Project of Heart Illuminating the hidden history of Indian Residential Schools in BC
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Project of Heart Illuminating the hidden history of Indian Residential Schools in BC
Project of Heart
Illuminating the hidden history of
Indian Residential Schools in BC
Dedication
This publication is dedicated to the more than 150,000 Aboriginal children across Canada
who endured the Indian Residential School system, and to the memory of at least 6,000
children who perished in it.
Our goals are to honour the survivors and their families, and to help educate Canadians
about the atrocious history and ongoing legacy of residential schools. Only when we
understand our shared history can we move forward together in a spirit of reconciliation.
jannica@fallenfeatherproductions.com / FallenFeather-Secwemepc Museum & Archives KIB
Kamloops Indian Residential School church
The BC Teachers’ Federation: Educating for truth and reconciliation
Opposite page: Children in front of church near Kamloops Indian Residential School.
Revised October 2015 from August 2015
PSI15-0050
Imagine
Imagine that you are five years old. A stranger comes to your home village
and seizes you from your mother’s arms. Imagine he takes you hundreds of
miles away to a place where white people in black robes cut off your hair
and take away your clothes, the ones your mother made especially for you.
They also take away your name—you get a number instead. They separate
you from your brothers and sisters, and forbid you to speak to one another
in your native language. Imagine being silenced with shouts.
Imagine toiling in field and kitchen yet going hungry all the time. Imagine
being hit or strapped for breaking rules you don’t know or understand.
Imagine learning that your family traditions and culture are evil and
barbaric, while the Christian God is the only true Creator, the God of
love. Imagine a heavy hand on your shoulder pulling you away from the
dormitory in the night.
Imagine you’re sick, feverish, and alone. Other children also coughing,
gasping. Some are dying and you know it, even though they try to cover it up.
Imagine running away from it all, desperate to be safe and loved back
home. Imagine being hunted and caught, then returned to even harsher
punishments.
Now imagine you are a parent, your child stolen from your embrace and
taken to the same cruel place you knew as a child. You could face a jail
sentence if you don’t obey their laws that say your child must go and learn
the European ways. If you resist, your child will be taken anyway.
Kyle Irving / Eagle Vision
You worry that your child will reject your teachings and your traditional way
of life. But most of all you fear that your child will endure the same abuse
you did. The fact you are powerless to prevent that abuse torments you
even more.
Imagine the unthinkable—your child died, far away, without you there for
comfort. Imagine your child is buried in an unmarked grave, in an unknown
place. Imagine they don’t even tell you that your beloved child won’t ever
be coming home, let alone where their final resting place is.
Truth and Reconciliation Commissioner Dr. Marie Wilson has challenged
Canadians to try to feel the anguish of the 150,000 Aboriginal children taken
from their parents, sometimes forever.
“Think of that. Bear that. Imagine that.”
2 3
BC Indian Residential Schools 150 years of residential schools: 150,000 children taken
Lower Post
For more than a century and a half, and their families, communities, and to light and the public education
Aboriginal children across Canada cultures. system is changing to reflect that.
were stolen from loving homes and As survivors have begun to share
healthy communities and forced In residential schools, Aboriginal their experiences, painful as that is
into residential schools under a children were forbidden to speak their to do, Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal
British Columbia government policy to assimilate
Indigenous people. As a top
native languages, were taught that
their cultures were inferior and that
teachers are determined to work with
them to bring their knowledge into
government official said at the time, they themselves were worthless. They the classroom and help ensure that
the system was “geared towards the suffered all manner of abuse: physical, such massive violations of children’s
Final Solution to the Indian problem.” emotional, sexual, psychological, and rights can never again take place.
It was expressly designed “to kill the spiritual. Despite these atrocities,
Indian in the child.” children in residential schools and That is one of the ultimate goals of
their families at home continued to the Project of Heart—to make public
Crosby Homes In British Columbia, there were at maintain their connections to each education itself a vehicle for healing
Elizabeth Long least 22 residential schools mandated other and to their cultural heritage. and reconciliation.
Lejac by the federal government and
operated by the Roman Catholic, The generations who endured such
Methodist, Anglican, Presbyterian, trauma in childhood were silenced DID YOU KNOW?
A.L. Dormitory and United Churches of Canada. for decades because of the fear and
Attendance at residential schools shame instilled in them by cruel The school pictured on the
was made mandatory by law and treatment and constant deprivation. cover of this publication
St. Joseph’s parents who refused to send their This led to a fundamental breakdown
is St. Michael’s Residential
children were threatened with fines or of communities, and alienated the
imprisonment. children from their families and
School, which operated in
cultural traditions. For many children Alert Bay from 1929–75. For
St. Michael’s
Kamloops Nonetheless, Aboriginal communities and grandchildren of survivors, the next 40 years it stood
St. George’s
resisted the laws that ripped their intergenerational impacts continue to as a decaying reminder
St. Eugene’s families apart. Parents often hid their be felt to this day. of the injustices suffered
Ahousat Sechelt
children deep in forests and on trap by students. On February
Christie/Kakawis Alberni St. Paul’s Coqualeetza lines, anywhere the Indian agents Residential schools are not a thing of
St. Mary’s 18, 2015, survivors and
Kuper Island might not go. To avoid capture, the distant past. It wasn’t until 1984
These schools have buildings that are still standing
they also sent their children away to that all residential schools in BC were community members
Ahousaht Ahousaht 1903-1907 Presbyterian
hide amongst friends or relations in closed down; the last one in Canada gathered for a ceremony
Alert Bay St. Michael’s 1929-1975 Anglican Mission St. Mary’s 1861-1984 Roman Catholic
distant communities. They lobbied didn’t close until 1996. to witness its demolition.
Alert Bay Alert Bay (Girl’s Home) 1888-1905 Anglican North Vancouver St. Paul’s 1898-1959 Roman Catholic for schools in their own communities They sang, prayed, and
Anahim Lake A.L. Dormitory 1968-1977 Roman Catholic Port Alberni Alberni 1909-1973 United so their children would not be taken Although the history of residential hurled rocks at the decrepit
Chemainus Kuper Island 1890-1975 Roman Catholic Port Simpson Crosby Home for Girls 1893-1920s Methodist away to get an education but their schools was hidden for decades,
structure as
Cranbrook St. Eugene’s 1898-1970 Roman Catholic Port Simpson Crosby Home for Boys 1903-1920s Methodist pleas were ignored. Why? Because the our public education system no
(Ft. St. John) Fraser Lejac (1910-1922); Roman Catholic Sardis Coqualeetza 1861-1866; Methodist government’s aim was to break the longer censors the past. Finally,
the bulldozers
Lake 1922-1976 1866-1940
bonds between Aboriginal children this once-hidden history is coming did their work.
Kamloops Kamloops 1890-1978 Roman Catholic Sechelt Sechelt 1912-1975 Roman Catholic
Kitamaat Elizabeth Long 1922-1944 Methodist Tofino Christie/Kakawis 1900-1983 Roman Catholic
Memorial
Williams Lake Cariboo/St. Josephs 1890-1953; Roman Catholic
Lower Post Lower Post 1951-1975 Roman Catholic Mission 1953-1981
Lytton St. George’s 1901-1979 Anglican Yale All Hallows 1884-1920 Anglican
4 Project of Heart: Illuminating the hidden history of Indian Residential Schools in BC Project of Heart: Illuminating the hidden history of Indian Residential Schools in BC 5
Project of Heart opens hearts and minds BC teachers’ commitment to truth and reconciliation
This is a part of our history
that is not represented in
the textbooks we use to
teach social studies. That’s
why the Project of Heart
is so important, so that as
Canadians we understand it
and share that knowledge,
because that’s where the
healing starts.
—
Charlene Bearhead
Charlene Bearhead (left) and Sylvia Smith (right)
Project of Heart was founded in rights of Aboriginal children and something, boy oh boy, it’s really
2007 by Ottawa secondary school families over decades. hard to stop them.”
teacher Sylvia Smith, who was As President of the BC Teachers’ Federation, I’m very Kindergarten to Grade 12 learn about Aboriginal culture
outraged to discover that there Elders from First Nation, Métis, In 2011, Smith received the proud of the work our members are doing to educate and history, including the history of residential schools.
were only 64 words pertaining to and Inuit communities become Governor General’s History this generation about the tragic history of Indian
residential schools in her students’ regular participants in classroom Award for Excellence in Teaching. residential schools, a history that was deliberately The BCTF strongly supported the Truth and Reconciliation
history textbook. presentations and discussions. Today, with Charlene Bearhead hidden for over 150 years. Now, thanks to the courage Commission’s efforts and dedicated $100,000 to enable
Students lead in many of the projects as Coordinator, the project has of survivors, the truth is being told in classrooms, in teachers from all over BC to travel to the TRC events
Determined to rectify this demonstrating their learning in expanded across Canada. communities, and across our country. The injustices are in Vancouver. BC teachers also lead the way in the
situation, Smith developed an diverse ways. They also design small finally coming to light and denial is no longer an option. Project of Heart with the highest level of participation
innovative educational tool kit wooden tiles and each one becomes in Canada. We invited residential school survivors into
designed to engage students in a a meaningful artifact. The tiles have The BCTF has a long-standing commitment to our classrooms to share their stories and our students
deeper exploration of Indigenous been used to create a variety of art building new relationships between Aboriginal and responded with open hearts and minds. They created
traditions in Canada and the history projects in different provinces. non-Aboriginal people based on education, mutual beautiful art and wrote moving messages to survivors.
of Indian residential schools. In respect, and collective action. We’re helping make Then their work was used to create the commemorative
2011 Native Counselling Services Smith said she is amazed by the positive change through Aboriginal education canoe that was unveiled on the TRC Education Day.
of Alberta took on hosting Project impact the project has had on enhancement agreements, employment equity, and
of Heart as part of the National students. “We’ve had students’ antiracism programs. We also partner with the First For me, as for thousands of others, it was a powerful
Day of Healing and Reconciliation. reflections published in United Nations Education Steering Committee and others on and transformative learning experience. It made
NCSA developed a website to Nations reports,” she said. “When Aboriginal education initiatives. me even more aware of how important it is to
replace the original tool kit and they realize that their efforts mean acknowledge the past, take action in the present, and
began a strategic campaign to Recently, education faculties across BC implemented make positive change for the future. Together we have
engage schools across the country. a requirement that all student teachers must learned a lot but there’s much more still to be done.
Through the Project of Heart, tens complete at least one course in Aboriginal culture Please join us on our educational journey to justice.
of thousands of elementary and and history. Similarly, the BCTF advocated for changes
secondary students have learned to the provincial curriculum so that all students from
from residential school survivors
about how Canadian governments,
churches and society violated the
6 Project of Heart: Illuminating the hidden history of Indian Residential Schools in BC Project of Heart: Illuminating the hidden history of Indian Residential Schools in BC 7
Duncan Campbell Scott
Thomas Moore before 1874 Thomas Moore after 1874
Architect of the Indian residential school system
To achieve this goal, Scott made As well as being a top-level
enrolment in residential schools bureaucrat, Scott was a famous
mandatory, even though at the literary figure in his time and even
same time organized delegations of today is celebrated as one of Canada’s
First Nations were appearing before foremost Confederation poets. Some
Yousuf Karsh / public domain
Parliament to urge the government to of his poems describe Aboriginal
“make such provisions that we could people and places, and reveal his
be given an opportunity under the law colonialist worldview. For example,
to run our own schools in such a way in “The Onondaga Madonna” he
as will meet the desires of the people.” describes: “This woman of a weird and
waning race/The tragic savage lurking
Scott ignored their entreaties. in her face...”
From 1913 to his retirement in 1932, What’s worse, he suppressed the
Duncan Campbell Scott served as government’s own medical health Scott’s poetry is still included in
federal Deputy Superintendent of officer’s information about the literary anthologies and taught in
Indian Affairs, the highest non-elected appalling conditions in the schools, schools, often without any reference
position in the department. Scott was and never changed course even to his mission to find “the final Saskatchewan Archives Board / R-A8223-1 Saskatchewan Archives Board / R-A8223-2
a fervent believer in the government’s though tremendous numbers of solution of our Indian Problem.” The
policy of “civilizing” Aboriginal students were dying of tuberculosis, phrase “the final solution” today The Canadian government staged dramatic “before and after” photos of Aboriginal children. In the before photo,
children by aggressively assimilating malnutrition, and other causes. signifies Adolf Hitler’s genocidal plan Thomas Moore, a student in the Regina Indian Industrial School, is dressed as a “savage” holding a revolver. In the
them into the white European society. He wrote: to exterminate the Jews of Europe. after photo, he is “civilized” in his suit. Propaganda like this was used by the Department of Indian Affairs to justify the
The stated goal was “to kill the Indian In Canada, survivors, scholars, residential school system. Few knew that both the before and after photos were faked images with no connection to the
in the child.” In 1920, he said: It is readily acknowledged that and the Truth and Reconciliation Cree boy’s real life. Thomas Moore’s “before” clothing includes women’s traditional attire which a male would never wear.
Indian children lose their natural commissioners have described the
resistance to illness by habituating residential school system as a form of —Residential Schools With the Words and Images of Survivors,
I want to get rid of the Indian By Larry Loyie with Wayne K. Spear and Constance Brissenden, Indigenous Education Press, 2014
problem. I do not think as a matter so closely in the residential schools “cultural genocide.”
of fact, that the country ought and that they die at a much higher
to continuously protect a class rate than in their villages. But this What do you think?
of people who are able to stand does not justify a change in the
alone... Our objective is to continue policy of this Department which is
until there is not a single Indian in geared towards a final solution of
Canada that has not been absorbed our Indian Problem.
into the body politic and there is
no Indian question, and no Indian
Department...
19
DID YOU KNOW? and Discharged Pupils of Indian Industrial and Boarding Schools.
Present Condition of all Pupils. Present Condition of Ex-Pupils.
Duncan Campbell Scott
amended the Indian Act in Good. Sick. Dead. Good. Sick. Dead.
1920 making it mandatory Number of
p.c.
Number of
p.c.
Number of
p.c.
Number of
p.c.
Number of
p.c.
Number of
p.c.
pupils. pupils. pupils. pupils. pupils. pupils.
for all Native children to
112 60 58 9 57 30
attend residential school, 9 29 1 3 21 69
99 65 29 15 32 30
knowing that the mortality
rates ranged from 30%–75%. 8 9 26 30
The General Synod Archives, Anglican Church of Canada / P75-103-S7-184 / Old Sun School, Gleichen, Alta. – Senior classroom, 1945
8 Project of Heart: Illuminating the hidden history of Indian Residential Schools in BC Project of Heart: Illuminating the hidden history of Indian Residential Schools in BC 9
Peter Henderson Bryce
The doctor who blew the whistle on a national crime
Dr. Peter Henderson Bryce was a Canada. In it, he presented irrefutable Lessons learned from
principled and energetic pioneer of evidence that TB was killing students
Duncan Campbell Scott
public health in Canada. Trained at and the government was failing to
the University of Toronto, and later prevent their deaths. and Dr. Peter Henderson
in Edinburgh and Paris, he became Bryce
a leading expert on tuberculosis. He After that, the government couldn’t
served as Canada’s first Chief Medical pretend not to know, yet the schools So what is there to learn from
Health Officer from 1904–21. were not closed until 74 years later. these two men? Ninety years
on, the Department of Indian
In 1907, after visiting 35 schools across Dr. Bryce is seen by many as a hero Affairs continues to act as a
the Prairie provinces, Bryce issued of this dark chapter in Canadian bureaucratic impediment to basic
a damning report that exposed history. His scientific work provided improvements in education,
the appalling health standards in irrefutable evidence of the suffering health and social improvement.
residential schools. Communicable of thousands of children in these There is nothing accidental about
diseases, especially TB, killed on institutions. Beyond that, at a time this dysfunction. It is the result
average 24% of children. In one when many others were silent or of decades of deliberate policy
school, he reported the death rate complicit, he spoke out fearlessly for choices—the same choices that
was a staggering 75%. the most vulnerable and for their promoted Duncan Campell Scott
rights to healthcare. while suppressing the work of
Bryce made practical Peter Henderson Bryce.
recommendations for improvement, We cannot “unknow” this. Now that
as he was confident that medical you know about this, what can you do? Ninety years on, we have the job
science knew how to prevent such of undoing these wrong choices.
diseases and avoid needless deaths. It is time that we put our nation
He urged swift implementation of his back on the right road with our
recommendations, but government Dr. Bryce stood up for First treaty partners. So, it may seem like
quietly relegated his report to the a century too late, but thank you
back shelf and did nothing. He wrote
Nations, Métis and Inuit
Peter Bryce for your dedication and
repeatedly to Duncan Campbell children even when it was public service.
Scott—and to Scott’s superiors— a hard thing to do because
calling on them to implement his other people criticized — Charlie Angus, MP,
Timmins-James Bay,
suggestions, but ultimately Bryce him. He knew what was in www.rabble.ca
was let go, his position eliminated, right and, in a peaceful and Dec. 20, 2013.
his reputation undermined, and his
respectful way, kept on
research discontinued.
trying to help the children.
It wasn’t until 1922, after he was
officially retired, that Bryce was —Cindy Blackstock, First Nations
finally able to publish his landmark Child and Family Caring Society
study: The Story of a National Crime:
from Open Library - https://openlibrary.org/books/OL7110699M/The_story_of_a_national_crime
An Appeal for Justice to the Indians of
10 11
schools, the history was so deeply
hidden that the sisters only recently
learned about the fate of the auntie
they never knew. No photos remain of
her and her name was never spoken
by her surviving siblings, some of
whom have struggled to deal with
their own devastating experiences in
residential school.
Today both Stromquist sisters are
public school teachers, passionately
One child, among thousands, who didn’t survive residential school involved in the kind of reconciliatory
educational work that Justice Murray
Sinclair called for among the 94
According to the Vital Statistics
Sandra Dickson
recommendations in the historic
Act document entitled “RETURN TRC report. Janet works as a district
OF DEATH OF AN INDIAN,” Gladys teacher for the Aboriginal program
Chapman was 12 years, 10 months, in Langley and Gail co-ordinates
and 12 days old on April 29, 1931, Aboriginal education initiatives for
when she died in Royal Inland the BC Teachers’ Federation. The
Hospital in Kamloops. Occupation sisters’ need to learn the truth of
of the deceased was listed as their own family experience, and
“Schoolgirl.” On her death certificate, their desire to teach the truth about
Dr. M.G. Archibald reported “acute our shared history led them to do
dilation of heart” as the cause of extensive research in local archives.
death, with tuberculosis as the It also led them to gently question
secondary cause. The duration of their relatives about long-buried
death was “several days.” memories. Little by little, they pieced
together Gladys’s story.
So, at the end, a little girl named
L–R: Mrs. Carlson, Charles Stromquist, Matilda Stromquist and two of their children, Harold and Helmer
Gladys endured days of fevered She was one of five siblings from
suffering—coughing, bleeding, the same family taken to residential
struggling for breath—all alone, forced into the Indian residential to go through,” says Gail Stromquist, schools. Even though it was
far from home, with no loved one school system. A member of the Gladys’s niece. mandatory by law for all Indigenous
to comfort her. She was one of the Nlaka’pamux Nation, she was part of children to be enrolled and parents
thousands of children whose deaths a large extended family with deep Gail and her sister Janet, like the vast who resisted faced prison sentences,
are acknowledged and lamented in roots in Spuzzum, a small community majority of Canadians both Aboriginal their mother Matilda did manage
the landmark report released in June on the Fraser River north of Hope. and non-Aboriginal, grew up with no to hide one of her sons from the
2015 by the Truth and Reconciliation Her relations have a deep awareness knowledge of the Indian residential Indian agent. The boy was in frail
Commission of Canada, a report that of the damage inflicted upon school system. “We played skip rope health and she feared he would not
describes our country’s treatment generations of children and families. and sang the song about how in survive the deprivation and abuse
of Indigenous people as “cultural Gladys’s mother, Matilda, had also fourteen hundred and ninety-two, at school. Tragically, and despite her
genocide.” The TRC has established a been taken to residential school as Columbus sailed the ocean blue,” best efforts, she couldn’t save all her
National Residential School Student a girl and she knew all too well what Gail said. “The myth of Columbus’s children.
Death Register which contains the took place there. ‘discovery’ of the Americas was all
names of 3,200 children, although we learned in school, nothing about Widowed at a young age, in 1929
the estimated number of deaths is “Just imagine how horrible it residential schools or the culture of Matilda married a Swedish immigrant
believed to be more than 6,000. would have been for parents and Aboriginal people before contact.” named Charles Stromquist, with
grandparents who themselves had whom she had a long, happy
Gladys’s family members believe lived through residential school Even though many people in their marriage and 10 more children. “We
that she never would have died at abuse, watching their little ones being family and community were living have often imagined what a comfort
such a tender age had she not been taken, knowing what they were going with the terrible legacy of residential it must have been to Nanny after she
12 Project of Heart: Illuminating the hidden history of Indian Residential Schools in BC Project of Heart: Illuminating the hidden history of Indian Residential Schools in BC 13
married Grandpa Stromquist to know school on the Prairies the death by rail. Gladys’s gravestone in what the education was perverted by the “People have told me that they lived of the many residential school survivors
that no more of her children could rate was a staggering 75%. Dr. official records called the “Spuzzum government’s determination to “kill right beside one or another of the who have come forward to share their
be taken away from her to residential Bryce’s work was suppressed by the Indian Burying-ground” reads: the Indian in the child.” schools and never knew what went stories,” Janet says.
school,” Gail said. government and it wasn’t until 1922 on there. They went through their
when he retired that he could publish In loving memory of Gladys Chapman Janet and Gail Stromquist share entire schooling and never learned For the Stromquist sisters, it’s clear
Gladys was taken to Kamloops his full report, The Story of a National Born June 15, 1918 Justice Sinclair’s conviction that anything about this,” Gail says. “Some that their life’s work will continue to be
Residential School, one of the Crime: An Appeal for Justice to the Died April 29, 1931 because education was the primary of our secondary students get quite educating the next generation about
largest in Canada. An imposing brick Indians of Canada. Safe in the arms of Jesus tool of oppression of Aboriginal angry about it, feeling their education the truths of the past, shining a light
institution run by Roman Catholic people and the misleading of all has been censored.” on the hidden history, giving voice to
priests and the Sisters of Saint Ann, it In 2014, the government of British Tragically, neither Jesus nor her loving Canadians, education holds the key those who were silenced, and helping
operated from 1890 to 1978 with as Columbia released to the TRC more family could save Gladys from the to reconciliation. They say the most “Learning directly from a survivor is a to create the conditions where true
many as 440 children enrolled at its than 4,000 documents, including racist and assimilationist policies that frequent response to their teaching is: powerful and unforgettable experience. reconciliation can take place.
peak in the 1950s. For girls, mornings death records for Aboriginal children destroyed her young life. “I never knew about any of this.” We honour the strength and courage
were spent in class, while afternoons aged 4 to 19. Many families were
were spent cleaning or working in the never informed of the deaths of their The Kamloops Residential School
garden or kitchen. They did not get to children, some of whom were buried still stands to this day, a decaying
eat the food they grew and prepared. in unmarked graves near the schools. reminder of the dark history we all
The boys were taught some carpentry No one knows how Matilda learned must confront as Canadians. The KAMLOOPS INDIAN RESIDENTIAL SCHOOL
and other trades. All students had of the death of her daughter, but it is last residential school in BC finally KAMLOOPS, B. C.
heavy religious instruction in English. certain that the only reason she was closed its doors in 1984, the last in
November 18, 1948.
The children were forbidden to speak able to bury Gladys in the community Canada not until 1996. This is not
their native languages or practice cemetery at Spuzzum was that her ancient history. It lives on in memory Dear Parents,
their own spirituality. Families were husband worked for the CNR and thus of thousands of Canadians whose
allowed to visit, but they rarely did could get her body transported home childhood was stolen and whose It will be your privilege this year to have your children
spend Christmas at home with you. The holidays will extend from
so because of the long distances DECEMBER 18th. to JANUARY 3rd. This is a privilege which is being
between school and home. granted if you observe the following regulations of the Indian
Department.
Conditions in the Kamloops school
1. THE TRANSPORTATION TO THE HOME AND BACK TO THE SCHOOL
were atrocious, but typical of MUST BE PAID BY THE PARENTS.
residential schools across Canada. The parents must come themselves to get their own child-
Neglect and abuse—sexual, physical, ren. If they are unable to come they must send a letter to the
emotional, and spiritual—were Principal of the school stating that the parents of other children
from the same Reserve may bring them home. The children will not be
rampant. Many children tried to run allowed to go home alone on the train or bus.
away, only to be caught and punished
for trying to get home. Some children 2. THE PARENTS MUST BRING THE CHILDREN BACK TO THE SCHOOL
attempted or committed suicide. But STRICTLY ON TIME.
If the children are not returned to School on time they
communicable disease was the worst will not be allowed to go home for Christmas next year.
threat. Underfunding, overcrowding,
poor sanitary and ventilation systems, I ask you to observe the above regulations in order that
inadequate clothing, malnourishment, this privilege of going home for Christmas may be continued from
year to year. It will be a joy for you to have your children with
and a lack of medical care all you for Christmas. It will be a joy also for your children and it
contributed to epidemic levels of will bring added cheer and happiness to your home.
tuberculosis and other illnesses.
Yours sincerely,
The federal government had known Rev. F. O’Grady, O.M.I.,
for decades that such conditions Principal.
were killing children, but failed to act.
In 1907, Canada’s first chief medical In the documentary film The Fallen Feather, survivor Ernie Philip recalls the punishment he suffered after being caught running
health officer, Dr. Peter Henderson away from Kamloops Residential School: “I got 50 lashes on my back. And that [was] Rev. Father O’Grady. It’s okay if I say the words
because it’s true, it happened. And he became a bishop later. But that man gave me 50 lashes on my back. I couldn’t sit down for
Bryce, issued a report that exposed three weeks, maybe more. It hurt. Right in the dormitory, in front of everybody...took my night shirt up and give it to me.”
Janet Stromquist
the appalling health standards in
residential schools where, on average,
TB killed 24% of the children. In one
14 Project of Heart: Illuminating the hidden history of Indian Residential Schools in BC Project of Heart: Illuminating the hidden history of Indian Residential Schools in BC 15
Childhood marked by humiliation and shame Dandurand did what she had to do
to survive those nine years and found
Strutinski said she read a book by a
survivor of the residential school so
He took part in Project of Heart when he
was at another school last year but didn’t
solace in learning. After graduating she the subject was not new to her, like it get to complete the several phases.
A First Nations elder shares her experiences of residential school with Brookswood students went into the Canadian Air Force, where was for Dick and Chevrier but all were
February 19, 2013 the fighter control operator met her disheartened to learn that this was a “This whole Project of Heart is
By Heather Colpitts husband of 44 years and lived in various recent part of Canadian history. something that’s long overdue,”
spots around Canada and abroad. Goldsack said.
Josette Antone Dandurand held up The students taking part in Project of
three sheets of toilet paper. “Air force life was a piece of cake for Heart drew on small wooden tiles in He said since he introduced it for
me compared to residential school,” memory of the children who’ve died three of his Brookswood classes, other
Having to go to nuns as a small child Dandurand said. because of residential schools. Dick teachers have joined the campaign.
and ask for toilet paper and receiving and Strutinski made their tiles into a
much less than needed for the job Through Dandurand’s presentation, dream-catcher to capture bad dreams The end result is that these young
Heather Colpitts / Langley Advance
remains one of the humiliating Grade 8 students Lauren Chevrier, created by the trauma the children people are talking about issues raised
memories from her nine years in Angel Dick and Lee Strutinski got to went through, while Chevrier’s design by the history of this country, and First
residential school. put a face on what could have just with a heart was her desire to combat Nations elders find healing in talking
been a paragraph in a textbook. the heartbreaking history she learned. about their experiences and having
And it’s one of the personal stories those acknowledged by the broader
the 70-year-old shared with “We can think about it more and Project of Heart tiles will be put on society.
Brookswood Secondary students imagine what it was like,” Chevrier said. permanent display in Vancouver.
—hcolpitts@langleyadvance.com
during presentations to four classes
Reprinted with permission
on Feb. 14. The classes are taking part “It’s more personalized,” Strutinski said. Teacher Larry Goldsack said he
from the Langley Advance©.
in Project of Heart, a residential school If she ever wet her bed after that, she sharing her stories. “I don’t ever want invites speakers such as Dandurand
healing project that started in Ottawa never told a soul. “I chose to sleep in a this to happen again,” she said. She noted that her mom’s generation because the students gain a deeper
and spread across the country. wet bed,” Dandurand said. didn’t learn about residential schools understanding of how history and
Residential school students were when they were young. issues impact people.
Her sessions on Valentine’s Day One morning she could not find her taught that everything about them
included the many heartbreaking hankie for daily inspections. “I lost my was bad or wrong, part of the
events of her childhood. “I feel that I hankie so I was made an example,” government’s decision to assimilate
didn’t have a childhood,” she said. she said. Aboriginal peoples. “Never be
ashamed of who you are,” Dandurand
Dandurand, whose mother was The mother superior strapped her in told the students.
Kwantlen First Nation and father was front of the other children. Her older
Nooksack, was seven when the Indian sister’s advice: “You don’t move your Her presentation recounted the broad
Agent and the RCMP arrived to take hand and you don’t cry. How many and lasting impacts of residential
the children. She came from a family times I hear that—you don’t cry.” schools. In her life, it led to two
of six children, all sent to residential decades of alcoholism before her
schools. The children were forced to work in adult sons asked her to stop.
the school dairy and orchard but were
A priest at the Kuper Island residential not allowed to have any of the food Within her siblings and their families
school molested her. It was only in which was sold for money. Instead there have been traumas and scars
recent times that she won a legal case they were fed cheap food like potatoes directly tied to the residential school
against him for that abuse. and peas, although the students did experiences some six decades ago.
get to watch the staff eat well. One brother was so traumatized by
Soon after arriving, a seven-year-old the school dentists that when his
Josette, who had never seen flush Despite not accepting the Catholicism teeth failed, he would pull them out
toilets, wet her bed at night. In the imposed on her as a child, Dandurand himself, until he had none left.
morning, she told a nun and she was said she prays each day because she
made, along with any other girls who always wants to express her gratitude There have been suicides, drug
wet their beds, to parade in front for what is good in her life. and alcohol abuse, and an array of
of the rest of the students with the relationship problems. “We never
soiled bed linens wrapped around Prayer and gratitude are some of the talked about the things that happened
This photo represents one of several banners attached to the outside walls of St. Michael’s Residential School before the buliding
their heads. tools she uses in her healing. So is to us in residential school,” she said. was torn down. It is part of the exhibit by Beverly Brown entitled “Speaking to Memory” in the U’mista Cultural Centre in Alert Bay.
16 Project of Heart: Illuminating the hidden history of Indian Residential Schools in BC Project of Heart: Illuminating the hidden history of Indian Residential Schools in BC 17Canadians were in denial about residential school truths
re- evaluation now is taking place in
light of the truths being told by those
who have been silenced for so long.
And that’s a very good thing.
Unless we confront that hidden
chapter of Canada’s history, we
won’t be able to become the kind
of people we think we already are.
Survivors who have
Canadians generally think of themselves spoken out say if you file
as good, decent, polite people who
a residential school claim
quietly but firmly do the right thing, play
expect your life to get
www.leahdecter.com/official_denial/home.html
by the rules, stand up for peace, order
and good government. However, this worse before it gets better.
benign national self-image is actually Even if you think you put
in sharp contrast to our colonial history, those abuse issues behind
and we tend to deny any uncomfortable you 20 or 40 years ago
reminders of that. and you are all right now.
You’d better be well along
Denial has taken many forms in
Canada’s history and treatment of on your healing journey or
Aboriginal peoples. For example, we TB. The fate of children who died began speaking out about the have a lot of family support,
often hear the claim that residential running away to get back home prevalence of the abuse he endured they say, because there’s no
schools were run by well-meaning was hidden. So were the suicides in residential school. His shocking telling how many times you
people who truly believed they were of children in total despair. Priests account was met with more denial are going to have to relive
doing the right thing by bringing covered up for sexual predators, often and skepticism.
the horror and shame once
Christianity and “civilization” to simply transferring them to other
“primitive” people who perhaps didn’t schools. Nuns denied that babies were Subsequently other survivors
the church and government
understand it was all for their own born of rape. No one spoke of the launched class action law suits, but lawyers get to you. The
good. But at the same time they were graveyards outside the schoolyards. the federal government and the official apologies mean
in denial about the very humanity churches vigorously denied their nothing, they assert, when
of the students they claimed to be The culture of denial was so pervasive testimony, and both institutions you get a church lawyer in
educating and bringing to God. (One for so long that most Canadians devoted vast sums of money and Provincial Archives of Alberta, PR2005.0355/294
your face calling you a liar.
can easily imagine the reaction of early knew nothing about the existence many years to fighting them in court.
settlers if First Nations had forcibly of residential schools and what went Plaintiffs were subjected to merciless to maintain the denials. Facing Report didn’t hesitate to deny
—Joan Taillon, Windspeaker, 2001
taken 150,000 white children far away on there, and that lack of awareness cross-examination about not only increasing pressure, by 1998 the truth and inflame the debate.
from their homes to be raised in continues today. This denial made their victimization in the schools, government had to do something. However, most credible media outlets
Aboriginal ways for their own good!) it easy to blame the victims for the but also every other aspect of their Jane Stewart, then Minister of Indian set to work investigating the untold
inevitable consequences of cultural personal and family lives. Affairs, made a formal apology to stories of residential schools.
The government and churches also breakdown, family dysfunction, those who were abused at residential
denied the truth about the appalling poverty, addiction, and incarceration. Over time the evidence mounted, schools, and the federal government It is said that every generation needs
conditions in residential schools. pedophiles who had preyed on established a $350 million healing to re-evaluate the official version
Officials suppressed Dr. Peter Bryce’s In 1990 Phil Fontaine, head of the students were convicted, and fund for the victims. In reaction, of history, the version so often
report about the epidemic levels of Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, first gradually it became impossible media such as the right-wing Alberta written by the victors. Indeed, that
18 Project of Heart: Illuminating the hidden history of Indian Residential Schools in BC Project of Heart: Illuminating the hidden history of Indian Residential Schools in BC 19Students create art from painful truth of residential schools
In her native Nisga’a to wake up, get up, stand by the bed,
language, her first name It’s hard to think that these go to the washroom, eat your meals,
meant “pearl skipping really bad things happened do your chores. The supervisor always
on clear water.” But that had a horsewhip under her arm and
beautiful name was taken
right here in Canada. We’re if we didn’t get into line fast enough,
away the day she arrived in not perfect, like some we’d feel that whip on our ankles.”
residential school, where people think we are.
she was called Mercy “What did you learn in residential
instead. Sadly, little Mercy school?” one Brookswood student
Thomas saw no evidence The students in Larry Goldsack’s wanted to know. “We learned English
of merciful behaviour from Social Studies 8 class at Brookswood because we were not allowed to
the staff of Crosby Girls Secondary School in Langley listened speak our language. We only had
School in Port Simpson intently as Mercy told them: “Think classes in the morning, and then we
where strapping, hair- back to when you were seven. Your cleaned, cooked, sewed, did laundry,
pulling, pushing, name- parents were getting you ready to go worked in the gardens. But we never
calling, being made to to school, but you always knew they’d saw the vegetables we grew on our
stand for hours, and other come for you at the end of the day. table. They were sold in the city.”
forms of verbal, physical, That didn’t happen for me.”
sexual, and spiritual abuse When she was 14, Mercy was sexually
were common. She recalled the constant abuse: “You abused by the minister who was also UCCA, 93.049P / 181, “Twelve of our girls, with staff,” Crosby Girls’ Home, Port Simpson, [ca. 1947]
good-for-nothing, dirty, lazy Indian! If principal of the school. “The rape of a
It was one of 22 you hear that every day, you start to child, male or female, is devastating. At Brookswood Secondary School, of Heart by Tsleil-Waututh carver Derrick
residential schools in BC, believe it. Some of us fought against It shatters a child’s well-being and students’ heads nod around the George and his sons, and designed by
part of a nation-wide it and we left school stronger. Others future development as a human being. classroom as one girl said: “It’s hard Tahltan artist Una Ann Moyer. It will
network of schools run fell by the wayside and died.” Sexual abuse is a very touchy subject to think that these really bad things have an important part in the Truth and
by government and for all former students of residential happened right here in Canada. We’re Reconciliation Commission national
churches with the goal Mercy was one of 150,000 First schools. It is demeaning in the worst not perfect, like some people think commemorative events taking place in
of “killing the Indian in Nations children who were forced way and has long-term impacts.” we are.” Vancouver in September.
the child.” Now, more into the residential school system
Melissa Hyland and Mercy Thomas at than half a century later, Mercy and between the 1870s and 1990s. Did you ever think about running Teacher Larry Goldsack says Mercy Thomas will be among the
a BCTF conference on trafficking of
Aboriginal girls and women. other survivors of residential school Recent research reveals more than away? “Oh yes, millions of times.” his passion for history fuels his survivors there, honouring the
injustices are reclaiming the past by 6,000 children died in the schools— commitment to teaching these memory of those who did not survive
telling their stories to students across of tuberculosis and Spanish flu, Why didn’t you? “Because the school painful truths. and helping build a better future for
the country through a remarkable in fires, by drowning or exposure was 1,500 miles from my home. First Nations children, their families,
initiative called the Project of Heart. while fleeing, and by suicide. In the Years later, they found skeletons Charlene Bearhead, program and communities. “If not for all the
latest shocking revelation, scholars beneath the floors. These were of all manager of the Project of Heart, says people now telling their stories, all
The Project of Heart brings residential have now shown that the federal the children they said had run away. that BC is ahead of other provinces that would remain hidden.”
school survivors into classrooms government conducted nutritional There were rows and rows of graves.” on the issues of Aboriginal education
to tell their stories and to involve experimentation on at least 1,300 and has a record participation of —Reprinted from Teacher,
September 2013.
students and teachers in seeking the Aboriginal people, most of them At some level there is no healing for hundreds of teachers and thousands
truth about this atrocious, hidden hungry children in six different the survivors, Mercy said. “We will of students. “The commitment to look
chapter of Canadian history. Students residential schools across Canada, go to our graves carrying this hurt. at the truth is really exceptional in this
then draw on what they’ve learned to including the one in Port Alberni. There is not enough money in the province,” she said.
create images on wooden tiles, which world to buy away the hurt, shame,
are being collected and used to create “Our days were punctuated by the humiliation, loss of identity, and near The wooden tiles created by BC
large works of art. supervisors’ whistle. As soon as it annihilation of Aboriginal culture. It students will be used to adorn a cedar
blew, we had to be on guard. Whistles was nearly genocide.” canoe created especially for the Project
20 Project of Heart: Illuminating the hidden history of Indian Residential Schools in BC Project of Heart: Illuminating the hidden history of Indian Residential Schools in BC 21After the Prime Minister’s apology, calls for action Grand Chief responds with dignity and pride
Many of you will know me as Edward John, Grand Chief, Tl’azt’en Nation and an
elected member of the First Nations Summit. In days gone by I was #34 at Lejac
Indian Residential School where I was sent at a very young age....
On this day the Prime Minister extends a long overdue apology to us, the
Indigenous Peoples, for the fundamentally racist and genocidal policies
underpinning the entire residential schools system—“to kill the Indian in the child.”
UVic Photo Services
We had a dream that one day we would be here.
Today we listened intently to the Prime Minister’s statement of apology waiting
to hear sincere, meaningful and truthful words which would bring comfort
and solace to our peoples and in particular the thousands of residential school
survivors....
DID YOU KNOW?
Today we wanted to hear the Prime Minister say sorry to the countless survivors
who suffered serious emotional, cultural, linguistic, spiritual, physical, and “We also have no history of
sexual abuses at the hands of those in residential schools to whom they were colonialism.”
entrusted as children. Prime Minister Stephen
Today we wanted to hear the Prime Minister say sorry to those courageous
Harper made this
survivors who were dragged through the indignities of the criminal and civil unbelievable statement
Residential school survivors across Canada wept as Prime Minister during the G20 meeting in
courts processes.
Stephen Harper apologized for the wrongs they suffered.
Pittsburgh in September
In short we wanted to hear a full acknowledgment from the Prime Minister of 2009, just one year after his
Bruce Edwards / Edmonton Journal
On Wednesday, June 11, 2008, Prime Minister Stephen Harper rose in the House of Commons to make an extraordinary these past injustices, unequivocal acceptance of responsibility, genuine remorse historic apology to Aboriginal
speech, an historic apology to former students of Indian residential schools. In part, he said: and a sincere commitment not to repeat these traumatic and culturally crippling
Canadians for the injustices
actions....
To the approximately 80,000 living former students and Not only did you suffer these abuses as children, but as
of residential schools.
all family members and communities, the Government you became parents, you were powerless to protect your Except for the Prime Minister’s apology today, the actions of government and The statement not only
of Canada now recognizes that it was wrong to forcibly own children from suffering the same experience, and for churches were in direct response to criminal and civil actions brought before reveals that Harper failed
remove children from their homes, and we apologize for this we are sorry. this country’s courts by survivors. For years prior to these cases we raised this
to understand the true
having done this. as a political issue with successive governments only to be told that neither the
churches nor governments had any legal responsibility or obligation. It wasn’t
purpose of residential
The burden of this experience has been on your
We now recognize that it was wrong to separate children shoulders for far too long. The burden is properly ours until the issue came before the courts did they pay any attention.... school policies, it also
from rich and vibrant cultures and traditions, that it as a government, and as a country. There is no place provides a powerful
created a void in many lives and communities, and we in Canada for the attitudes that inspired the Indian We collectively owe a deep sense of thanks and respect to all of these courageous example of an all-too-
apologize for having done this. residential schools system to ever again prevail. women and men whose dignity was put on public display and ridiculed by common response from
unbelieving government and churches. Their brave actions paved the difficult many Canadians when
We now recognize that in separating children from You have been working on recovering from this road to today’s apology by the Prime Minister.
confronted
their families, we undermined the ability of many to experience for a long time, and in a very real sense we
adequately parent their own children and sowed the are now joining you on this journey. The Government of We want all Canadians to know we have survived and that we will celebrate this. with difficult
seeds for generations to follow, and we apologize for Canada sincerely apologizes and asks the forgiveness of We stand on the dignity of our being and on strength of our cultural teachings, historical facts:
having done this. the aboriginal peoples of this country for failing them so beliefs and practices. And we will work on the ongoing development of our denial.
profoundly. individual and collective well being.
We now recognize that far too often these institutions
gave rise to abuse or neglect and were inadequately We are sorry.... With the Prime Minister’s commitments, let us move from apology to action with
controlled, and we apologize for failing to protect you. dignity and pride.
22 Project of Heart: Illuminating the hidden history of Indian Residential Schools in BC Project of Heart: Illuminating the hidden history of Indian Residential Schools in BC 23Resistance and resilience
Throughout a century and a half of Barney Williams said that ‘many of the emotional costs of revisiting
residential school history, Aboriginal us, through our pain and suffering, painful memories, thousands of
children and families across Canada managed to hold our heads up…we survivors and their descendants
courageously were brave children.’” now are telling their stories, setting
the historical record straight, and
Many students ran away from the demanding redress. They are
deprivation and abuse, often speaking out to the media, publishing
more than once and always memoirs, creating works of visual
at great personal risk. At and performance art, reviving
least 33 runaways died, almost-lost languages, researching
mostly from exposure. the past, and—perhaps most
Many more importantly—testifying in court.
endured severe Thousands of lawsuits for historical
resisted punishment abuses filed against government
the policies and after being and churches resulted in the historic
laws that tore apart their caught Indian Residential School Settlement
families and communities. and Agreement and the landmark work
of the Truth and Reconciliation
In the early years many parents Commission.
simply refused to enrol their returned
children but after 1920, when to the
attendance at residential schools schools. In the
was made mandatory by law, parents documentary
began hiding their children from film The Fallen
school and church officials despite Feather, survivor
the potential legal repercussions. In Dan Saul says:
other cases, parents withdrew their “They would send
children en masse to protest terrible the police after these
conditions or harsh discipline in the little kids, to bring them
schools. They demanded dismissal back. They would shave
of abusive or incompetent staff. their heads, starve them,
Later they hired lawyers to press beat them up just because The TRC sponsored many different
for investigations into the deaths of they ran away.... But there were projects during its mandate, but a
children who ran away, or on behalf still more runaways, people just digital storytelling project at the
of children who were injured working wanted to get out of there so bad.” University of Victoria specifically
at the schools. examined the critical role resistance
So desperate were they to get out of played in the residential schools and
The children themselves also resisted residential schooling that students beyond. The project co-ordinator
in many ways, both big and small. made at least 37 attempts to burn concluded: “The passion of resistance
As the TRC commissioners reported: down different schools; two of the fires that validates the survival and
“We heard about children whose resulted in student and staff deaths. resiliency of First Nations people
small acts of everyday resistance in and communities provides hope for
the face of rampant abuse, neglect, In recent decades, resistance has healing and reconciliation over the
and bullying in the schools were taken many other forms: legal, next seven generations.”
quite simply heroic. At the TRC British political, social, cultural, academic,
Columbia National Event, Elder linguistic, artistic, and more. Despite
© Violator Films / Clique Pictures. Photo by Kris Krug
24 Project of Heart: Illuminating the hidden history of Indian Residential Schools in BC Project of Heart: Illuminating the hidden history of Indian Residential Schools in BC 25You can also read
