Canadian True Crime - What happened at Residential Schools: a primer

Episode Date: October 1, 2021

#TruthandReconciliationDay |September 30, 2021 is the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation here in Canada, and we all have a part to play in educating ourselves and spreading the message. This is an overview of how Residential Schools came to be and what happened, and below are some recommended resources for further learning.Recommended listening:Residential Schools Historica Canada podcastMissing & Murdered: Finding Cleo by CBC PodcastsFollow-up reading:Truth and Reconciliation reportSurvivor offers advice on how to honour National Day for Truth and Reconciliation - CTV NewsRead some more survivor stories - CTV NewsCauses to donate to:Indian Residential School Survivors SocietyFirst Nations Child and Family Caring SocietyInuit Tapiriit KanatamiIndigenous Friends associationThere are many many more!Diversify your feed! Here's something to get you started:10 Indigenous Activists and Artists You Should Be Following Right NowIndian Residential School Crisis LineSupport for former students and those affected. People can access emotional and crisis referral services by calling the 24-hour national crisis line: 1-866-925-4419. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today, September 30th, 2021, is the first national day for truth and reconciliation here in Canada. It's a day to reflect on an important aspect of Canada's dark legacy, when First Nations, Inuit and Métis children were taken from their families and placed in government-sponsored schools run by religious organisations. If you're listening and you've been affected by the residential school system, our deepest condolences to you and your family. Today is also a day to educate ourselves and others about residential schools. And as someone with a podcast about Canadian true crime, I bear part of the responsibility in helping to spread the message about what today is about

and its importance to this country that I now call home. Before I continue, I want to emphasise how important it is to listen to Indigenous voices. So when it comes to who you follow on social media or whose content you consume, I encourage you to diversify your feet. A few years ago, I searched for Indigenous people and activists to follow, and so I've been able to understand their perspectives and learn from them every day in an ongoing way, not just once a year. And for those of us who are not Indigenous, we have to remember that today is a difficult day for them

and it's not up to them to educate us. We all have work to do to help spread the message about truth and reconciliation day and its importance. And since I have your ear right now, here's a primer of what happened. And at the end, I'll give you some more resources where you can hear testimony and stories from survivors. Trigger warning, this information involves the abuse of children and might be difficult for some listeners to hear. The Indian Residential Schools program was implemented in the late 1800s as part of the Canadian government's colonisation efforts.

The goal of the program was to completely eradicate Indigenous culture and replace it with the Western culture of European settlers. And we're better to start than with the children. The government figured that once the Indigenous children had been re-educated, they would take all they'd learn home and influence their families. The Canadian government thought this was a good solution to the so-called Indigenous problem and over the next century, about 150,000 First Nations, Métis and Inuit children were forcibly removed from their families and placed in residential boarding schools

that were funded by the government and run by churches like the Catholic Church. The program not only failed on all levels, but it was a disaster. The education was inferior, it was simplistic and inappropriate and it focused mainly on Christianity and how to do manual labour. By the time most students graduated at age 18, they were estimated to have only received a Grade 5 education. The kids weren't allowed to speak their native languages at all or even refer to their culture or traditions, or they would be brutally punished.

Their quality of life at residential schools was terrible because they were underfunded, overcrowded and poorly sanitised. There was inadequate heating in the winter and the kids weren't given adequate clothing to keep them warm. Medical care was pretty much non-existent and with the sanitation problem there were high rates of disease including influenza and tuberculosis. Death rates have been estimated to be as high as one in 20 children

in residential schools actually dying there. We know about the Nazis experimenting on Jewish people during the Holocaust and a very similar thing happened at residential schools in Canada. It's called nutritional experimentation. Not only were the kids underfed and malnourished, but the most malnourished ones were considered expendable and reserved for experimentation, obviously without their parents' consent or knowledge. They were subject to unethical medical procedures and tests

conducted by the Canadian government where they were deprived of certain food groups and essential vitamins and minerals just to see what happened. Many would die and those who survived continued to be subjected to terrible punishments and beatings, often for no apparent reason. Electric shock was a common punishment. They were confined in cages, they were whipped, strapped, beaten

and endured other forms of abuse and humiliation. Residential schools were magnets for predators and there was very little done in the way of background checks and no accountability. The kids were subjected to sexual abuse at the hands of the priests and other adults that had been entrusted to care for them. Girls who had become pregnant after a sexual assault would be shamed and there are many stories of their babies being killed and burned in furnaces or buried behind the school.

There were so many children dying at residential schools that many of them had graveyards built on-site and they couldn't even keep track of how many had died, hence the unmarked graves that have been discovered recently. It's now estimated that up to 6,000 children died during this time but no one knows for sure because no one cared enough to keep records. This is why the residential school system is widely considered a form of genocide and while we think this happened a long time ago,

the last of these schools only closed in the 1990s. Some of the survivors of residential schools are only in their 40s and trauma doesn't just go away. Many of these Indigenous kids grew up without the nurture of their families, without their culture and many of those who survived the abuse were sent back to their families when they were 18 years old, broken and lost and without any of the knowledge and skills needed to raise their own families. The Government of Canada now officially recognises

that its actions and policies were disastrous. Apologies have been made by the government and some of the churches involved although the Catholic Church is still digging its heels in. But no apology could ever erase the shared legacy among Indigenous people. Intergenerational trauma passed down through subsequent generations leading to an increased prevalence of post-traumatic stress, unhealthy use of alcohol and drugs, violence and suicide. And today Indigenous people still deal with high unemployment,

extreme poverty, unsafe drinking water, poor health, insufficient housing and underfunded social and health services. Like I said, this was just a primer, literally just the tip of the iceberg. There are two podcasts that I recommend you listen to next. First is the Residential Schools podcast, a three-part series by Historica Canada that commemorates the history and legacy of residential schools and honours the stories of First Nations, Métis and Inuit survivors

and their families and communities. Hosted by award-winning Indigenous journalist Shanine Robinson-Dijales, it's intimate and emotional and you'll hear personal stories from survivors themselves. And second is Missing and Murdered, Finding Clio, a CBC podcast produced and hosted by Connie Walker that explores Indigenous history through the tragic story of Clio, who was taken from her family in the 70s.

That's Residential Schools and Missing and Murdered, Finding Clio. I've left links to both of these podcasts plus a bunch of other resources in the show notes. Thanks so much for listening and I'll see you tomorrow with the next episode.