrition (students were required to grow their own food), and basic medical care resulted in students dying of tuberculosis and other diseases at "4.9 times the general death rate" (p. 97).
"The government believed that between the forced labour of students and the poorly paid labour of missionaries, it could operate a residential school system on a nearly toll-free basis. The missionaries and the students were indeed a source of cheap labour - but the government was never happy with the quality of the teaching and, no matter how hard the students worked, their labour never made the schools self-supporting" (p. 63).
"The federal government knowingly choose not to provide schools with enough money to ensure that kitchens and dining rooms were properly equipped, that cooks were properly trained, and, most significantly, that food was purchased in sufficient quantity and quality for growing children. It was a decision that left thousands of Aboriginal children vulnerable to disease" (p. 93).
"They were also aware that death rates among students at residential schools were disproportionately high. It would be wrong to say the government did nothing about this crisis: the 1910 contract did provide a substantial funding increase to the schools. But the federal government never made the type of sustained investment in Aboriginal health, in either the communities or the schools, that could have addresses this crisis - which continues to the present. The non-Aboriginal tuberculosis death rate declined before the introduction of life-saving drugs. It was brought down by improvements in diet, housing, sanitation, and medical attention. Had such measures been taken by the federal government earlier, they would have reduced both the Aboriginal death rates and the residential school students' death rates" (p. 103).
Besides disease, some students died in fires.
"The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada has determined that at least fifty-three schools were destroyed by fire. There were at least 170 recorded fires. At least forty students died in residential school fires" (p. 99).
Other students died of exposure while trying to escape their schools.
"Running away could be risky. At least thirty-three students died, usually due to exposure, after running away from school. In a significant number of cases, parents and Indian Affairs officials concluded that the deaths could have been prevented if school officials had mounted earlier and more effective searches and notified police and family members" (p. 123).
Although we do know that thousands of kids died of disease, the exact number is difficult to ascertain.
"The number of students who died at Canada's residential schools is not likely ever to be known in full. The most serious gap in information arises from the incompleteness of the documentary record. Many records have simply been destroyed. According to a 1935 federal government policy, school returns could be destroyed after five years, and reports or accidents after 10 years. This led to the destruction of fifteen tonnes of waste paper. Between 1936 and 1944, 200,000 Indian Affairs files were destroyed. Health records were destroyed" (p. 94).
To add insult to industry, the Department of Indian Affairs refused to pay for the transportation of deceased children back home or even the trappings of a proper funeral.
"The general Indian Affairs policy was to hold schools accountable for burial expenses when a student died at school. The schools generally determined the location and nature of that burial. Parental requests to have the children's bodies returned home for burial were generally refused as being too costly" (p. 104).
Although these graves were originally surmounted with simple white crosses, many have since disappeared.
"A school closing might mean the cemetery would be left unattended. When the Battleford school closed in 1914, Principal E. Matheson remind Indian Affairs that there was a school cemetery that contained the bodies of seventy to eight individuals, most of whom were former students. He worried that unless the government took steps to care for the cemetery, it would be overrun by stray cattle. In short, throughout the system's history, children who died at school were buried in school or mission cemeteries, often in poorly marked graves. The closing of the schools has led, in many cases, to the abandonment of these cemeteries" (p. 105).
Also buried in these gravesites were "members of the local community, and the missionaries themselves" (p. 103). "Disease and illness also claimed the children of married staff members" (p. 130).
The 75th "call to action" of this report is about the maintenance of these abandoned gravesite:
"We call upon the federal government to work with provincial, territorial, and municipal governments, churches, Aboriginal communities, former residential school students, and current landowners to develop and implement strategies and procedures for the ongoing identification, documentation, and the maintenance, commemoration, and protection of residential school cemeteries or other sites at which residential school children were buried. This is to include the provision of appropriate memories ceremonies and commemorative markers to honour the deceased children" (p. 318).
"Almost all the staff members were poorly paid. Government officials took the position that because many of the staff members belonged to missionary organizations, pay was a "minor consideration." As a result, the schools had problems recruiting and keeping staff" (p. 127).
"A number of people devoted their adult lives to working in residential schools. At least twelve principals died in office... Others worked into their old age, since, due to low pay, their savings were low and pensions were minimal" (p. 128).
"Such long service was not the norm. Because pay was often low and the working and living conditions were difficult, turnover was high throughout the system's history" (p. 128).
"The schools employed many more people than principals and teachers. Most schools were mini communities. There were cooks, seamstress, housekeeper, patrons, disciplinarians, farmers, carpenters, blacksmiths, engineers (to operate the heating and electrical generators), shoemakers, and even bandmasters" (p. 129).
"Workloads were heavy, and time off war rare. The seven-day week was the norm" (p. 129).
"Aboriginal people also worked for the schools" (p. 130), sometimes as teachers. But "most of the Aboriginal people who were hired by the schools worked as cooks, cleaners, and handyman" (p. 131). "It was in the 1960s that a number of Aboriginal people were promoted to the position of school principal" (p. 131).
"Sometimes, staff protested the way students were treated. When two staff members of the Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, school resigned in 1952, they complained of the harsh disciplinary regime at the school" (p. 130).
"Lorraine Arbez, who worked at the Qu'Appelle school in the 1950s, said, "I chose this career to work with the children and my aim was to do something good with them and I hope I was of some use" (p. 127).
The TRC is fairly balanced in its portrayal of physical and sexual abuse as taking place across Catholic and Protestant residential schools alike.
Students were allegedly abused by lay staff as well as members of the clergy. "Some dormitory supervisors used their authority to institute dormitory-wide systems of abuse. Many students spoke of the fear and anxiety that spread across their dormitories in the evenings. They went to bed fearful that they might be called into the supervisor's room. To protect themselves, some students attempted to never be alone. Older children sought to protect younger children" (p. 112).
"Some students never reported abuse for fear they would not be believed. Other students who did report abuse were told that they were to blame. In some cases, school officials took immediate action when abuse was reported to them, but the rarity of such actions is itself noteworthy" (p. 112).
Much of the abuse seems to have been perpetrated by other students.
"Older or bigger students used force - or the threat of force - to establish their dominance over younger students. In some cases, this dominance was used to coerce younger or smaller students to participate in sexual acts. In other cases, bullies forced vulnerable students to turn over their treats, their food, or their money, or to steal on their behalf. In addition, bullies might simply seek a measure of sadistic satisfaction from beating those who were weaker" (p. 113).
"A lack of adequate supervision in the schools and residences meant that such domination could give rise to physical and sexual abuse. The assaults ranged from being forced to kiss someone, to being forced to simulate a sex act, to being raped. In some cases, victims were given small treats to encourage them to be silent; in other cases, they were told they would be killed if they reported the assault. Agnes Moses recalled being molested by older girls at a hostel in northern Canada. "I never quite understood it, and it really wrecked by life, it wrecked my life as a mother, a wife, a woman, and sexuality was a real, it was a real dirty word for us." The experience of being abused at a British Columbia school by a group of boys left Don Willie distrustful of most people. "The only, only friends I kept after that were my relatives." Complains were infrequent, as students had good reason not to report their abuse. Some feared that bullies would retaliate if they were reported" (p. 114).
"An astonishing number of Aboriginal children were victims of crime in residential schools. By the end of 2014, the Independent Assessment Process had resolved 30,939 sexual or serious physical abuse claims, awarding $2.69 billion in compensation. Although not every case would have involved a criminal act, the vast majority did" (p. 226).
The "Independent Assessment Process (IAP) was established to pay compensation to those who suffered sexual or serious physical assaults, such as severe beating, whipping, and second-degree burning, at the schools. The process also included compensation for assaults by other students if they were the result of a lack of reasonable supervision. The IAP was designed to be an easier process for complainants than litigation. Hearing are held in private with cultural supports for the claimants and health supports provided for by Health Canada" (p. 217).
"The number of claims for compensation for abuse is equivalent to approximately 48% of the number of former students who were eligible to make such claims" (p. 110). About 150,000 students attended residential schools.
Nevertheless, "the Commission has been able to identify fewer than fifty convictions stemming from allegations of abuse at residential schools. This figure is insignificant compared with the nearly 38,000 claims of sexual and physical abuse that were submitted as part of the Independent Assessment Process" (p. 214).
Human nature being what it is, is it possible that some claimants made exaggerated statements of abuse knowing that they would not have to prove anything in a court of law nor face cross examination under threat of perjury. On the other hand, it is certain that more than 50 individuals were guilty of abuse at residential schools, the vast majority of abusers never having to face justice. The truth may be somewhere in the middle.
"The RCMP attributed complaints by former students about assaults as evidence of a "culture clash between the rigid, 'spare the rod, spoil the child' Christian attitude, and the more permissive Native tradition of child-rearing. This preconception undoubtedly affected the number of prosecutions that occurred for physical abuse at the schools" (p. 214).
In addition to compensation for physical and sexual abuse, former students were also eligible for a Common Experience Payment (CEP). "Through the Common Experience Payment, former students would receive a payment of $10,000 for the first year that they attended a residential school, and an additional $3,000 for each additional year or partial year of attendance" (p. 134). "The CEP recognized the claims of 78,748 former residential school students" (p. 110).
Prime Minister Stephen Harper offered an apology on behalf of the Federal Government in 2008: "These objectives were based on the assumption Aboriginal cultures and spiritual beliefs were inferior and unequal. Indeed, some sought, as it was infamously said, 'to kill the Indian in the child.' Today, we recognize that this policy of assimilation was wrong, has caused great harm, and has no place in our country" (p. 134).
The Oblates of Mary Immaculate were the first to apologize for residential schools in 1991, as they ran the majority of the Catholic residential schools. "Apologies relating specifically to their roles in operating residential schools were issued by the Anglicans in 1993, the Presbyterians in 1994, and the United Church in 1998" (p. 133).
"Unlike the three Protestant denominations, the Roman Catholic Church in Canada does not have a single spokesperson with authority to represent all of its many diocese and distinct religious orders. The issuing of apologies or statements or regret was left up to each of them individually. The result has been a patchwork of apologies or statements of regret that few Survivors or church members may even know exist" (p. 277).
While it may be true that few are aware of the Church's apologies, that may have much to do with the Church's enemies in the media. Moreover, the TRC seems to be making an unexplained distinction between "apologies" and "statements of regret" in order to downplay some of the Church's apologies.
Continued in the comment section...
This is a summary of the official summary of the final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), which was published in 2015 after 6 years of research and investigation.
Why was the "Indian" residential school system created?
"Canada separated children from their parents, sending them to residential schools. This was done not to educate them, but primarily to break their link to their culture and family" (p. 2).
Indeed, Prime Minister John A Macdonald told the House of Commons in 1883,
"When the school is on the reserve the child lives with its 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. It has strongly been pressed on myself, as head of the Department, that Indian children should be withdrawn as much as possible from the parental influence, and the only way to do that would be to put them in central training industrial schools where they will acquire the habits and modes of thought of white men" (p. 2).
Although attendance was initially voluntary, in 1894 the federal government put in place regulations that allowed for an Indian agent or justice of the peace to place an indigenous child (between the ages of 6 and 16) in a residential school if that child was "not being properly cared for or educated, and that the parent, guardian or other person having charge or control over the child is unfit or unwilling to provide for the child's education" (p. 64).
"From the 1940s onward, residential schools increasingly served as orphanages and child-welfare facilities. By 1960, the federal government estimated that 50% of the children in residential school were there for child-welfare reasons" (p.186). They were then transferred into foster care in the "Sixties Scoop" when the schools began to close around that time.
"In 1920, the Indian Act was amended to allow the government to compel any First Nations child to attend residential school. However, residential school was never compulsory for all First Nations children" (p. 66). Even at the height of the residential school system, no more than 31% of indigenous kids were in residential schools: "In the 1944-45 school year, there were 8,865 students in residential schools, and 7,573 in Indian Affairs day schools. In that year, there were reportedly 28,429 school-aged Aboriginal children. This means that 31.1% of the school-aged Aboriginal children were in residential schools" (p. 66). Some did not go to school at all.
"Parents were eager to have their children properly educated, and often proposed realistic and effective solutions. In 1905, parents of children attending the Roman Catholic boarding school in Squash, British Columbia, petitioned to have the school converted into an industrial school. The request was not granted, despite the fact that Indian Affairs officials recognized that the boarding school grant allowed for only "the bare necessities of food and clothing" (p. 121).
"Some First Nations leaders who had originally supported residential schools later publicly regretted their decision. Chief Napahkesit of the Pine Creek Band in Manitoba said in 1917 that he was sorry he had ever supported the construction of the Pine Creek school. According to the local Indian agent, the chief felt "the children know less when they come out that they did when they went in." What was needed, the chief said, was a day school. Calls for day schools were, in fact, a common parental request. A 1949 call from parents for a day school at the Ossess Reserve eventually proved to be successful" (p. 121).
In light of this, perhaps it should be said that separating children from their parents was, at most, an ulterior motive. The ostensible motive, apart from child welfare considerations, was to provide ingenious kids who lived in isolated, thinly populated areas (where day schools would have been expensive) with an education so that they could successfully assimilate into the rest of Canadian society, being "absorbed into the body politic." This, in turn, would help free the federal government from its "legal and financial obligations to Aboriginal people" (p. 3).
Were children allowed to speak their native languages? As a general rule, no. However, fixed times where native languages could be spoken were sometimes put in place.
"In 1889, Deputy Minister of Indian Affairs Lawrence Vankoughnet informed Bishop Paul Durieu that in the new Cranbrook, British Columbia, school, mealtime conversations were to be "conducted exclusively in the English language." The principal was also to set a fixed time during which Aboriginal languages could be spoken" (p. 84).
Prior to the establishment of the Residential School System, the Jesuits had a day school on Manitoulin Island where indigenous kids were taught in Ojibwe. Also, "the 1898 report from the principal of the Anglican school at Onion Lake indicated that the school was one of the few exceptions where the children were taught to "read and write in both Cree and English." But inspectors viewed the continued use of Aboriginal languages by the students as a sign of failure" (p. 85).
"It was not until the 1960's that attitudes began to change about the place of Aboriginal language and culture in residential schools. Alex Alikashuak said that at the Churchill school, which operated in the 1960s, there were no restrictions on the use of Aboriginal languages. He recalled, "The only time, real time we spoke English was when we were in the classroom, or we're talking to one of the administration staff, or somebody from out of town that's not Inuit, but otherwise we, everybody spoke our language" (p. 87).
Residential schools were poorly constructed and poorly-ventilated. Overcrowding and a lack of funding for heating in the wintertime, nutrition (students were required to grow their own food), and basic medical care resulted in students dying of tuberculosis and other diseases at "4.9 times the general death rate" (p. 97).
"The government believed that between the forced labour of students and the poorly paid labour of missionaries, it could operate a residential school system on a nearly toll-free basis. The missionaries and the students were indeed a source of cheap labour - but the government was never happy with the quality of the teaching and, no matter how hard the students worked, their labour never made the schools self-supporting" (p. 63).
"The federal government knowingly choose not to provide schools with enough money to ensure that kitchens and dining rooms were properly equipped, that cooks were properly trained, and, most significantly, that food was purchased in sufficient quantity and quality for growing children. It was a decision that left thousands of Aboriginal children vulnerable to disease" (p. 93).
"They were also aware that death rates among students at residential schools were disproportionately high. It would be wrong to say the government did nothing about this crisis: the 1910 contract did provide a substantial funding increase to the schools. But the federal government never made the type of sustained investment in Aboriginal health, in either the communities or the schools, that could have addresses this crisis - which continues to the present. The non-Aboriginal tuberculosis death rate declined before the introduction of life-saving drugs. It was brought down by improvements in diet, housing, sanitation, and medical attention. Had such measures been taken by the federal government earlier, they would have reduced both the Aboriginal death rates and the residential school students' death rates" (p. 103).
Besides disease, some students died in fires.
"The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada has determined that at least fifty-three schools were destroyed by fire. There were at least 170 recorded fires. At least forty students died in residential school fires" (p. 99).
Other students died of exposure while trying to escape their schools.
"Running away could be risky. At least thirty-three students died, usually due to exposure, after running away from school. In a significant number of cases, parents and Indian Affairs officials concluded that the deaths could have been prevented if school officials had mounted earlier and more effective searches and notified police and family members" (p. 123).
Although we do know that thousands of kids died of disease, the exact number is difficult to ascertain.
"The number of students who died at Canada's residential schools is not likely ever to be known in full. The most serious gap in information arises from the incompleteness of the documentary record. Many records have simply been destroyed. According to a 1935 federal government policy, school returns could be destroyed after five years, and reports or accidents after 10 years. This led to the destruction of fifteen tonnes of waste paper. Between 1936 and 1944, 200,000 Indian Affairs files were destroyed. Health records were destroyed" (p. 94).
To add insult to industry, the Department of Indian Affairs refused to pay for the transportation of deceased children back home or even the trappings of a proper funeral.
"The general Indian Affairs policy was to hold schools accountable for burial expenses when a student died at school. The schools generally determined the location and nature of that burial. Parental requests to have the children's bodies returned home for burial were generally refused as being too costly" (p. 104).
Although these graves were originally surmounted with simple white crosses, many have since disappeared.
"A school closing might mean the cemetery would be left unattended. When the Battleford school closed in 1914, Principal E. Matheson remind Indian Affairs that there was a school cemetery that contained the bodies of seventy to eight individuals, most of whom were former students. He worried that unless the government took steps to care for the cemetery, it would be overrun by stray cattle. In short, throughout the system's history, children who died at school were buried in school or mission cemeteries, often in poorly marked graves. The closing of the schools has led, in many cases, to the abandonment of these cemeteries" (p. 105).
Also buried in these gravesites were "members of the local community, and the missionaries themselves" (p. 103). "Disease and illness also claimed the children of married staff members" (p. 130).
The 75th "call to action" of this report is about the maintenance of these abandoned gravesite:
"We call upon the federal government to work with provincial, territorial, and municipal governments, churches, Aboriginal communities, former residential school students, and current landowners to develop and implement strategies and procedures for the ongoing identification, documentation, and the maintenance, commemoration, and protection of residential school cemeteries or other sites at which residential school children were buried. This is to include the provision of appropriate memories ceremonies and commemorative markers to honour the deceased children" (p. 318).
"Almost all the staff members were poorly paid. Government officials took the position that because many of the staff members belonged to missionary organizations, pay was a "minor consideration." As a result, the schools had problems recruiting and keeping staff" (p. 127).
"A number of people devoted their adult lives to working in residential schools. At least twelve principals died in office... Others worked into their old age, since, due to low pay, their savings were low and pensions were minimal" (p. 128).
"Such long service was not the norm. Because pay was often low and the working and living conditions were difficult, turnover was high throughout the system's history" (p. 128).
"The schools employed many more people than principals and teachers. Most schools were mini communities. There were cooks, seamstress, housekeeper, patrons, disciplinarians, farmers, carpenters, blacksmiths, engineers (to operate the heating and electrical generators), shoemakers, and even bandmasters" (p. 129).
"Workloads were heavy, and time off war rare. The seven-day week was the norm" (p. 129).
"Aboriginal people also worked for the schools" (p. 130), sometimes as teachers. But "most of the Aboriginal people who were hired by the schools worked as cooks, cleaners, and handyman" (p. 131). "It was in the 1960s that a number of Aboriginal people were promoted to the position of school principal" (p. 131).
"Sometimes, staff protested the way students were treated. When two staff members of the Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, school resigned in 1952, they complained of the harsh disciplinary regime at the school" (p. 130).
"Lorraine Arbez, who worked at the Qu'Appelle school in the 1950s, said, "I chose this career to work with the children and my aim was to do something good with them and I hope I was of some use" (p. 127).
The TRC is fairly balanced in its portrayal of physical and sexual abuse as taking place across Catholic and Protestant residential schools alike.
Students were allegedly abused by lay staff as well as members of the clergy. "Some dormitory supervisors used their authority to institute dormitory-wide systems of abuse. Many students spoke of the fear and anxiety that spread across their dormitories in the evenings. They went to bed fearful that they might be called into the supervisor's room. To protect themselves, some students attempted to never be alone. Older children sought to protect younger children" (p. 112).
"Some students never reported abuse for fear they would not be believed. Other students who did report abuse were told that they were to blame. In some cases, school officials took immediate action when abuse was reported to them, but the rarity of such actions is itself noteworthy" (p. 112).
Much of the abuse seems to have been perpetrated by other students.
"Older or bigger students used force - or the threat of force - to establish their dominance over younger students. In some cases, this dominance was used to coerce younger or smaller students to participate in sexual acts. In other cases, bullies forced vulnerable students to turn over their treats, their food, or their money, or to steal on their behalf. In addition, bullies might simply seek a measure of sadistic satisfaction from beating those who were weaker" (p. 113).
"A lack of adequate supervision in the schools and residences meant that such domination could give rise to physical and sexual abuse. The assaults ranged from being forced to kiss someone, to being forced to simulate a sex act, to being raped. In some cases, victims were given small treats to encourage them to be silent; in other cases, they were told they would be killed if they reported the assault. Agnes Moses recalled being molested by older girls at a hostel in northern Canada. "I never quite understood it, and it really wrecked by life, it wrecked my life as a mother, a wife, a woman, and sexuality was a real, it was a real dirty word for us." The experience of being abused at a British Columbia school by a group of boys left Don Willie distrustful of most people. "The only, only friends I kept after that were my relatives." Complains were infrequent, as students had good reason not to report their abuse. Some feared that bullies would retaliate if they were reported" (p. 114).
"An astonishing number of Aboriginal children were victims of crime in residential schools. By the end of 2014, the Independent Assessment Process had resolved 30,939 sexual or serious physical abuse claims, awarding $2.69 billion in compensation. Although not every case would have involved a criminal act, the vast majority did" (p. 226).
The "Independent Assessment Process (IAP) was established to pay compensation to those who suffered sexual or serious physical assaults, such as severe beating, whipping, and second-degree burning, at the schools. The process also included compensation for assaults by other students if they were the result of a lack of reasonable supervision. The IAP was designed to be an easier process for complainants than litigation. Hearing are held in private with cultural supports for the claimants and health supports provided for by Health Canada" (p. 217).
"The number of claims for compensation for abuse is equivalent to approximately 48% of the number of former students who were eligible to make such claims" (p. 110). About 150,000 students attended residential schools.
Nevertheless, "the Commission has been able to identify fewer than fifty convictions stemming from allegations of abuse at residential schools. This figure is insignificant compared with the nearly 38,000 claims of sexual and physical abuse that were submitted as part of the Independent Assessment Process" (p. 214).
Human nature being what it is, is it possible that some claimants made exaggerated statements of abuse knowing that they would not have to prove anything in a court of law nor face cross examination under threat of perjury. On the other hand, it is certain that more than 50 individuals were guilty of abuse at residential schools, the vast majority of abusers never having to face justice. The truth may be somewhere in the middle.
"The RCMP attributed complaints by former students about assaults as evidence of a "culture clash between the rigid, 'spare the rod, spoil the child' Christian attitude, and the more permissive Native tradition of child-rearing. This preconception undoubtedly affected the number of prosecutions that occurred for physical abuse at the schools" (p. 214).
In addition to compensation for physical and sexual abuse, former students were also eligible for a Common Experience Payment (CEP). "Through the Common Experience Payment, former students would receive a payment of $10,000 for the first year that they attended a residential school, and an additional $3,000 for each additional year or partial year of attendance" (p. 134). "The CEP recognized the claims of 78,748 former residential school students" (p. 110).
Prime Minister Stephen Harper offered an apology on behalf of the Federal Government in 2008: "These objectives were based on the assumption Aboriginal cultures and spiritual beliefs were inferior and unequal. Indeed, some sought, as it was infamously said, 'to kill the Indian in the child.' Today, we recognize that this policy of assimilation was wrong, has caused great harm, and has no place in our country" (p. 134).
The Oblates of Mary Immaculate were the first to apologize for residential schools in 1991, as they ran the majority of the Catholic residential schools. "Apologies relating specifically to their roles in operating residential schools were issued by the Anglicans in 1993, the Presbyterians in 1994, and the United Church in 1998" (p. 133).
"Unlike the three Protestant denominations, the Roman Catholic Church in Canada does not have a single spokesperson with authority to represent all of its many diocese and distinct religious orders. The issuing of apologies or statements or regret was left up to each of them individually. The result has been a patchwork of apologies or statements of regret that few Survivors or church members may even know exist" (p. 277).
While it may be true that few are aware of the Church's apologies, that may have much to do with the Church's enemies in the media. Moreover, the TRC seems to be making an unexplained distinction between "apologies" and "statements of regret" in order to downplay some of the Church's apologies.
Continued in the comment section...
September 23, 2017
Wish everyone would read it. Not an easy read but a strong foundation for understanding the situation of indigenous peoples in Canada with compassion.
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April 18, 2021Every Canadian should read this.
March 21, 2018
A really, really important and enlightening read.
March 5, 2024
A must read for all Canadians so we can have an informed and engaged populace as we walk the road of repentance and reconciliation.
December 28, 2020
The first lesson learned from reading the ‘Summary of the Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’ is the vastness and depth of our ignorance as settler people. This happens repeatedly, over the course of every page, renewed in force with each turn. The second is that there not only an insidious history that exists in Canada, but that it persists in different forms and functions with tendrils secured to past actions that are systematically intractable. The third is that this book should be required reading for all Canadians, to foster historical literacy in our citizens and aid in our joint effort toward reconciliation. Fourth, though not final, that there is an uplifting and empowering force that emanates from this text that highlights a resiliency, a beauty, and an opportunity for change which does not have the momentum it ought, but that it can still be, and should be, achieved.
October 6, 2016
Honouring the Truth, Reconciling for the Future. Truth & Reconciliation Commission. Essential reading for #Canada #TRCReadingChallenge
Reviewed @reallyReads
Reviewed @reallyReads
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