Indian residential schools

[Isgrimnur]

Guardian

A First Nations community in western Canada has announced the discovery of at least 160 unmarked graves close to a former residential school – the latest in a series of grim announcements from across the country in recent weeks.

Members of the Penelakut Tribe in south-western British Columbia said in a statement late on Monday that the graves had been discovered near the site of the Kuper Island industrial school on Penelakut Island, nearly 90km north of the provincial capital Victoria.
...
At least 150,000 Indigenous children were forced to attend the schools across the country, which were funded by the federal government and run by churches as part of the campaign to strip the youth of their cultural identity.
...
The announcement from the Penelakut Tribe comes ahead of an expected report from Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation on Thursday. The First Nation says it will provide greater detail on the 215 unmarked graves discovered using ground penetrating radar in late May.

BBC, May 29

Unmarked graves containing the remains of 215 children have been found in Canada at a former residential school set up to assimilate indigenous people.

The children were students at the Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Columbia that closed in 1978.

The discovery was announced on Thursday by the chief of the Tk'emlups te Secwepemc First Nation.
...
Kamloops Indian Residential School was the largest in the residential system. Opened under Roman Catholic administration in 1890, the school had as many as 500 students when enrolment peaked in the 1950s.

The central government took over administration of the school in 1969, operating it as a residence for local students until 1978, when it was closed.

CBC, June 20

A group that began investigating unmarked graves at a Manitoba residential school long before the tragic discovery at a school in Kamloops, B.C., say they're moving forward with the help of others in the community.
...
They've identified 104 potential graves in three cemeteries, but only 78 are accountable through historical records, Chief Jennifer Bone said previously in a statement.

National Post, June 23

A Saskatchewan First Nation says it has made the “horrific and shocking discovery” of hundreds of unmarked graves — many believed to be children — near a former residential school, with a total expected to be over three times higher than the 215 discovered recently in Kamloops, B.C., according to a source briefed on the file.

Leaders of the Cowessess First Nation, a roughly two hour drive east of Regina, are expected to reveal details of the macabre discovery near what was once the Marieval Indian Residential School during a press conference Thursday morning, as well as the latest count of newly-identified remains.

And the hits will keep on coming. And we'll be looking into US sites as well.

U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said Tuesday the Biden administration will review the government's role in operating boarding schools for forced assimilation of Native Americans and "uncover the truth about the loss of human life" at those schools.

That could include schools in Michigan. From 1893 to 1934, some 300 Native American children from kindergarten through eighth grade were boarded annually at a school in Mount Pleasant where rumors of abuse have persisted. This month, the Saginaw Chippewa Tribe of Michigan said 227 children died at the school, though government records — as reported by the Traverse City Record-Eagle — documented only five.

[malchior]

I've been tracking this loosely. If I recall correctly it is being connected albeit loosely now to some churches being burned with allegation First Nations people were behind them. In any case, it is more than worth exploring even if it puts those elements in the crosshairs as a side effect. I wonder if we will see the same pattern around these type of institutions.

[Smoove_B]

Yeah, I saw this a few weeks back as well and was horrified. I didn't realize there was a potential for it to have occurred in the U.S. as well, though in retrospect, that seems rather foolish.

I hope they trace it all and bring everything to light. While I doubt there's any reasonable way to address it, making sure it's documented and put on the record is important.

[malchior]

Everything is an opportunity for the right to attack. I mean - yeah churches being burned down is certainly a problem but sort of glossing over the entire "why" piece. But I guess context is just kowtowing to the 'terrorists'.

US media shamefully justified a string of Canadian church burnings

One day this month in Canada, 10 Catholic churches were vandalized in a single city, Calgary. In the last month, arsonists and vandals have attacked dozens of Canadian churches, burning some entirely to the ground.

America has 70.5 million Catholics; Canada, with just over a 10th of the population, has close to 13 million. So this is a big story. Yet the US media aren’t interested in reporting our northern neighbor’s plague of church burnings — except to suggest it’s understandable.

[Tao]

There is a 2018 film titled The Grizzlies which depicts the harsh life of modern day indigenous young people in remote areas of Alaska that peripherally talks about the Residential Schools and the lasting effects it has on those who were victims. There is also another 2017 movie titled Indian Horse, based on the book by Richard Wagamese that directly highlights the conditions and atrocities committed by the State and Church in the Residential Schools. While Indian Horse is fictionalized it's based on true stories and some of the early scenes are hard to watch and get your head around.

[Isgrimnur]

And the Australians have the film Rabbit Proof Fence about their Stolen Generations.

Official government estimates are that in certain regions between one in ten and one in three Indigenous Australian children were forcibly taken from their families and communities between 1910 and 1970.

[Sudy]

I live in southern Ontario, and I hadn't heard anything about Catholic church burnings until this thread. From scanning the article it looks more recent, presumably "retaliation". Mind you, I haven't been watching much news since last week. Blind vandalism or destruction of churches is unfortunate and misguided, but I think the minor vandalism at least is very understandable. The residential school mass grave uncoverings have been the biggest news story of the year outside of covid, and the Catholic Church's response has been extremely underwhelming the last I'd heard. Mind you, other organizations were involved with the residential school system as well--namely the Mennonites.

I'm descended from Mennonites on one side and may be anywhere from 1/4 to 1/16 aboriginal on the other. Sadly, the reason I don't know this with more accuracy is because of the shame and harassment my grandmother endured growing up with aboriginal blood. (Though there may have been an infidelity aspect that played a role in the truth being buried, as well.)

What surprises me is that this is only entering into mainstream knowledge/outrage "now". The last of the residential schools didn't close until then mid-90s I believe. But it took the discovery of a mass grave to get everyone's attention. We're talking hundreds upon hundreds of children lost, all without any known recompense. The schools just continued.

The late Gord Downie's (of The Tragically Hip) The Secret Path is about one boy, Chanie Wenjack, who died trying to escape from a residential school in the 60s. He was born only a couple years before my mom, who had a secure suburban upbringing. Unthinkable to consider these things happened during our time, here. It makes you ponder the gross injustices occurring even now.

[Tao]

And the Australians have the film Rabbit Proof Fence about their Stolen Generations.

Official government estimates are that in certain regions between one in ten and one in three Indigenous Australian children were forcibly taken from their families and communities between 1910 and 1970.

I recall that movie as well from years ago, about the three young aboriginal girls that trek across the outback. Thinking about this today my thoughts were mostly about the hubris of white Europeans and the evils it has led to over the centuries but it's really a failing of humanity. The enduring ability to dehumanize the "others". I can think of instances where the Japanese have done so, the Chinese, the entire caste system that stills exists in many parts of southeast Asia, pretty much the entire history of the middle east. I am oft times in awe we have somehow continued to survive as a species rather than having annihilated ourselves and most times I don't think its a good thing.

[Kraken]

Don't forget the Irish and their industrial and Magdelene schools.

Ultimately, the institutional option was preferred as a way of dealing with vulnerable, neglected children or those deemed to have transgressed. From 1869 to 1969, 105,000 Irish children were committed to industrial schools.

Right from the beginning their welfare record was shameful: between 1869 and 1913, 48,664 children were admitted to industrial schools, and 2,623 died while in them. An inspector noted in 1900 that conditions in many of these institutions were “better imagined than described”.

The Magdelene Sisters is a good movie about that. I guess it's on Paramount+ but accessible thru Prime.

[Roman]

For me at least as a Canadian I am ashamed. What makes it worse is that we aren't talking about the 1760s or even the 1880s - the last residential school here closed in 1980s! 19 fucking 80!!!

[Isgrimnur]

Biden to issue landmark apology over Native American boarding schools

President Biden is expected to issue a formal apology for the federal government’s Native American boarding schools during a visit to Arizona on Friday.

Gila River Indian Community Gov. Stephen Roe Lewis told NPR that the formal apology is coming as part of Biden’s first official visit to an Indigenous community as president.

Biden’s message would be the first public apology from a sitting U.S. president in response to a federal policy that wreaked havoc on tribal communities.

“I’m heading to do something that should have been done a long time ago, to make a formal apology to the Indian nations for the way we treated their children for so many years," Biden told reporters on Thursday. "That's why I'm heading West.“

[hepcat]

Trump complaining that Biden is weak for apologizing in 3….2….

[Alefroth]

Then segueing into "The only good Indian is a dead Indian"

[hepcat]

He probably thinks Biden is going to the BRIC summit to deliver the apology directly to Modi.