User:Ibgoingcrazy/sandbox
Participation in the residential school system
[edit]The Sisters worked as nurses and teachers in a number of Indian Residential Schools, as the preferred missionary partners of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate[1]: 28 , who were not allowed to teach girls.[1]: 96 At the schools, they participated in the effort to remove children from their parents and traditional Indigenous ways of life, in order to "civilize" them.[1]: 92
The main goal of the Oblates and the Grey Nuns was to provide a Catholic education (in competition with schools operated by Anglicans) and to give limited secular education.[1]: 96 Though often at odds, the Canadian government and the various religious organizations operating residential schools agreed that Indigenous cultural practices had to be suppressed.[1]: 627
Students at the schools were often subjected to horrific conditions including physical, sexual, and verbal abuse[2]: 101–110 ; insufficient or rotten food[2]: 85–90 ; frequent outbreaks of disease and insufficient medical care[2]: 95–96 ; and being forbidden to speak their native languages or engage in their cultural practices[2]: 4–6 . This treatment has been deemed cultural genocide by the final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.[2]: 8
The Sisters worked at one of the most notorious schools, St. Anne’s Indian Residential School (located in Fort Albany, Ontario), where a homemade electric chair was reportedly used on the children for the amusement of the staff, among other severe abuses. Survivor testimony later sparked a long-running OPP investigation; two nuns were eventually convicted of assault for their actions at St Anne’s.[3] The Sisters also worked at the school in Fort Chipewyan, where a mass grave was reported. [4]: 14 [5]
Other residential schools where the sisters worked include Île-à-la-Crosse Residential School[1]: 96 , Lac la Biche (Notre Dame des Victoires) Residential School[1]: 95 , St. Albert (Youville) Residential School[1]: 95 , Qu'Appelle Indian Residential School[1]: ix , St. Boniface Residential School[1]: 690 , Assiniboia Indian Residential School [6], Shubenacadie Indian Residential School[1]: 241 , Fort Providence Residential School[1]: 707 , Blue Quills Residential School[7]: 90 , the residence at Fort Smith[8]: 50 , Fort Resolution Indian Residential School[8]: 149 , and Chesterfield Inlet (Turquetil Hall) Residential School[7]: 439 .
The Sisters and the Oblates objected to the characterization of their actions during the IRSSA process, stating that they felt many students had positive experiences and that some of their members had been falsely accused.[9]: 168
As of 2018, the Sisters had not turned over several thousand photos and records which they had promised to return to the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation.[10] As of 2021, the Catholic Church as a whole has not issued a formal apology for its role in the residential school system, although some dioceses and orders have issued their own apologies. [11]
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "Canada's Residential Schools: The History, Part 1 Origins to 1939: Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada Volume 1" (PDF). National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation. Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. 2015. Retrieved June 3, 2021.
- ^ a b c d e "Honouring the Truth, Reconciling for the Future: Summary of the Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada" (PDF). National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation. Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. 2015. Retrieved June 4, 2021.
- ^ Barrera, Jorge (2018-03-29). "The horrors of St. Anne's". CBC News. Retrieved 2021-06-03.
- ^ "Canada's Residential Schools: The Inuit and Northern Experience: Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada Volume 2" (PDF). National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation. Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. 2015. Retrieved June 4, 2021.
- ^ McDermott, Vincent (2021-05-31). "Local First Nation, Métis leaders call for investigation of residential school sites". Fort McMurray Today. Retrieved 2021-06-04.
- ^ "Assiniboia Residential School Display Opens at Millennium Library". Manitoba Today. The Canadian Press. Retrieved 2021-06-04.
- ^ a b "Canada's Residential Schools: The History, Part 1 1939 to 2000: Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada Volume 1" (PDF). National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation. Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. 2015. Retrieved June 4, 2021.
- ^ a b "The Survivors Speak: A Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada" (PDF). National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation. Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. 2015. Retrieved June 4, 2021.
- ^ "Canada's Residential Schools: Reconciliation: Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada Volume 6" (PDF). National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation. Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. 2015. Retrieved June 4, 2021.
- ^ Barrera, Jorge (2018-06-01). "Some Catholic orders still withholding promised residential school records". CBC News. Retrieved 2021-06-03.
- ^ Dangerfield, Katie (2021-06-01). "'Disgrace': Indigenous leaders blast Catholic Church for silence on residential schools". Global News. Retrieved 2021-06-03.