Faces – May 2019

L

ong before Europeans settled

Canada, First Nations people lived

throughout the region. From Inuit in the

Arctic regions to Mi’kmaq of the Atlantic

provinces, hundreds of different groups

were the original inhabitants of the area.

Unfortunately, many Europeans saw

the native population as a problem to

be solved. In the late 1800s, Canada’s

neighbors to the south established

residential schools for Native American

children. Children were taken from their

families and sent to live at these schools.

In 1879, Canada’s Prime Minister

asked politician Nicholas Flood Davin

to prepare a report on U.S. residential

schools. In his report, Davin praised these

schools and said, “If anything is to be

done with the Indian, we must catch him

very young. The children must be kept

constantly within the circle of civilized

conditions.”

As a result, residential schools for

indigenous children were opened

throughout Canada. At least 150,

children between the ages of four and

sixteen were sent to live at one of 130

different schools. These schools operated

for more than 100 years, and the last one

closed in 1996.

a

dark

chapter

in

history

by Christine Graf

Residential school survivor Lorna
Standingready is comforted by a
fellow survivor in the audience
during the closing ceremony of
the Indian Residential Schools
Truth and Reconciliation
Commission in 2015.