Cultural Competence Training - Residential Schools and Decolonization

Residential School Systems and Decolonization

Truth and Reconciliation efforts are being sped up in light of the 215 Indigenous children's bodies discovered in unmarked graves on the grounds of an old residential school in Kamloops, BC.
Since this horrific discovery and announcement, many other bodies have been found on the grounds of other residential schools across Canada.

Q: What can Canadians do to show their support and willingness to meaningfully engage in reconciliation efforts?

Residential Schools and Reconciliation - Learning PortalHow do we reconcile past wrongs? Look at documents and objects from the Royal BC Museum to learn about the effects of residential schools.

Where Are The ChildrenHealing the legacy of the residential schools Between 1831 and 1996, residential schools operated in Canada through arrangements between the Government of Canada and the church. One common objective defined this period —

National Residential School Survivors Crisis Line: 1-866-925-4419

Indigenous Peoples in Canada have experienced cultural genocide efforts for hundreds of years. Europeans that arrived on Indigenous lands became the dominant culture. Attempts to acculturate, or wipe out Indigenous ways of being, and the people themselves, were ongoing, systemic efforts by the governments and peoples at the time. A large and harmful part of this effort to assimilate Indigenous Peoples into the broader Eurocentric society took place in residential schools that were 'legitimized' through government documents such as the Indian Act.

"Between 1879 and 1996, tens of thousands of First Nations children attended residential schools designed to make them forget their language and culture, where many suffered abuse. On behalf of Canadians, Prime Minister Stephen Harper made a formal apology in 2008 to Canada's Aboriginal Peoples for this policy that sought to "kill the Indian in the child"" ("Background: The Indian Act," 2011).

Consider what children and their families must have gone through as a result of the Residential School System and the Indian Act. The recent discovery of 215 small bodies in unmarked graves on the lands of what was once a residential school in Kamloops, BC has brought about a greater sense of urgency and stronger calls for action by the Canadian public.

As you read the quotes below, let empathy be your guide. Try to imagine how you would feel if you had experienced the sorts of things that indigenous children and their families did. Imagine if your child never made it home, but no explanation or body was given.

"“I was five and a half when I was taken from my grandparents’ home on Opitsaht Island, B.C., and sent to Christie Residential School. It was two miles from my home. I didn’t get back home until I was a teenager. —Barney Williams, Tla-o-qui-aht First Nations, B.C." ("Behind the national day for truth and reconciliation," 2021).

“To tell the Canadian public about it is very hard, but it’s something that needs to be done. They don’t want to face what Canadian society did to Aboriginal Canadians. My hope is that every time I talk to a non-Aboriginal person that you will be able to offer some kind of solution, too, and say what you would be willing to do to be a reconciling person. You’ve asked us to give you this knowledge and go back into these places it’s very hard to be. Now you have a responsibility. What are you going to do about it?" —Doris Young, Opaskwayak Cree Nation, Man" ("Behind the national day for truth and reconciliation," 2021).

"“Finally, finally, we are moving in the right direction. But residential schools are not only Indigenous history. It is Canadian history. All Canadians must practise inuuqatigiittiarniq, which means living with each other in peace and harmony. I’ve been promoting it for 10 years.” —Piita Irniq, Naujaat, Nunavut" ("Behind the national day for truth and reconciliation," 2021).

Decolonizing Education and Relearning Languages

Watch Language Champion Renee Sampson, from WSÁNEĆ (Saanich), speak about her indigenous language.

Credit: Video by RBCM

Lunchtime Decolonization #002 - Dr. Marie Battiste

In the second episode of Lunchtime Decolonization, the hosts Chris Scribe and Curtis Vinish interview Dr. Marie Battiste.

Dr. Marie Battiste on Decolonization:

"We then need to recover who we are, and who we were, and to reframe ourselves in a contemporary sense fro tomorrow, but also to recognize that what we had in the past is very much still alive, and while deteriorating in some places, it is still a foundation place for us to go in terms of moving our education there. Indigenization has been a nuanced thinking that has come up in universities in particular to indigenize. And largely it is about inclusionary things like having more faculty, having more indigenous student support, having more ways that recognize Indigenous knowledge in other courses. But I think that indigenization in universities is still at an add-on, its still kind of the add-and-stir kind of thinking. There is very little going on that is actually changing whole structures" ("Lunchtime decolonization #002 - Dr. Marie Battiste," 2020).

Dr. Marie Battiste: Decolonization

Step #1: Deconstruction - unpack colonial thinking, narratives, as well as look closely at the purposes of assimilation and acculturation that have been a part of the education system in Canada. Who benefited from this system and who lost? What was lost?

Step #2: Reconstruction - People need to be taught what harm was done to Indigenous People from assimilation, from the residential schools, from "the 60's Scoop," from poverty, from displacement to urban areas, from broad spectrum losses in Indigenous communities due to colonial policies ("Lunchtime decolonization #002 - Dr. Marie Battiste," 2020).

Extension Viewing: Decolonizing Education: Nourishing Their Learning Spirits

Lecture by Prof. Marie Battiste of the University of Saskatchewan titled Decolonizing Education: Nourishing Their Learning Spirits. In her talk, Dr. Battiste speaks about injustices and inequities in education for Indigenous peoples. Sponsored in March 2016 by Sealaska Heritage Institute and the University of Alaska Southeast, PITAAS Program.

Top Image: Flower Beadwork, Manitoba Métis Federation, https://www.facebook.com/ManitobaMetisFederationOfficial/posts/louis-riel-institute-is-hosting-a-flower-beadwork-circle-every-wednesday-evening/2157010724320478/

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