The Canadian Residential School Genocide (BRITISH REACTION)

[@elfabian9933]

A notable story is the lead singer of the Canadian band The Tragically Hip, Gord Downie, spent many years before he died, bringing the attention of the residential schools and the First Nations people's plight to the general public. He even made a short film and wrote songs about it. It is also an interesting story to check out.

[@LadyDuffette]

Posting the link to Gord Downie’s “Secret Path”. He involved Chanie Wenjack’s family, giving them a voice in their brother’s story. So many families never knew if their child (or children) was even alive. kzbin.info/www/bejne/lXLYZqyNrq9gfbc

[@caytjones2726]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/rJDXlHamgNmii5I A compilation story.

[@tracymazeroll4438]

It's extremely difficult for even well-intentioned people to understand the catastrophic impact the residential schools had on Indigenous communities and how we are still trying to heal. Multiple generations of a people were told over and over again that they were unclean, godless, uncivilized, physically/intellectually/morally inferior. Our connections to our languages and traditions severed. Our connections to our families severed, and how unbelievably difficult it would be for those people to re-establish or build healthy familial and community bonds. Our communities are trying to reclaim and rebuild what has been lost. Despite the best efforts of those monsters, and the continuing discrimination Indigenous people face, we are still here.

[@Skorion69]

This is something many Canadians feel great shame about, the unconscionable, monstrous things that occurred at the residential schools and the ongoing trauma the survivors and their children face. So much needs to be brought into the light and people and institutions held accountable to let all of us begin the process of trying to heal.

[@danielfortier2629]

I don't feel shame about it because IT WASN'T TRUE! The "mass grave" was a PROPER CEMETARY that wooden markers had rotten away! DON'T BE GULLIBLE and believe the made up lies of multimedia whose agenda is to generate income at all costs.

[@PnCBio]

Well said! How can we expect healing as we’re still uncovering the depths of the horror, let alone the lack of accountability for the known atrocities. We’ve got decades of grieving hard truths to go. But if we’re to live our professed values, we must confront our mistakes, atone for the crimes, and work tirelessly to improve things.

[@realsies9387]

My father was in one of these schools. I was lucky though because in 1990 my mom at the age of 18 when I was 2 years old escaped him and got away. He was very abusive and hated himself. I met him in my 20’s. Still a piece of garbage but I can understand where he is coming from. I went the other direction after being sexually, mentally and physically abused. I try to help people and spread kindness.

[@PnCBio]

@@realsies9387 ❤️

[@phoenixsky6124]

@@PnCBio many survivors and perpetrators are still here. Manitoba has a case of taking one of those priests to court right now. We should find them all.

[@angelz.3152]

I'm glad you made this video, spreads more awarness. My dad went to residential school. The intergenerational trama is still very real. 😢

[@cindypodritske5007]

I was born in 1966. Adopted from birth and giving to a white family. A very loving and happy family. But I was told I was German but always felt native. It was not until 2020 I took a DNA test and found my biological family who are Cree Indian. I have younger siblings and yes they went to the schools and had bad experiences. I missed out on all this because I was raised “White”. I am one of the lucky one because I will not change my family that I grew up in for anything. They were loving and cared for me very well. But I’m on a new journey and finding out my past and what if questions and their answers.

[@tiffaniterris2886]

Are you not aware that most Native kids didn't go. This wasn't a program for all native kids, and there were only so many schools. Rest assured that most of the bad stuff is a scam. Kids weren't being murdered.

[@Val.Kyrie.]

Husband has a similar story. Adopted and raised by Dutch, sister used to tease him about “looking like an Indian” when they’d been working out in the sun all day (they were farm kids). He learned he was adopted at 12. 2019 I got him ancestry and the results came Christmas Eve. Found out he’s Métis, and a lot of his biological family lives in our city.

[@marykay8587]

I'm also adopted from a European family in 1976, I'm a 60s scoop baby. I'm from Manitoba's Cree Nation

[@bscrimbitt9359]

As one survivor stated "it wasn't a school it was to kill the Indian in us!" There are many many write-ups by survivors, each sadder than the last. It's Canada's shame and the reprocussions continue to follow our Indigenous people today. 😢

[@tiffaniterris2886]

It's mostly a lie too. Their own truth and reconciliation council investigated and determined nearly all deaths occurred from fire and diseases (their was a spanidh flu pandemic in 1917, for example). Everything about it was exaggerated, the number of kids sent there, the number of deaths, and the fact there were more kids with positive things to say about the experience than those with bad things to say.

[@at_brunch3852]

This comment is true. I am Métis and John A MacDonald was the first Prime Minister. He began the process.

[@realsies9387]

I am native and my father and a couple of his brothers went through the residential schools. They each got $220,000 dollars because of it but that is nothing compared to the mental scars.

[@SuperSPatrick]

Most didn't get that much, they got 50k. It isn't just the mental scars. It's to shut us up because they knew one day it was going to get out what they did to us. The ongoing generational trauma, the breakup of the families, the horrific and ongoing racism, and the lack of opportunities and blocking of infrastructure on our lands still needs to be dealt with, and throwing a bit of money to hush us up isn't going to cut it.

[@BigStinker_14]

I’m similar. Had family get money thrown at them in hopes of helping the issue. It usually goes down the drain. A lot of people aren’t educated about finance, and suffer from mental health issues and addiction. Why do they think money helps?

[@realsies9387]

@@BigStinker_14 exactly. All the drugs and 4 wheelers and trucks that they eventually had to sell off for more drugs. Within a couple months it’s all gone. At the end of the day though you can’t change the past. So why not give them some money to shut up?

[@badplay156]

I am not a native. I understand why it was done but it was horrific. I think in many cases it was well intentioned but this is covered by "The road to Hell is paved by good intentions"

[@SarahHalina]

What's even more devastating is 6,000 is an estimate. More and more graves are being discovered. So that number is likely way higher. It's also horrible that these residential schools lasted into the late 1990s. 20ish years ago was when the last one closed. This isn't something that ended in the distant past. It's not something that we can just blame on people from 100 years ago. People that inflicted this atrocious behaviour on Indigenous people are still alive today. The things that the Indigenous children were forced to endure still haunt them and the generations that came after and that is not okay. It's something that should have never happened. It's something that many Canadians feel shame about. Yes Canada has many things to be proud of, but we do have a horrible and dark history as well and it needs to be acknowledged. We can't hide it and pretend it never happened, because the reality is it did happen. It happened for far too long. Countless lives changed forever. As for how it's taught in Canada, I can't speak for the now but when I graduated high school in June 2011 we didn't even learn anything about it. I learned about it a few years ago in 2021 when the news broke that the bodies of 215 children were found in Kamloops, BC. It was a big story and brought a lot of this to the forefront for Canadians. I'm hearing that it's starting to be acknowledged in schools now, but I can't be certain about it since I don't know anyone who is currently in school.

[@ryanwilson_canada]

This is a tragedy that was officially recognized a few years ago. Until that happened I had no idea about it. Which makes me feel bad. The government is attempting to make ammends. If they're doing it correctly, or doing enough? That's a topic that I have absolutely no authority to debate. So I won't. It's a shameful history, but now that it's widespread news now, hopefully people will learn from it, so it never repeats.

[@tiffaniterris2886]

It was recognized over 15 years ago, apologized for and money handed out, that happened again recently. Most of it is a complete sham.

[@caytjones2726]

Unfortunately, there continues to be a large segment of the population of Canada, those of us who have been here for generations, who have extreme racism regarding the first Nations population. They either don't want to acknowledge the damages of hundreds or thousands of children who survived the residential school system who returned to their communities or never went home. Generations of damaged children who had never been parented, had no idea how to be a loving parent to their own children, as if they were never given that opportunity to learn how to be parents. I live on native land, but have no need of ties. The residential school, where I live, is now a university. Above the chapel door, there is a sign which reads"kill the Indian save the man". This horrific part of our history and attempts at reconciliation, are bemoaned by countless "white Canadians", with cries of enough is enough. They're completely uninterested in making things right. We live on stolen land. Dishonored treaties, treaties that have been in place since the 17th century, and signed by the crown have never been updated, regarding Fair remuneration for the land many of us live on today.

[@upyourglass]

As a 🇨🇦 and of indigenous decent, I can assure that number will be higher as the search carries on….

[@sadlittlewombat]

No matter how difficult it is to know this part of our history we cannot and must not look away we must bear witness to the atrocities and acknowledge our blame...frankly it is the least we can do. I was born in the late 60's and I never knew or heard anything about the Residential schools until the unmarked graves were found near Kamloops in 2021. It is deeply shameful and horrific that this was done and for so bloody long. Since 2016 more Indigenous news has been made more public. Prior to then most First Nations news was just not out there for general consumption. The generational harm done to so many children cannot be understated. Thank you for reacting to it and bringing it to light.

[@CarlyMcc]

As recently as January of this year (2023), they found another 170 or so suspected graves at a former school in Ontario. So this story is still very much ongoing.

[@retired_in_portugal]

SUSPECYED

[@suzieq0452]

Yeah!! they don't know if there are "Unmarked Graves" or Tree Roots. How do you know these so called graves were "Unmarked?? WOODEN Crosses tend to ROT over 100-150 yrs. Natives had a Field Day Burning Churches and got Off with It. They never bother to Dig up many of these so called "Unmarked Graves",just Blame the WHITE Christian with little EVIDENCE of a CRIME.

[@darleendionne6403]

-I am glad you reacted to this documentary. It was a horrendous and shameful time in our history.. Residential schools, the reservation system, and the "sixties scoop" have fostered intergenerational trauma - that is the results of trauma are passed down from one generation to another. Think how difficult it would be to know how to parent when you have never seen it in action because you were taken from your parents and raised in a place where love, and parenting were not only absent but where abuse was rampant. Canada still has a long way to go in supporting the Indigenous people to live their lives freely and in a manner they choose. This complex situation is far from resolved...I won't get into too much more because it is not my story to tell, but please recognize that even today, in 2023, there are reservations that do not have running water or even safe water to drink.

[@tomasjakovac7950]

This is just scratching the surface of the horrific history of Canadian conduct towards Indigenous Peoples (First Nations, Métis, and Inuit) which stretched back hundreds of years and is still ongoing to this day. The most important aspect to consider when asking "Why?" is control over the land and resources of what is today called Canada. The Crown has signed multiple Treaties with Indigenous nations, which are considered to be part of our constitutional documents. These Treaties guarantee Indigenous nations sovereignty over their territories as well as compensation from the Crown for shared use of the land and certain other special rights. However, these rights were (and in many ways still are) seen as inconvenient obstacles in the eyes of government officials and business leaders. So as a result there have been several campaigns, such as the Residential Schools and the Sixties Scoop, to eliminate, through genocide, Aboriginal Title to those lands and resources (a treaty doesn't mean much if it was signed with a people that no longer exist). Both extermination and assimilation were key components of this, as if people became assimilated into the settler culture they would lose their status as an Indigenous person in the eyes of the law as well as the rights that go with that status. To this day there are still several ongoing claims disputing sovereignty over lands all over the country where the Canadian government has historically ignored the stipulations of treaties and allowed settlers to build on or use Indigenous lands without their consent. At the end of the day it's all about greed, and the desire for power and control from the settler government and corporations. I took a course on Indigenous historiography last year and my prof (who is himself Indigenous) summed it up perfectly: "It's always about the land"

[@wyatteldridge71]

I appreciate you exploring not just the positives of Canada, but also it's darkness. It's being acknowledged, something called the Truth and Reconciliation Commission exposed a lot about a decade ago when, I would surmise, most Canadians first really heard about residential schools in any depth and by 2021 the fairly explosive discovery of unmarked graves making it to the general public. There's a huge discussion in Canada about how we move forward... especially as it is recent history. The last school was only shut down in 1996 and in some provinces, seizures of Children from indigenous mothers right from hospital only ended a few years ago.

[@SharonFromNB]

Thank you for reacting to this story! It's a hard one but it needs to be told. ✌️

[@hinoron6528]

For a great many Canadians, the discovery of the mass graves in 2021 were the very first time in their lives they'd heard about residential schools and what went on in them, and the reaction was utter shock and horror. This stayed in the news and front of mind for months, unlike the short attention span common to most modern news outlets. The shock and surprise is because, for the overwhelming majority of Canadians, crossing several generations in fact, we knew nothing about this! It was kept out of the public eye, out of the news, the schools themselves literally in out of the way remote places. How did friendly, open minded, tolerant, welcoming of cultural diversity Canadians let this happen? Near-total unawareness. That it went on for so long is not a reflection on the indifference or acceptance of Canadians in general to such suffering of children, but to how well the secret was being kept. It's in the open now, as it should and must be. If the program EVER saw mention publicly, it got the shiniest of spin-doctoring to make it sound like a good and generous Christian program: "Let's build schools for native children, so that when they grow up they can be as much a part of our country as they wish to, without a lack of education forcing them into a life of poverty and obscurity." Even around timestamp 15:00 the foster care program in the 1960s, you can see from the advertisement it's being pitched to regular Canadian families as a rescue of a child in dire need. Canadians as a whole didn't APPROVE of destroying a culture or a people; we were either told nothing about it, or convinced we were doing the exact opposite. 2021 marks a blazing, Internet-sized spotlight being shone into a dark corner of our fairly recent history we couldn't see before. It doesn't match our own image of ourselves, and we're having a really hard time wrapping our heads around it. One thing we've decided we AREN'T going to do is turn the light back out and look away.

[@kflowersmith]

I worked as a federal civil servant for several years before my retirement. In my position, I was fortunate enough to work with some wonderful First Nation Elders. I also met with a number of Indigenous people who had been incarcerated in federal prisons and to learn a bit about their background. The damage done to these children still resonates among the Indigenous people today and will for decades to come. In addition to the thousands of children who died at the schools, there were countless who died after running away from the schools, trying to get back to their homes. One inmate's story still sticks with me. When he and his brother were little, they had been out in the bush with their father, hunting, trapping, fishing. A bush plane landed on a lake near to where they were. RCMP officers exited the plane, grabbed the two boys and put them in the plane. They were taken to a residential school and never saw their father or mother again. Heartbreaking. It is the horrors suffered by the children and the families they left behind that has led to drug and alcohol abuse among many Indigenous families. This, in turn, has led to the many missing and murdered Indigenous women in this country. The thousands of children who died is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the damage done to the Indigenous people in the name of religion and assimilation. As a white person, I am ashamed of what happened to these people and the suffering they continue to feel as a result. While so much more needs to be done, I am proud of the steps our Prime Minister has taken to at least try to make up for what happened and for the racism against Indigenous people that continues today. I hope all Canadians make a point of educating themselves about this horrible event in Canada's history, and the ripple effects that continue to be felt today. Please, this year on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, don't just think of it as a day off work. Make a point of reading about the suffering of the Indigenous people. Reach out to Indigenous groups and ask them what you can do show your support. Purchase Indigenous made crafts to support the artists who create them. Only by educating ourselves can we ever hope to ensure that such events never happen again. It was swept under the carpet for far too long.

[@David_C_83]

Thanks for this reaction, it's so rare to see people interested in the darker side of history. To be honest, until fairly recently this was something that was kept under the rug as much as possible. I want to think it's the more liberal times and modern technology with social media and whatnot that has made this more known as I'm sure before when media was more controlled it was harder for this to become mainstream knowledge. It is truly horrible to think these things happened, especially in such modern years like the 1990s, you would think stories like these are from centuries ago. I'm sure both the church and the government had their own motivations and their own agendas to keep the system in place as long as it did. The church would say things were done in the name of religious good and the government probably did it to have better control of the land and resources, you still see the ongoing battles today when it comes to building pipelines or power installations on lands that belong to various First Nations. Even today their interest is not put first despite all the things they have already endured. And society still has many negative stereotypes about the First Nations, they are seen as many negative things like alcoholics, substance users, lazy people that live off the government benefits... when in reality they're probably simply generations and generations of broken people that require mental care and psychological help to deal with everything they've been put through. It's an ongoing issue that will likely take many many years to repair, we've taken the first steps in recognizing the faults of the past, now we need to keep moving forward.

[@christyb039]

There was a movie documentary a few years ago called "we were children " talking with a few survivors and their experiences. It Is not for the faint of heart but important to watch. They never talked about it when I was growing up. Which doesn't surprise me in the slightest being that I went to Catholic school. No way they would admit that atrocity. They arent exactly known for admitting their dark side

[@DAWNSIE1961]

The survivors stories are very horrific. Most Canadians will tell you that they had no idea that any of this was happening and I think for the most part that is true. It was much less shocking to me. Only because as a child in the 1960s, both of my parents talked about the residential schools (we are not First Nations) and how children were being taken from their families and never returned. They passed away before the full scope of the horrors came to light, but I know they were haunted by what little they did know. I feel very privileged to live on Wei Wai Kum land on Vancouver Island. My grandsons go to a school that very much celebrates the local First Nations culture and are they taught the local history and language. Unfortunately there are Canadians who still refuse to acknowledge the generational trauma caused by the residential schools, the sixties scoop and everything before and after. But most Canadians feel great shame. My daughter has my Dad's Canadian flag, which was always proudly flown on Canada Day. She stopped flying it a few years ago. I did not need to ask her why. As for religion? I think it has done much more harm than good throughout history.

[@LikeTheBuffalo]

I have native ancestry in my background. My grandmother's mother married a white man to escape the reservations because they would presume that natives not living in reservations were already assimilated and their children wouldn't be taken away. But because these schools ran all the way into the modern era, I was exposed to the stories of these schools from survivors when I was very young. It isn't until very recently that this history is becoming more common knowledge, because it was shameful. But it is only by facing up to the past and working together to make things better that our society will be able to properly heal. Truth and Reconciliation are powerful tools.

[@SharonFromNB]

Same. My grandmother married an Acadian man for the same reason. I was born in the 1970s and adopted out to blue eyed, blond, white people. What a nightmare! I'm still struggling with complex ptsd today.

[@carolmurphy7572]

​@@SharonFromNB I gave your comment a "thumbs-up/like" not because I approved of what happened to you and countless numbers of Indigenous children, but because I am horrified by it. I hear you. I believe you. As a descendant of white colonizers who supported the government and the churches who planned and executed these atrocities, I feel deeply ashamed and angry.

[@LikeTheBuffalo]

@@SharonFromNB That can't be easy. Stay strong, friend ✊

[@tiffaniterris2886]

You are lying, nobody is forced on reservations in Canada, you don't need to marry anyone to "escape". And the last fully operational residential school closed in 1974. There were a few schools still open in the early 90's but weren't used for that purpose.

[@wilfbentley6738]

As a Canadian, I am disgusted/ashamed/outraged/angry that my government entrusted anything about children to the Catholic Church. We need to keep those child-molesting bastards away from all children in our country, and elsewhere, if possible. I cannot express the depth of my disappointment and other emotions with this situation. I have talked to others near my age (68) and none of this was known to us until recently. That cover-up makes the scandal even more embarrassing.

[@davidvishloff6383]

We have to remember it wasn't just the catholic church, but also the Anglican and a couple others.

[@KarinaHunter]

and yet the Catholic schools boards CONTINUE to be publicly funded and they CONTINUE to propagate discrimination and sweep problems under the rug Canada needs to stop publicly funding religious schools.

[@sweiland75]

@@davidvishloff6383 Christians

[@47kb8]

​@@sweiland75Only Christians? So what excuse do non-Christians use when they get caught? I'm not making excuses for these freaks.

[@Val.Kyrie.]

Interestingly the big child molesting thing happened when they opened up to your favourite rainbow crowd. Also, there were other churches, Anglican and Methodist. And at the height of the worst abuses by the Catholic Church, teachers in public school were committing multiple times more abuses BUT NO ONE WILL TALK ABOUT THAT. A lot of the cover up is simply everyone refusing to dig up the “mass graves” because they’re actually old plumbing, in some cases, and tree roots, in others. We need to stop using emotions and lies to pad stories because it takes away from the actual problems. I’m already against governments taking over kids upbringing and putting kids in public schools. My husbands grandma drank herself to death when all of her kids were taken by the government and put in the residential schools. I don’t want my kids learning myths and lies about what actually happened.

[@shirleytamburano6256]

Truly a dark and shameful time for us.

[@colinp8988]

I have friends who were taken from their families and adopted out to English speaking people...super sad

[@FightingDuskstalker]

Man... it's so easy to forget how close to the present the residential schools were. Every time the subject came up in school in the late 90s, early 2000s, it was regarded as something evil and monstrous.

[@RedLink27]

I was born and raised in this country, only left once. And as sad as this is to say, I only ever heard about all this when I was about 19... through all my years in public school, I had never heard a single mention of it- not even once. I believe they do teach students about it now, but even as recently as 2017, the year I graduated, the history books we had conveniently skipped over it.

[@liesdamnlies3372]

Whhhhaaaa. I was in high school in the 00s and it was in our textbooks. My history teacher who covered it really drilled it into our heads too. Like the internment camps during WWII, or the mistreatment, racism, and lives lost of Chinese workers building the railroads through the Rockies, my history teachers all made sure we bloody well knew what happened.

[@RedLink27]

@@liesdamnlies3372 could be that it just wasn't part of our curriculum. I should note I attended school in french, they were ran by the CSAP (Conseil Scolaire Acadien Provincial) here in NS.

[@liesdamnlies3372]

@@RedLink27 It's odd, since I went to a Catholic school. Of all the places one would expect them to suppress the truth...

[@SomeGuyFromOttawa]

Only just starting, but I'm fairly certain that the 6,000 number given, is significantly higher. Last year a lot of work was put into doing ground penetrating radar in locations where these schools existed. Many more unmarked graves were discovered and it's believed there are thousands more out there.

[@CarlyMcc]

Unfortunately I think you are correct with there being thousands more. I live in Nova Scotia and the grounds of the Shubenacadie Indian Residential School here were searched, and they were unable to find any unmarked graves. However, the school was located next to the Shubenacadie River, and I hate to think that perhaps that was a source of disposal. So so sad.

[@kflowersmith]

Exactly ... and so many more deaths of Indigenous people were and are a direct result of the horrors of the residential school system and the Sixties Scoop.

[@mitchchartrand]

Catholics cannot bury unbaptized people in marked graves. Even today. Wasn't a way to hide a body count. It was following religious dogma. Now I personally feel that is absurd. But that's what a paupers grave is. Unmarked. Unceremonious.

[@crystalsiobhanproduction]

My Reservation had a Residential school on the property and around 751 unmarked graves were found on the old site.

[@timrhind]

Many of those graves were previously known and death as a result of TB which was prevalent. However sad that they didn't mark them. The poor conditions lead to the spread.

[@MethosFilms]

As a Canadian I didn't know about this til recently. They covered it up well to the general population.

[@heatherbegs]

Same. I was born in 1960 and only learned about it when they started discovering the mass graves. Thanks to shows like W5 and others.

[@christinainyeg]

This also happened in the U.S., South America, New Zealand, and Australia et al. Experiments with residential schools began in Ireland.

[@eastcoastdaughter5058]

I love that you touched on our Indigenous people. They are a proud and richly cultured people and have endured hundreds of years of oppression and abuse. As a result, they’ve struggled deeply with generational dysfunction that I personally feel we imposed upon them. They governed themselves quite well for thousands of years before we came along. Some ignorant folks in our country still hold hateful opinions towards these beautiful people. However, through initiatives and changes to our education system (on the east coast anyway); there is a growing effort to learn, preserve and appreciate the oral language, traditions and practices of our native sisters and brothers. There’s so much that has been lost to the residential school system. The inexcusable genocide practiced by the Canadian government is just heartbreaking. In my humble opinion, I think the sheer courage and determination of our indigenous people of this country is what shaped our nation. And they are overdue their recognition. Not to diminish our family bonds with the UK. As families do, we bicker but always stand together when times get rough. We owe our very existence and survival to these people. Without them, we would have never survived the wilderness of Canada.🇨🇦 Edit: I’m grateful for our resilience and know that we owe it to our own gumption and the people of this country.

[@charlesdouglas6305]

It's not that survivors didn't speak up about the conditions. It is that the government and society didn't care.

[@Tee1471]

I wouldn't say that society didn't care, for the most part society didn't know. I'm a 70's child and until the last school closed I had no idea about Residential Schools. When that school closed a lot came out about survivors but again the Government and Churches still tried to deny everything that happened. When the mass unmarked graves were found they finally had no choice but to do and say something about it.

[@sherrirymal2334]

They are still finding unmarked Graves...And yes, it was and still is a huge deal

[@leah-wp3dx]

The more you learn about this the worse it gets. There was a school still open late into the 90s. 1998 I think. That's 1998, not 1898. Edit: I only learned about in the mid 90s when I started high school. The parents of the kids next door were victims. Their grandparents were victims. They never told us about it.

[@crystalsiobhanproduction]

I also know that my Reservation found over 751 unmarked graves.

[@mitchchartrand]

As those children weren't baptized, they can't be buried in marked graves according to Catholic dogma. Is that ridiculous? I think so, but saying it's an unmarked grave implies they were trying to bury the evidence. If you have a child who dies at birth in Canada today, you cannot have them buried in a Catholic cemetery with a marked grave. This is not uncommon.

[@heatheroliver3408]

In Alberta our current conservative government known as the United Conservative Party has been actively changing the school curriculum that taught the truth about this horrific treatment of Indigenous peoples be removed, taking us backwards to the old repressive times. It is amazing to me that a governmemt that works to also destroy our public healthcare and many social programs that support the most vulnerable members of our society still has many very ignorant supporters. Canada has more than one province undergoing political upheaval to more ignorant governments that only support their rich supporters.

[@carolmurphy7572]

I gave your comment a "thumbs-up/like" not because I agree with the tactics being undertaken by the government, but because I appreciate your statement of truth and I respect you for stating it. Thank you for continuing to speak.

[@gri7]

Ucp is fascism

[@katyroseable]

Hoping for a UCP loss at the end of May.

[@cynthiasteinborn9171]

As an indigenous woman in her fifties, this absolutely breaks my heart. My mother was at a residential school. She never spoke about it. Any indigenous person in Canada has been affected by this 😢

[@AvajjavA]

It is sickening. What was done to these children and their families is completely horrific. Every Canadian I know is deeply ashamed about this and are even more ashamed that we knew nothing about it. I went to school with a few indigenous kids, not a lot but where we lived wasn't close to their reserves. If I heard the words "Residential School" I most likely would have assumed that they were talking about the same kind of schooling that I had in a residential area. But the first time I understood the difference when they found the first unmarked gravesite.

[@jennifersorocan6892]

I'm from Canada, Vancouver. I was shocked and disgusted when I became aware of these horrible crimes. I think most Canadians feel the same. Every Child Matters became a movement and is recognized throughout our local communities now.

[@terrygaudio1053]

This is probably one of the darkest stories in Canadian history. It's a giant black mark on the RCMP and our Government. However, the most to blame are the churches that ran the schools, mostly the Catholic who ran 70% of them. (They were all given great autonomy by the government). To date, only the Catholic church has not paid their lawfully ordered reparations. (The Catholic church also took the longest to make an apology, by the current pope, for their part in these horrors. It did not seem terribly sincere though )The British Government does indeed take the blame for starting these schools, however, the Canadian government must shoulder the blame for allowing it to continue all the way into the 1990's. Currently, this story has come to the forefront as a concerted effort has begun to find and identify unmarked graves at former school sites. (The last residential school closed in 1996). Besides physical and sexual abuse and the cultural genocide, the Churches allowed product testing on these children. It should be noted that residential schools also occurred in the States and very little is known about the losses there.

[@gtrgar4561]

Along with poor treatment of Indigenous nations in Canada and the United States, Australia also instituted residential schools and assimilation policies as well.

[@gri7]

It's not even that far removed I have friends I went to school with who are one generation removed. Their parents or grandparents survive the system. And since you've been following hockey so much. A player Gino odjick. One of the first first nation players wore number 29 because it was his father's residential school system number

[@PnCBio]

Our collective shame :(. As always, some want it to be left in the past, many of us want to confront this ugly stain, realize we can never make it right, acknowledge all the pain we inflicted, listen to that pain, and move towards a better tomorrow. The truth is worse than slavery, the goal was to erase the entire culture. Your Nazi comparisson is apt, although too in your face for most Canadians to confront. I believe the Nazis literally used residential schools as reference material for their crimes. Canadians are still coming to terms with this horror, but we should wear it forever like the Germans do. Those clergymen, in what can at this point only be seen as Catholic tradition, tried to rape the "Indian" out of those kids. This is an important part of Canada's history, thank you for getting into our darkness, as well as our progress

[@armandrioux3660]

Just ONE point, here: the catholic church was resposible for a LOT of the atrocities, and it's very largely the responsibility of the authorities of the Church. NOR, it has been well indicated that about 30% of the Residential school were run by the Anglican Church. And John A MacDonald, the first Prime Minister of Canada has been the major instigator of this genocide.

[@dialee5016]

This comment is long: I was not aware of the residential school system until the 1990's and then I only found out from my son's father whose parents were survivors. Even then I had no realization of the true horror of what it was. As the survivors voices became louder and started being heard many people just could not believe that they were not exaggerating the amount of abuse suffered by the children. It was and is almost incomprehensible that anyone can be that evil to anyone let alone a child. With the discovery of the unmarked graves of children the truth of the atrocities against the indigenous people was no longer deniable. A movement began by the survivors, a message to the people of Canada "Every Child Matters". A remembrance, an acknowledgement and an assertion that it can never happen again. The thought of my son or granddaughter being torn away and subjected to such abomination is sickening, my heart breaks for the families who had to suffer such an evil. The repercussions are widespread and ongoing within the indigenous communities. Your reference to how the Axis treated their prisoners is not unfounded as it is believed that Hitler used the residential school systems as a basis for his camps. There is no doubt that this darkest part of Canada's history needs to be known. The survivors voices must be heard and the children must be remembered as EVERY ONE OF THOSE CHILDREN MATTER!

[@leah-wp3dx]

Thank you for doing this one. I am not FN but, my neighbours were when I was a kid and the area I lived had reserves near by. Good News!! Saugeen FN recently won their land back near Sauble Beach. Beautiful beach. It was always theirs, we just wouldn't recognize it.

[@emmajennings4572]

The CBC probably have some good quality, short segments featuring survivors if you're interested. I learned about the schools in the mid 2000s starting in elementary school. We lived near the Six Nations and they had reclaimed the old Residential School as a museum and cultural learning centre. I still remember visiting and learning that dirty socks would be stuffed into childrens mouths if they spoke their language. It stuck with me. Also got to see a recreation of a longhouse and do some traditional handicrafts. The reclaimation of the space is wonderful. Recommend the visit to anyone around the Brantford area.

[@giorgiopolloni7936]

At least Canada is trying to make amends and shed light on this horrific practice.

[@carfaxabbycemeterygoth7937]

The recent discoveries of unmarked graves at residential schools in Canada are a tragic reminder of a dark chapter in the country's history. I find myself reminded of deplorable squalor and conditions of a Victorian era workhouse The revelations have caused a deep schism within Canadian society, as many people were aware of the mistreatment of Indigenous children at residential schools but chose to look the other way. For them, it was simply business as usual.

[@thompgal]

I was born in late 60s and didn’t learn about residential schools until I went to college in the early 90s. There was still one residential school operating when I learned about them. They have found a few thousand young bodies in unmarked graves at certain residential schools and only a fraction have been inspected. My heart bleeds for the residential school survivors and their families. Our governments and the church MUST do more and quickly, so those children can finally go home to their families. Heartbreaking and shameful.

[@ronfischer191]

As a Canadian born in 1970 that lived in southern Ontario I can tell you that I never knew anything about the residential schools until this made National news in the last couple decades. It is a shameful part of our history, that we are just now really coming to grips with.

[@adrianmcgrath1984]

The residential schools had their roots in two things. British colonialist attitudes and the unhinged savagery of the church - particularly the Catholic and Irish missionaries. I don’t know if you are familiar with Magdalene laundries that began in Ireland? With Ireland an impoverished virtual theocracy, children - especially girls were sent to convent schools, where they were treated barbarically. Many had no option when they hit school leaving age and joined the convents as nuns. I have been taught by and worked alongside some of those old school Irish nuns, (in the Uk) and they are monsters. Deeply damaged people with sociopathic tendencies. I was aware of the Magdalene laundries before I left the UK. Now living in Canada I have heard many stories of punishments that were identical to some used in both Ireland and Canada as well as other places, where missionaries went along with colonialism. As much as I despise them, I realize that most of those nuns had been abandoned by parents, into places of indoctrination, deprivation, brutality as well as sexual abuse, rape and murder. There are convents in Ireland where hundreds of unmarked graves of babies and children have been found

[@pinky2245]

My mother used to tell me stories about the cruelty of the Catholic Nuns and missionaries. And I even remember meeting some nuns while growing up in small town Alberta - they were older and very cold and mean.

[@adrianmcgrath1984]

@@pinky2245 yes, they were savage, I always try and remind myself that they were brought up in such a barbaric way, that they were created, rather than being born that way, but I hate them. There is a movie called 'The Magdalene Sisters" which is pretty good, but only deals with one aspect of the laundries. And there is the movie Philomena that deals with another aspect, but I don’t know of any that cover the whole experience of many women. Being put into the convents as young children whose parents couldn’t afford to keep them, with some spending their whole lives - maybe 70 yrs as virtual slaves. In Ireland they have had many hearings very similar to the reconciliation talks here

[@leslieshand4509]

And people wonder why I despise religion. I have Indigenous family. I have a small understanding of what these atrocities were. I am ashamed that this is my country’s history. 5 or 6 of the mass graves have been discovered in the last few years. It makes me sick to my stomach.

[@SomeGuyFromOttawa]

This is such a painful video to watch. I was born in the 1970's and I honestly didn't know that this was even happening until I was an adult. I was shocked this could have continued into the 1990's! I have a friend who went through the residential school system, and was adopted by a 'white' family. He told me some stories, but he's defiantly haunted by his past. I'm glad that my girls (grade 4 and 6) are learning about this now, but I don't think they are learning about how bad it is. This should continue to be taught and expanded on as they get older. I'm shocked and appalled by what happened and can't believe it went on as long as it did.

[@alyssam3020]

My family was sent to the t'kemlups residential school. Children were literally dragged screaming from their homes and loaded into the back of cattle trucks just to take them to the "school ". Even as recently as my cousins, they were beaten if they tried to talk to their siblings of the opposition gender. Many horrible things happened there. There was very little public awareness/acceptance of these atrocities until a few years ago.

[@wylime]

Something else you should learn about (that has to do with first nations and the RCMP) are the "Starlight Tours". When I found out about this (far too late in my option, I was in my 20's) I felt physically ill. Canada has a long way to go when it comes to its relationship with first nations people.

[@DAWNSIE1961]

When I was growing up we had a neighbour that was RCMP. My father hated him so much. I didn't know until years later that it was because he would brag about the "Twilight Walks".

[@lee-waynenippi3117]

3 out of 4 of my Grandparents went to Residential Schools, my Grandpa on my Mom's side was Ukrainian so there was no chance of him going to one. My Dad went to a Residential School which he never told me about, I had to learn that during one of my visits with my Grandma. My Mom was lucky enough that she went to a public school but even then she had to deal with crazy amounts of racism. My Grandparents ended up becoming mean alcoholics much like many others who attended Residential Schools, my Dad was raised abused and neglected before being taken away. Which goes to show the success these "schools" had in regards to their goal. My Mom was raised and abused by my Grandma but she had older siblings who did what they could to protect her. I'm very lucky, my Mom did her best to raise me in an alcohol-free home and I wasn't abused besides the occasional spanking here and there which I fully deserved. My Dad wasn't sure how to be a Dad or family man, I didn't really know him until I was 12 and had so much anger towards him for not previously returning my calls or sending a card on my birthday etc.. but as I grew older and learned about his troubles I stopped feeling anger and started to sympathize for him. He went through things that he never talked about but when I knew him, he was one of the kindest, most helpful men I've ever met. Over the next 12 years he and I got to know each other quite well and I'm so glad that we did because he passed away when I was 24, the anniversary of his death is next week week. I'm 31 so it's not like this happened a long time ago, the affects of Residential Schools are very prevalent. So many of my family members were raised being physically, mentally or sexually abused, there are many who are addicted because they grew up around addicts and it's all they know or they're looking for an escape from reality. It's up to us to break that cycle but so many people are still so broken. I grew up without knowing my language, family history and culture but my Mom tried her best to break the cycle, she raised me in an alcohol-free home, I wasn't physically or sexually abused so I am very lucky unlike many of my peers. Every once in a while I think about what might not have been; what if one of my ancestors were one of those kids who were found in an unmarked grave? I wouldn't be here right now, my family wouldn't be here and that's a scary thought. Just imagine all the family's that never came to be because of these atrocious acts against children, all the lives that could have been.

[@rcat_cos_larp]

I am a metis (may-tea) Canadian and my great grandfather actually escaped from a residential school and went into hiding for years, he did not speak of his experience for decades until he was elderly. We still have no idea what happened to his younger sister who was also taken and separated from him. The trauma and fear still lives on even in the children today even those who never experienced it. My grandmother as well experienced this and is still to this day is healing and trying to regain our culture and traditions that have been lost. As for the metis people we almost completely lost our language michif (meh-ch-if) many of the new generation no longer can speak or write it and sadly finding a teacher is difficult i currently my self am learning the language and it took me 6 yrs to find a teacher myself. If wanting to learn more i highly recommend looking up interviews with elders and survivors as the story are heart break but the knowledge given is so important. I thank you for looking into these topics and educating your self. And i watch a previous video of yours that you wanted to learn more about the other aboriginal peoples of canada and one topic i would love you to touch on is the resistances that happened in canada pertaining the metis people and their fight for their rights. Keep up the amazing work!

[@waynebristow4720]

I learned I am one quarter indigenous but mostly of English heritage, from the Cornwall/Devon area. I have met survivors of the 60 Scoop, their stories go back two or three generations. I never learned this when I was young. It became a big story a few years ago when they found 215 unmarked graves at one school. Today they are still searching the grounds of these schools for more graves and the numbers have reached into the thousands. The worst racism in Canada right now is towards indigenous people. You see a lot of Trumpism here, where his words have given haters permission to attack others.

[@izzyschoen13]

Growing up in Canada, this story has only relatively surfaced. Many Canadian's didn't know what was happening and; it is frustrating, disturbing and horrible how the Canadian government just turned a blind eye to it for so long. Once the stories began to be told in the mid 90's, it has become part of the Canadian curriculum and all children are now taught about it. It is truly the darkest mark (to my knowledge) against Canada in our history.

[@dylanluhowy]

And they didn’t start teaching about this in schools until about 10 years ago. Most of us only learned about Indigenous peoples through the lens of settlers; how they helped European settlers or fought on their side.

[@1HourMartinizing]

Take their entire story at face value: 215 native children were murdered and buried in unmarked and mass graves in Kamloops. Biggest murder and genocide in Canadian history. So how many of the staff at the residential school have been arrested for their murders so far? How is the investigation going? What does the forensic evidence from the 215 exhumed bodies tell us about the nature of their murders, were they shot, poisoned, strangled, etc? What were their names? How big is the RCMP task force investigating this? There is an RCMP task force investigating this, isn’t there?

[@arnowisp6244]

They literally are still Excavating. So far similar sites have turned up nothing.

[@waynebristow4720]

I heard one older gentleman's story that when he was very young, he was a bed wetter, they would tie his foreskin at night to stop it. Gord Downey was the singer of the Canadian band called Tragically Hip, who died a few years ago from brain cancer. In his last years he worked to bring awareness to these stories. He introduced us to the story of Chanie Wenjack who escaped one of the schools and died in the cold trying to go home to his family. There was a child's storybook, concert and documentary made to bring more attention to the scars it has left in indigenous communities in Canada and the United States.

[@matthewpackard1184]

Colonialism with the power of the religion to 'help' (dominate) culture... leaves me speechless. I have an Aunt who played on the playground that is usually used to show smiling kids. They only smiled for a camera.

[@cynthiasteinborn9171]

Thanks for having the balls to even make a reaction about this 🎉

[@davidwhite6617]

Yes thank you for taking an interest in this most painful subject in our history. I am not indigenous but I have empathy with these. people. Much more exposure and awareness needs to be brought to everyones attention with regards to this subject. 😢

[@andreajohns9262]

Thank you for doing this video. I think many reactors would shy away from this topic. It is a part of both history and present day that needs much light shone on it. The story of Chanie Wenjack is the most well known. Gord Downie of the band The Tragically Hip did an animated video of this young boys story and became friends of his family. Chanie's sister survived the school. If you don't know who The Tragically Hip are you need to check them out as well. Gord Downie was a great humanitarian as well as leading a band who's last concert was watched by 11 million Canadians. The animated video is called The Secret Path. Please do learn all about our native people, you will be amazed.

[@thinkpadBentnoseTheBlind]

I had both the honour and privilage to be told stories from survivors when i was in Cambridge Bay , Nunavit. The stories were beyond horrible and how humans can treat each other this way is beyond fathoming. Yet , i'll always be honoured that some cared to share the tales with me.

[@freddiegillespie_05]

When I was a kid, there was a land dispute between Mohawks and "local residents" here in the municipality of Oka, Quebec. My parents are baby boomers. Their reaction to that crisis did not compute for me. They immediately took the side of the "local residents" (I'm putting that in between quotation marks simply to distinguish the descendents of European immigrants and the Mohawk who were, obviously also local residents.) The media wasn't very subtle either. But imagine seeing the military face off against a group of First Nations who, while they looked aggressive to my children eyes, were also obviously much smaller and less armed. Then imagine watching those military troops forcefully removing women, teenagers and children from... somewhere. The story of the residential schools weren't thought in school when I was a kid. (I hear that's changed now, though.) But I will never forget the education I got from those events. Back then, here in Quebec, there seemed to be a distancing of the French Canadians from what happened to those kids. Because we were colonized by the English, too, right? But then who ran those schools? Those were French Canadian clergy. Probably not all of them, but we French Canadians do have a long tradition of furnishing all the Catholic orders with volunteers.

[@adrianmcgrath1984]

They are still uncovering graves where I live in BC. Prince Charles and the Queen were both pretty hated for refusing to apologize. And the pope - on his half assed apology tour would not come to BC. Statues of the queen and queen Victoria have been torn down. The Catholic church in North America did say they would pay reparations, then set up a fund so that Catholics could donate the money to that specific fund. They didn’t put church money in, and the last I heard, having failed to raise the total they were aiming for, they just announced it was unachievable and kept what they had collected. Prince Charles and Camilla further shamed themselves on a visit a year or two by openly laughing at a demonstration of traditional throat singing. They might have assumed that it was acceptable to look down on 'natives' but the response from the vast majority of non native people was complete disgust too. Two years ago after bodies were found on a small island close to where I live, the small band whose island it is announced that they would be holding a march in the town across from their island on the main island. The town is mostly non native and has a population around 3500 people. When they arrived on the wharf they were met by a mostly white crowd who marched with them. Estimated crowd size was 3500.

[@adrianmcgrath1984]

I can’t find news video with the sound on. But Canadians were absolutely disgusted by this kzbin.info/www/bejne/rKm7Y6ZmhL5qqKs

[@adrianmcgrath1984]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/gJi3e4OtmJeSiaM

[@adrianmcgrath1984]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/h5iVYpJmhbSskK8

[@comingtoterms5439]

thank you for bringing this story to more light. it is a dark reality of our Canadian history. but must be told. the catholic church was a large part of this horror. but other religions and the Canadian govt. were greatly involved. the main light was brought to this in the fairly recent past. the numbers of unmarked graves WILL grow greatly. I worked with a survivor, and the mental and emotional damage was very apparent. it is a source of great sadness and shame. but cannot be overlooked thank you very much, for putting this out there.

[@jules3048]

The residential schools were absolutely disgusting imo. They didn’t just take their lang away but took their names away and gave them knew ones too. I had a friend who told me about a family member that went to a residential school (her uncle I think?). She said they were put outside in winter without coats or anything. In Saskatchewan which can get to -30/40 C in winter. They tried huddling together to try stay warm but Many still lost fingers and toes. When she told me that I burst into tears thinking about those poor kids. I think religion had a huge part to play. At least, in my speaking to diff First Nations people, they relate religion to the residential schools very strongly. They r still finding unmarked graves TO THIS DAY!! Absolutely shameful!!! And it DRIVES ME CRAZY how people r still racist and make comments about how First Nations live their life. Not only does it lump them all together as being alcoholic, etc but it doesn’t take into account how a WHOLE CULTURE is dealing w trauma and ptsd for different generations. That can’t be disregarded.

[@buutich1]

This is Canada's shame. When I was a child I'd ask adults why the children were taken from their families and nobody could give me an answer that made sense to a 7 year old. The churches - Anglican, Catholic, and United were in charge of the children. Very sad.

[@ninemoonplanet]

A lot of Canadians didn't know about this either, it was kept very quiet for at least a century. The churches and various governments didn't want those people who are descendants of European settlers to see how much misery, mistreatment and poor care the country was taking of the First Nations people. It's been a genocide by apartheid. Where would South Africa get the whole process of apartheid? From the USA and Canada treating the First Nations people as "ignorant savages", to quote more than a few political and law enforcement people. 😥 Horrific, brutal, and a dark stain on the people up to this very hour. Treaties are STILL not be abided by.

[@ninemoonplanet]

ALL the lands were taken as being "Crown Lands" owned by the Royal Monarch and the First Nations people were given tiny plots of lands that were purposely away from their traditional land. The buffalo was a basis for those Nations on the prairie, fish and other native plants were used for sustenance by the coastal First Nations people, the Arctic people, Inuit, depended on hunting marine animals and animals like the caribou, polar bears, Arctic foxes etc. The Inuit weren't allow to hunt outside certain areas. Starvation was endemic to all indigenous people.

[@ninemoonplanet]

Buffy St Marie is one of those foster children removed from her family. She wasn't told of her Nation or her family at all. She only found out later, in her early adulthood that she had a family, a Nation, and what her heritage was.

[@staceyallin7878]

I am a 50 something year old Canadian woman and, I for one, did not know about this until a few years ago. It was never taught to me in school and I even have indigenous family members. I am horrified and ashamed that this happened. I have to admit I am not quite as proud to be Canadian after learning about this😢

[@crankyoldwoman]

I am a First Nations woman from Canada and the news about finding unmarked graves around RS was barely a ripple in the news. Most Canadian's just don't care. ❤

[@sabramottram405]

Things are starting to change to bring First Nations and Métis recognition into our lives. In Elementary schools now, as well as any organization with any connection to the government, we now do a land acknowledgment. I’m not sure if this is in every place and may depend if it it treaty land (traditional land) or unceded land (where there was no agreement with the government but the land was settled regardless. For example I’ll tell you our land acknowledgment: We live on the unceded land of the Ktunaka (phonetic Too-na-ha, the Secwépemc (Sw-kwep-mook), and the chosen home of the Métis people. It’s a good start, but there is much more that needs to be done. Some positive changes are that schools in First Nations (not sure if it’s all, but just because I don’t have enough information, but they are teaching the children the traditional languages that were almost wiped out during the colonization period. I have leaned a few words, starting with “Oki” -hello in Blackfoot, and “Kiʔsuʔk kyukyit.” -hello in Ktunaha. Two places I have live in in Western Canada

[@lindadeters8685]

This didn’t only happen in Canada, it happened to the Aboriginal people of Australia 😢 and to the Native Americans in the US

[@TheFionaS]

There was physical, psychological, sexual and spiritual abuse. Though the residential schools are now closed (last one in the late 1990’s). There was (and still is) an over use of child social services taking indigenous kids from home and community moving them away into foster care or adoption to non-indigenous families.

[@waynebristow4720]

Many UK children were brought to Canada through the Dr. Barnardo Homes in England. My great great grandfather and three of his siblings were given up by their parents and three came to Canada and one to the United States. I'm just learning this by going on DNA test sites, Ancestry and 23andMe. Some stories of this orphanage is similar to the residential homes and abuse cases are still being heard in England today, from what I am told.

[@badplay156]

I am Canadian and this is the greatest shame of our country. I am glad it isn't lost. Not remembering it adds to the horror as if it doesn't matter. Canada has accepted the shame and remembers it in Truth and Reconciliation Day which happens this Monday

[@damonx6109]

Thank you for reacting to something new, interesting and relevant. A lot of Canadian reaction videos are just people laughing at maple syrup memes.

[@jessica19141]

My mother was in a residential school ,I never even knew ,untill my daughter researched it,it was never spoken of,but that would explain a lot of the negative treatment I recieved

[@crystalsiobhanproduction]

Actual the last School was closed in 1998.

[@thatsmessedupmydude]

There was atleast one residential school in Saskatchewan that didn't close until 1998. Many people don't seem to be aware how much the effects of this are still being strongly felt by survivors, and by the descendants of survivors.

[@ultimatespinach]

This is one of several reasons why I'm an agnostic today. I know the Canadian government played a huge role in this shameful part of our history but I place much of the blame for this human tragedy on the Catholic Church. I'm a retired gentleman but when I think of my tax dollars helping to fund a corrupt (and dare I say evil) Catholic Church and the separate school board system it makes my blood boil. I know there's no way I can feel the pain or begin to understand what many generations of First Nation's people suffered at the hands of the nuns and priests running these residential schools but I do feel a sense of shame and horror nonetheless. I'm a very proud Canadian but I feel nothing but shame when I think about this injustice!

[@fatherpie7014]

As I have gotten older and thought back on the stories my grandparents told me, or the stories I've heard from other survivors from other Nations across Canada, it almost seems comical, the level of dehumanization that our families were subjected to. I've heard a variation of this story from many different elders from all across Canada, but you know that scene in Schindler's List, when the Nazi's come into the concentration camp and load up all the children in the trucks? That's the level of evil the Canadian Government subjected us to, for well over a century. When I was in school, I never heard of this and people didn't really know either, and this was only 13 years ago! Well after the practice of Residential Schooling was over. This is just the Schooling part of our history, not even getting into the forced sterilization of women, forced relocations of entire villages, and corporations illegally buying our land, etc. Now the biggest slap in the face I hear all the time is "We didn't really know the extent, so how could we have advocated against this brutal mistreatment" but that's bullshite, Our family members were out there in the Cities demanding justice, demanding change and respect, but Canada's deeply racist attitudes make it seem like no one knew, but our Government knew, and so did everyone else, they just didn't see us as human. As for the recent discoveries of the mass graves, again, we knew they were there, but nobody else wanted to listen, thought we were exaggerating about the level of brutality, so when that grave was found and dug up, all of a sudden everyone non-native person turned around and acted as if this was shocking. So it was big news, for everybody else. The racist attitudes towards our people are still ongoing, our political parties claim they stand with us and are committed to "Truth and Reconciliation" but they're fighting us at every level in the courts when it comes to "Reconciliation", they were fighting tooth and nail to not payout restitution to the survivors of Residential Schools, these people are still alive and most of them are in their 50's and above. You're Scottish, what kind of treatment has your family been subjected to in the past at the hand of the British?

[@GoWestYoungMan]

It's the biggest black mark in Canadian history. Learning about the Residential School System is mandatory in public schools, a Truth and Reconciliation Commission ran 2008-2015, and there are on gong efforts to rebuild as much of their culture, tradition, and language as possible. When politicians make public announcements, many speeches now start with acknowledgement of First Nations land on which we stand. It will be a multi-decade process and early days. Just very sad all around.

[@liesdamnlies3372]

The land acknowledgements are at their best, ghoulish. It’s virtue signalling to cover a total lack of intent to confront and fix the damage colonialism caused. Ask chiefs and natives themselves and they’ll tell you the same. It’s insulting.

[@CarelessOne222]

I live about 5 minutes from the oldest residential school in Canada. The search for unmarked graves is ongoing. The school property is approximately 600 acres large. I am not native but, I live pretty much on native protected land. The conditions of the reserves are horrendous. I hope that the poor souls that are buried on the properties are recovered and reunited with their ancestors sooner rather than later. If you want to know more about the school I'm talking about; look up the "Mohawk Institute" in Brantford, Ontario,Canada.

[@ronaldsetah]

Hi I am a chilcotin from b.c canada still surviving I was there from 1969 to 1979 then the scoop started . I still speak my language fluently practice my culture with my memories still guiding my life style within my tradition

[@phoenixsky6124]

Imagine how much better the world could be if we had came to North America and learned from these stewards of the land? These people that never believed you could own nature and all in it but live along side it. Instead we are facing our own genocide when the earth ejects us. We had a chance, we squandered it and we deserve what is to come 😢

[@texadian339]

This is meant in absolutely NO way to excuse their behaviour, but as a professional historian, I would almost guarantee that many of those European-derived staff in these horrific institutions originally thought they were travelling there to do "good" works, as the Church commanded. That's not to say that even those staff who arrived with good intentions didn't eventually commit illegal/immoral/horrific acts after enough indoctrination by their supervisors, but I truly don't think they all went there for that reason specifically. If course there were definitely serial abusers/killers who joined up there in order to prey on the most vulnerable population you could possibly imagine.

[@pinky2245]

Yes, and it was all sanctioned by the "Church"! Like you Mert I am agnostic, and I believe so many of the atrocities visited on these people were caused by and perpetrated by the so-called religious institutions!

[@mitchchartrand]

Thank you for providing context. Teaching certificates handed to 18 year olds and who then taught in the middle of nowhere was not the most well planned nor executed idea. Consequences were dire and resulted in shameful atrocities. However I feel the nuance of historical and geographical settings are often overlooked.

[@cmac007]

I’m still in highschool and I live in BC. We started learning about the indigenous peoples in grade one. We started learning about the residential schools in grade three. We learn about it every year, unfortunately it seems like the curriculum recycles material. I’m learning the same thing in grade 10 as I was in grade 4 about residential schools. The curriculum seems to be there just to teach us that it happened and that it was wrong, not why and how it happened.

[@Willb00g]

The crazy part about this is that so many Canadians that had no Idea what was happening. My mom didn’t get taught any of this In school and only found out about it in the early 2000s. The government in many ways is still preventing much of what happened at residential schools from being brought to light. Truly something that haunts my mind every time I think about it and something that has destroyed so many families, communities and cultures in Canada who are still so under represented today. Many First Nations communities still don’t even have clean running water to this day.

[@techwiz81]

I’d recommend you watch the documentary We Were Children, it focuses on a couple of survivors’ stories and the abuse and cultural genocide they experienced. The stated goal of the residential schools was to “take the Indian out of the child” so even if no children were sexually or physically abused, it still would have been a monstrous system.

[@PamTomatoes]

I learned about residential schools in Grade 9, so that's going back about 15-16 years now, but at the time it was still pretty new to the curriculum. Three years earlier, in Grade 6, we learned about the Indigenous nations of Canada, but the gap between colonization/the fur trade and the present day wasn't really explained. The way it was taught made it seem like there was a fur trade between Sovereign Indigenous nations and settlers and then they just decided - amicably - to become Canada together. What I learned in Grade 9 filled in all the gaps. We learned all about residential schools. We watched movies about it and read books and it was horrific. One of the books we read was April Raintree and it's devastating, but I highly recommend it. The more I learn about this as the years go by it becomes clearer to me that the colonial government knew exactly what it was doing the moment they made contact. They understood the traditions and beliefs of these nations and going after the children the way they did was their way of 'killing the Indian in the child.' These Indigenous nations had their own systems of governance and their own economies. They functioned fine. They didn't have written languages, so it was oral. Traditions and stories were passed down orally and through art, from grandparents to grandchildren and so on. Removing children from their communities was a calculated effort to stop that. It's just heinous and there are people all over this country who deny it to this day. It's really, awful. The last residential school closed in the 1990s. The Canadian government is still taking Indigenous children away from their families today. These kids end up in the foster care system, away from their families, and there is so much abuse. There's a lot of really, really awful history here that is so important to learn about, so thank you for taking the time to talk about it. If you want to know more you could read about MMIWG2S (Missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit), starlight tours, Tina Fontaine, Phoenix Sinclair, Highway of Tears...it goes on and on. It's devastating. Our government is still perpetuating genocide against Indigenous people.

[@MegMakesCrafts]

I don’t know if you are interested in reading / listening but there is a really great novel by a native man that involves both hockey and the residential schools called Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese the story itself is fictional but based on different accounts from survivors and given your passion for hockey and learning about Canada I think you would really enjoy it.

[@jimomeara6139]

Mert, this is obviously beyond monstrous. It isn't a subject that we in Canada have even begun to comprehend. As you said it was colonialism. My great grandfather came to Canada in the 1840's forced to leave Ireland, settled in Quebec where I was born and raised. I now live in southern Alberta, with many First Nation peoples, there are reservations all around. The British had lots of practice doing the same and worse to the Irish for centuries. Practiced, they used similar methods in Canada, the States, the Caribbean, South America, Australia, West and South Africa, and of course India. The British genocide began with much practice of course, on the Irish and the Scottish, centuries before they went to North America. take care dude

[@cheryla7480]

Absolutely horrific. As a white Canadian I feel the shame of what our First Nations peoples were subjected to. We can never bring back those innocent lives lost nor can we repair the terrible damage done to a beautiful and unique culture. What is even worse is that this torture came at the hands of people who professed to be Christians…….People whose vocation it was to serve God. Why were they unable to look at these children and not recognize them as God’s children. We must face our shame and acknowledge it. We as a country must atone as best we can. Canada had 130residential schools. The US had over 408 and while the US government has acknowledged the same treatment. I have not heard of any attempts to reach out to the indigenous community.

[@carolmurphy7572]

Having grown up in a nearly 100% white Christian population in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador in the 1960s and 1970s, I had absolutely no clue about such horrors being bestowed upon these children and their families and communities. I was raised roman catholic (a name I refuse to capitalize because the organization does not deserve that respect) and educated in their schools, as the government permitted and supported a religiously-segregated school system here until the mid-1990s. We were taught about "missionary priests and nuns" going into undeveloped and under-developed countries to "bring the good news of Christ" to the people there, to "save them from physical and spiritual starvation" by establishing schools and orphanages. We were taught this was a generous and kind project of the church and we often gave up our recess or lunch money to put into collections to support the church's efforts. It was all a part of our indoctrination and brainwashing into the faith. Keep in mind that Newfoundland and Labrador were not a part of Canada until 1949 and our population was almost exclusively white christians. Years later, in the 1980s and 1990s, the news broke about the horrific physical and sexual abuse being perpetrated by the Irish Christian Brothers at Mount Cashel Orphanage here in St. John's, the cover-up by the police and the all-powerful roman catholic church who were aware of it and used their power and influence to silence the victims and stop any charges being laid. Then, charges were laid against Father Tom Hickey for sexual abuse of altar boys and the floodgates were broken. Hundreds of former altar boys and orphaned children brought stories of their abuse and the cover-up by the church were brought to light. The church moved accused priests and brothers out of the jurisdiction of the local police, to protect the perpetrators from prosecution and to save the church from humiliation. I don't think they initially even considered the possibility that they would be found libel for compensation to the victims of these crimes. Charges were laid and victims formerly unheard or too ashamed and traumatized by what had happened to them are still coming forward. The church was sued by some of the boys (now men) who were abused at Mount Cashel Orphanage for boys and, despite denials and delays, their cases were finally heard and the court awarded millions in damages. The "Christian Brothers of Ireland" that ran the orphanage and the "Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. John's" under whose direction the orphanage was run, and the Roman Catholic Church of Canada were deemed to be separate legal entities. The Christian Brothers declared bankruptcy and were dissolved with no compensation paid despite the courts finding them criminally and civically responsible. The Archdiocese appealed and denied all suits against them all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada. It's only in the past couple of years that the Supreme Court deemed the Archdiocese must pay the ordered restitution to the victims, many of whom are now old men in their late seventies, eighties and nineties, and many of whom have died awaiting resolution of the matter. In the past year or so, the archdiocese has also declared bankruptcy and it has been deemed that the Roman Catholic Church of Canada is a separate body and is not financially responsible for the actions of the Archdiocese or any of its liabilities. The majority of real estate (churches, parish halls, convents, priests residences, etc.) owned by the church have been offered for sale. Most of these buildings, while owned by the church, were actually built, furnished sbd maintained by the parishioners of each parish, who are angry that the churches are being taken away and many have pooled resources and bought the churches in the name of the parishes themselves. I cannot believe they still want to practice a faith that has participated in the known physical, mental and sexual abuse of children and has actively denied and blocked compensation for these crimes for so long. Since the "Mount Cashel scandal", as it has become known, was brought to light, the first action brought in Canada, victims have come forward across Canada and throughout the world. The church has been shown to shield perpetrators in its clergy who have been accused of sexual abuse from criminal and civil actions by moving them from parish to parish, diocese to diocese and country to country, outside the legal jurisdictions where charges are pending. In doing so, they not only denied justice, but actively allowed the predators access to thousands of more potential victims. And they continue to do this all over the world, denying legal actions which require the documentation that they hold in Vatican City, as no country can force them to surrender the information from their "state". Disgusting. And just as disgusting is that people who have been brainwashed since they were little children by threats of eternal damnation in the fires of hell still support the church and bring their children there for the sacraments, still believing that the church couldn't possibly have done those things. That those crimes were sins of a few isolated individuals. Talk about brainwashing!

[@doreenjohnson652]

I worked in aboriginal law for many years. The manner in which the First Nations was treated was horrific. A shameful period in our history. As a country, we have much to be proud of. This subject is not one of them.

[@jenniferneil8455]

This sort of system was also implemented in New Zealand and Australia. It was not an uncommon practice. A couple of films you may find helpful in understanding this horrific situation: "Muffins for Granny" and "We Were Children." The second one is available on the National Film Board of Canada.