Residential Schools Questions

Who went to Indian Residential Schools in Canada?

Who set up the Indian Residential Schools in Canada?

What organizations?

Key people in the development of the system.

Why were Indian Residential Schools established?

What was the goal of the government?

What were the goals of the churches involved?

When did Indian Residential Schools operate in Canada?

When did the first one open?

When did the last one close?

What are some of the significant dates in the IRS period?

What happened to the children who attended Indian Residential Schools?

Did every child have the same experience?

What do survivors have to say about their own IRS experience?

Where were Indian Residential Schools set up in Canada?

What were the locations of the schools?

How many were set up in each province and territory?

Were they located close to the children’s homes?

Were the schools in the south the same as the schools in the far north?

How did Indian Residential Schools affect the children who went there?

How did this affect parents and families?

How did this affect communities?

Did the impacts end when the children came home?

Residential Schools Important Canadian Documents

1763 Royal Proclamation

With the Royal Proclamation of 1763 and agreements made

in treaties, the British Crown and later the Canadian

government were required to provide an education for

First Nations. By the mid-19th century, momentum was

building within government for an education program that

would ‘civilize’ Aboriginal children and aggressively

assimilate them into the Canadian Christian mainstream.

Report on Native Education (1847)

The Bagot Commission (1842-1844), led by

then Governor-General of the Province of

Canada Sir Robert Bagot, proposed that

the separation of children from their

parents would be the best way to achieve

assimilation. In his Report on Native

Education (1847), Egerton Ryerson,

superintendent for education, reiterated

this idea, and also recommended that

Aboriginal education focus on religious

instruction and on agricultural training.

1857 Gradual Civilization Act

The Gradual Civilization Act was a bill passed by the 5th

Parliament of the Province of Canada. The act required male

Indians and Métis over the age of 21 to read, write and

speak either English or French and to choose an approved

surname by which they would be legally recognized. By the

application of this act, Indian and Métis males would lose all

of their legal rights, as well as any land claims and would

become British subjects, though with far fewer rights. It was

called ‘enfranchisement,” and was one of the many policies that would be passed

to aggressively assimilate.

1876 The Indian Act

The Indian Act of 1876 secured government control over

Indian rights, status, and lands. A series of amendments

increased the government’s control over Indian lives and

lands. Crushing prohibitions, designed to extinguish what

were considered to be uncivilized and savage cultural

practices, were introduced. The Indian Act also allowed the

government to realize its ambition to assimilate Aboriginal

peoples through the creation of residential schools.

1879 Report on Industrial Schools for Indians and Half Breeds (Davin Report)

Nicholas Flood Davin’s Report on Industrial Schools and

Half-breeds, also known as the Davin Report, which included

a number of recommendations on how the American policy on

Aboriginal education could be replicated in Canada. By the

time the Davin Report was released, the idea of separating

children from their parents as an effective education-and

assimilation-strategy had already taken root. The

persuasive example of what could be achieved through a

‘boarding school’ model like the one in the United States generated fervour to

implement a similar system in.

1907 P.H. Bryce Report

In Peter Bryce’s official report, he called the tuberculosis

epidemic at the schools a “national crime… the

consequence of inadequate government funding, poorly

constructed schools, sanitary and ventilation problems,

inadequate diet, clothing and medical care.” He reported

that 24% of all pupils who had been at the schools were

known to be dead. At the File Hills reserve in Saskatchewan,

75% of the students had died in the first 16 years of the

school’s operation.

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