Archbishop Mark MacDonald on Dr. Bryce, Duncan Campbell Scott, & mass deaths of Indigenous children

Archbishop MacDonald tells the story of Dr. Peter Hendersen Bryce, who was responsible for the health of Indigenous children in residential schools 115 years ago. Dr. Bryce conducted a survey of 1,537 children in the schools in 1907, and reported to the Canadian government that approximately 25% of them had died from tuberculosis due to poor ventilation and poor standards of care from school officials. Bryce issued such shocking reports annually, and they were widely publicized. However, Duncan Campbell Scott, the Deputy Superintendent General of Indian Affairs, later told Dr. Bryce that the Canadian government had no intention of acting on the reports. Archbishop MacDonald says that Scott's response was: "We're sorry for this, but in light of the final solution, we have to tolerate this sad thing." The Archbishop elaborates in the video, which was taped on June 3, 2021, before a graduate class at Carleton University's Master of Philanthropy and Nonprofit Leadership (MPNL) program.