Collection Stolen Lives: The Indigenous Peoples of Canada and the Indian Residential Schools

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Chapter

Historical Background

Get an introduction to the important historical events and issues that are explored throughout the rest of the book Stolen Lives: The Indigenous Peoples of Canada and the Indian Residential Schools.

Subject

Social Studies

Grade

6–12

Language

English — CA

Published

June 23, 2017

Updated

July 28, 2020

Genocide

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This resource is intended for educators in Canada who are teaching in English.

This section of Stolen Lives provides historical context for many of the issues explored throughout this resource on the Indigenous Peoples of Canada and the Indian Residential Schools. It is primarily designed to serve teachers, although advanced classes might also find it useful.

Reading

Introduce yourself to the important historical events and issues that are explored throughout the rest of the book Stolen Lives: The Indigenous Peoples of Canada and the Indian Residential Schools.

Graphic from cover of "Stolen Lives: The Indigenous Peoples of Canada and the Indian Residential Schools."

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The term First Nations, as of 2013, refers to some 617 different communities, traditionally composed of groups of 400 or so who lived in America long before European contact.

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The term Inuit refers broadly to the Arctic indigenous population of Alaska, Canada, and Greenland. Today, the Inuit communities of Canada live in the Inuit Nunangat—loosely defined as “Inuit homeland”—which is divided into four regions.

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The term Métis describes descendants of both Europeans and First Nations people (the Canadian government did not formally recognize the term until the Constitution Act of 1982).

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One of the first acts of the European colonization of the Americas was an act of naming or, more accurately, misnaming.

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When the European powers set their sights on North America, some three hundred years after the so-called discovery of the continent (which for them was the “New World”), it became a location for French and British settlements.

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War and political changes also contributed to the destruction of indigenous ways, livelihoods, and physical existence.

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Reserves existed in Africa, in the British American colonies, and in Canada, where the colonizers had to address the people they dispossessed— people who seemingly stood in the way of the political and economic plans of European settlers.

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Two main pieces of legislation laid the foundation for what was to be the new Dominion’s policy regarding relations with First Nations: the Gradual Civilization Act of 1857 and the Gradual Enfranchisement Act of 1869.

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The ultimate goal of the Indian Act has always been the assimilation of the Indigenous Peoples as separate nations into mainstream Canada.

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The idea that Western culture was superior and that the Indigenous Peoples needed to be Christianized and civilized came from the biases of Europeans and their unwillingness to appreciate the complex, largely unwritten teaching processes inside indigenous communities.

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The key to this policy was a system of industrial schools where religious instruction and skills training would help the Native Americans catch up with the demands of Western society.

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Prime Minister Macdonald authorized the creation of new residential schools and granted government funds for those that were already in place.

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Learn about the Catholic and Anglican churches' role in propagating residential schools throughout Canada.

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One of the most important historians of the residential schools, James R. Miller, estimates that a great number of indigenous students were, in fact, educated in day schools, although the residential schools left the most painful, long-lasting marks on indigenous communities.

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Over the 150-year span of the Indian Residential Schools system, Canada saw close to 150 schools and 150,000 pupils.

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Aside from those who paid the highest price—their lives—many students suffered lifelong trauma, which has also been passed on to children and grandchildren.

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The anti-colonial movement was growing stronger around the world, and with the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 by the newly formed United Nations, many turned their attention to the rights of colonized people globally.

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Responding with growing anger and assertiveness, indigenous activists rejected the idea of equal treatment before the law as simplistic at best. They argued that it was used to mask decades of accumulated material and political privileges for European Canadians acquired at the expense of Indigenous Peoples.

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Learn about the public apologies issued by several churches in the years following critical reports and testimony from residential school survivors.

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Learn about the 1980s response of the Canadian government to the long-lasting effects of residential schools on indigenous communities.

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The apology is part of the process arranged by the government and the First Nations as parties to the agreement, part of an overall attempt to address the government’s role in the history of the Indian Residential Schools.

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Since the beginning of its work in 2010, the commission has been collecting information about what was done to survivors in the residential schools and has worked to make this information public. From this process, the survivors receive public, communal acknowledgement and support for years of injustice and suffering.

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In the 1990s, residential schools scholars and many indigenous leaders began to argue that the efforts of the Canadian government to assimilate the Indigenous Peoples in the residential schools embodied the principle of cultural genocide: assimilation was intended to destroy the Indigenous Peoples as culturally distinct group.

Up Next

Who Are The Indigenous Peoples of Canada?

Introduce yourself to the important historical events and issues that are explored throughout the rest of the book Stolen Lives: The Indigenous Peoples of Canada and the Indian Residential Schools.

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Professional Learning

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This interactive self-guided course will support you in teaching your Canadian history course with a methodology and accompanying resources that encourage an honest and complex approach to the content.

Educator holds discussion in a Canadian classroom.

Professional Learning

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Delve into the testimonies and experiences of those who were part of the National Inquiry in Canada, both in the past and in the present, while maintaining the importance of intersectional and Indigenous-led storytelling in documenting genocide.

Professional Learning

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Explore the gendered nature of colonization and genocide in Canada, with particular reference to the histories of Indigenous women, girls, Two-Spirited and transgender people.

Installation by survivors and family of MMIWG.

Professional Learning

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Learn about the increasing number of hate crimes fueled by antisemitism in recent years in Canada, as well as examples of individuals, groups, and civic leaders standing up and speaking out against hate. Jeff McGuire, Executive Director of the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police will speak about the rising rates of Antisemitic hate crimes in Ontario and the ways that police units across Ontario are responding. We will also explore the role of upstanders, and provide models for addressing hatred and intolerance for all of us to follow.

Video

Senator Murray Sinclair, chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, discusses what it means to work toward reconciliation in Canada. This video is a part of the resource Stolen Lives: The Indigenous Peoples of Canada and The Indian Residential Schools.

Chapter

Explore how language and culture shape identity, and learn about the challenges faced by the Indigenous Peoples of Canada to preserve their traditional identity.

Chapter

Explore how language and culture shape identity, and learn about the challenges faced by the Indigenous Peoples of Canada to preserve their traditional identity.

Chapter

Examine how Indigenous identities in Canada have been shaped by the ways European settlers responded to real and imagined differences between themselves and the Indigenous Peoples.

Chapter

Examine how Indigenous identities in Canada have been shaped by the ways European settlers responded to real and imagined differences between themselves and the Indigenous Peoples.

Chapter

Learn the history behind the legislation and policies created by the Canadian government in the nineteenth century to dispossess and assimilate the Indigenous Peoples.

Chapter

Learn the history behind the legislation and policies created by the Canadian government in the nineteenth century to dispossess and assimilate the Indigenous Peoples.

Chapter

Read firsthand accounts from survivors of their often profoundly painful and damaging experiences at residential schools.

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Facing History & Ourselves Canada

Historical Background

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About This Chapter

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The Indian Act and the Indian Residential Schools

The Indian Act and the Indian Residential Schools

The Residential School Experience

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Facing History & Ourselves Canada

Historical Background

Subject

Grade

Language

Published

Updated

About This Chapter

Explore the Readings

Who Are The Indigenous Peoples of Canada?

First Nations

The Inuit

Métis

The Invention of the “Indian”

Colonization

Colonial Power Struggle

Dispossession, Destruction, and the Reserves

Defining the Indian

Banning Indigenous Culture

Traditional Education

Aggressive Assimilation

Legislation for the Residential Schools

The Role of the Churches

Building the Indian Residential Schools System

“Until There Is Not a Single Indian in Canada”

The Experience of Students

The Age of Rights?

Gathering Anger

Apologies

The Government’s “Statement of Reconciliation”

Prime Minister Harper’s Apology

Truth and Reconciliation

The Charge of Genocide

Get this chapter in Google Drive!

You might also be interested in…

Using Facing History in a Canadian History Course

The National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls

Restoring the Balance: A Short History of Gendered Colonization in Canada

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What Is Reconciliation?

Language and Identity

Language and Identity

Membership

Membership

The Indian Act and the Indian Residential Schools

The Indian Act and the Indian Residential Schools

The Residential School Experience

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