PART ONE
Humanists seek knowledge from evidence, think scientifically without reference to divine intervention, and are open to discussion. They are also motivated by honesty, empathy, and compassion. How does this approach apply to issues such as an understanding of the history and present circumstances of Canada’s original inhabitants? It makes us concerned about a number of social and economic issues such as the levels of unemployment, poverty, drug addiction, etc., all of which are higher in indigenous groups than in any other community. There is also an anticipation that any criticisms of the currently accepted explanations of or proposed solutions to these problems might be labeled as racist or even “hate speech” and, thus, potentially open to criminal charges. This represents a major challenge to free expression, which is a fundamental idea in Humanism.
I
One of the initial problems in discussing First Peoples is that of terminology. Currently, “Indigenous” is most commonly used, but “Aboriginal” and “Native” are also familiar. Here the three terms will be used interchangeably. None is pejorative. “Indian”, although still widely accepted by many individuals, will not be used, since there are many Canadians now of South Asian ancestry who have a better claim to the word. (The exception to this will apply when “Indian” is used a legal term.)
In the USA term usually used is “Native American”.
A “nation” is typically defined as a large type of social organization where a collective identity has emerged from a combination of shared features across a given large population, such as language, history, ethnicity, culture, or territory. Given that pre-Contact aboriginal groups never had large populations, the term “nation” does not seem applicable to those early inhabitants.
A “people” is a group of persons considered as a whole. Used in politics and law, the term “a people” refers to the collective or community of an ethnic group. This would be a more accurate description of those groups that were in what is now Canada long before the arrival of Europeans. This discussion paper will typically use the term “First Peoples” rather than “First Nations”.
In 1876 in Canada, the Indian Actcreated the “band” system for Aboriginal Peoples. This was done to establish a form of governance for local Indigenous populations. The Act defines a “band” as “a body of Indians” whose use of reserve lands, monies and other resources are managed by the federal government. “Band”, therefore, is a legal term. Some groups of First Peoples today prefer “First Nations”. At present, the government of Canada recognizes over six hundred “bands” or “Nations”, many of which have very few members.
Inuit (formerly called Eskimos) are the people who live primarily in the Arctic and were the most recently arrived in North America.
The term “Métis” is problematic. Some say that it should apply only to the descendants of the mixed Native/European families that lived near present day Winnipeg. Another point of view is that anyone of mixed Native/non-Native ancestry should be included as Métis.
II
The best evidence that we have today indicates that human beings evolved from ape-like ancestors millions of years ago in Africa. These early humans gradually spread across Africa and also into Europe and Asia. Eventually, after many thousands of years, small groups of people came to inhabit most areas of those three continents.
For the most part, First Peoples in Canada today are the descendants of groups that migrated from Asia centuries ago. They arrived in what are now known as the Americas, probably following game animals during the Ice Age, when sea levels dropped thus creating a land or at least an island connection between Siberia and Alaska. They may have travelled through an ice-free corridor or along the coast in boats, or both. Slowly they explored and colonized almost the entirety of North and South America. As the ice retreated, some groups moved north and settled in what is now Canada at least five thousand years ago.
The original inhabitants of Canada are not a homogeneous group. At least eleven different language families are represented. Four major groups are Algonquian (from Newfoundland into the prairies), Athapaskan (in the Mackenzie River and sub-arctic area), Iroquoian (in southern Ontario and southern Quebec), and Siouan (south-central prairies). Another is Inuit (in the Arctic). Six others are all found British Columbia. Within some language families were often mutually understood dialects that allowed relative ease of communication among many groups.
Not all speakers of the same or similar languages practiced the same way of life. Culture groups corresponded more closely to geography. In the vast boreal forests men of the nomadic tribes such as the Cree fished and hunted deer, moose, etc., while the women gathered roots, berries, and other gifts of Nature. The semi-sedentary Wyandot (Huron) of southern Ontario did the same but also learned elementary agriculture from their more southerly neighbours, and so added corn, beans, squash, and sunflowers to their diet. On the prairies hunting bison on foot was a dangerous activity that produced much of the food that was needed by tribes such as the Blackfoot who followed the herds of the great beasts. Further north the caribou was the mainstay for the roving Dene. Further north still, the Inuit speared whales and seals in order to survive the extreme cold and long dark of winter. In British Columbia the milder temperatures and abundance of seafood allowed tribes there such as the various speakers of Wakashan languages to maintain villages and build more permanent forms of housing.
There was no standard religion. Beliefs, myths, and practices varied widely across the continent. Generally, however, the faith systems were animistic, i.e. believing that objects, places, and creatures all possess a distinct spiritual essence. Animism perceives all things—animals, plants, rocks, rivers, weather systems, human handiwork, and in some cases words—as being animated, i.e., having agency and free will. Some reference to a supreme Great Spirit or Creator might be present, but that could be a borrowing from European religions. Identical notions about an afterlife were not shared by all tribes. The four colour medicine wheel that is used today is not part of traditional Native Spirituality but is an accretion from Western religions. It is a good example of cultural diffusion.
Hostility existed among various Aboriginal groups before the arrival of Europeans. For example, Samuel Hearne took part in three expeditions to the Canadian Arctic to discover the Northwest Passage. During his journeys in the 1770s he became one of the first Europeans to document conflict between the Inuit and Dene peoples. These clashes would be exacerbated as the fur trade expanded, competition grew, and new weapons were introduced.
In South America and New Guinea anthropologists documented male mortality rates from warfare among isolated tribes as anywhere from 10% to 80% prior to contact with Europeans. Fighting was usually related to hunting territory disputes, the desire to capture women, or blood feuds. There is no reason to suppose that it was any different in North America.
III
The history of all the First Peoples can generally be summarized as Independence, Interdependence, Dependence, and Resurgence.
From time immemorial the many tribes lived in a world of primitive technology. They only had stone, bone, wood, etc. (with just a little hammered copper). Without the wheel or draft animals the predominantly nomadic family groups had to use their own muscle power and dogs to move about and transport their meager possessions. Despite their limited means, the many and varied communities survived for millennia in Canada’s often harsh environment. With only a few materials available, they were able to create some impressive modes of transportation such as the snowshoe, canoe, and toboggan. Each nomadic band lived off the land in an independent way of life. Generally, there were only loosely organized larger groups that typically gathered together in the summer. The Iroquoians and west coast communities were somewhat more settled.
Interdependence began with the early arrival of Europeans in the 1500s and more extensive contacts from 1600 on as part of the great age of world exploration and globalization. The French and British were attracted by fish, forests, and furs. The Atlantic coast fishery produced cod for the home market. The crews of these fishing vessels had some contact with First Peoples. The great forests of eastern Canada provided timber for the wooden sailing ships of the time. But the greatest economic incentive was found in the fur trade.
Furs, especially those of the beaver, were a valuable commodity that could be sold for high prices in Europe and Asia. At first, they were easily obtainable from the local inhabitants who gladly traded their used clothing for the metal tools, weapons, and cooking pots that they had never seen before. These items would soon change their way of life significantly.
Over time the French traders moved far inland and established a major industry with their suppliers. This was the beginning of interdependence for the First Peoples, who came to rely on the items of European technology. They began to shift their focus somewhat from their traditional hunting, gathering, and local trade to commercial enterprise.
At the end of the Seven Years War (known in the USA as the French and Indian War), Quebec City and Montreal had fallen to the British, who largely took over the fur trade. The government of Britain made it clear that Native groups were to be respected and any land transfers had to be done willingly. The Royal Proclamation of 1763 set out the core elements of the relationship between what are now sometimes called “First Nations” and “the Crown”, established the recognition of those First Nations’ rights in Canada, and laid the foundation of the treaty-making process. This document remains important today in discussions of matters such as control of land and natural resources.
PART TWO
I
For a considerable period of time there was a rough equality between the foreign fur traders and the long established Aboriginal communities. But as the Hudson’s Bay Company and the North West Company pushed ever further west the local groups came to rely more and more on the trade goods from Europe. Metal tools, weapons and utensils, cloth, and flour became part of local life. And so did alcohol, something that had been largely unknown earlier. Alcohol and epidemic diseases combined to reduce First Peoples populations and their ability to carry on as they had successfully for thousands of years.
In the 19th century increasing numbers of immigrants from Europe put pressure on First Peoples, challenged their way of life and even their very survival. On the prairies, for example, the arrival of guns and horses, prized by the tribes there, contributed to the near disappearance of the previously vast herds of bison and left many groups destitute.
A series of treaties between the Crown and First Peoples established reserves across much of what was still a British colony. Land was set aside for the exclusive use of First Peoples, but it was much less than the territories over which they had wandered freely for centuries. The plan was to make way for immigrant settlement and, later, the construction of a transcontinental railway. First Peoples were to become sedentary farmers and gradually adapt to the new way of life that was sweeping around the world.
But it was somewhat like trying to turn sailors into shopkeepers. The lure of previous freedom led to frustration. To patiently endure the continuous and perhaps monotonous toil of farming, so unlike the strenuous but intermittent and exhilarating exertions of the hunt or raid, required a major change in attitude and approach to living. Combined with the devastation of epidemic disease and the curse of alcohol, Native men often struggled with boredom and their loss of self-esteem, while native women suffered the consequences.
II
With Confederation in 1867 responsibility for First Peoples fell to the federal government, not the provinces. Administration of the reserves was uneven and many restrictions were imposed. Food rations were sometimes inadequate. On the other hand, Prime Minister Macdonald insisted on a vaccination campaign against smallpox that saved many lives, as the Hudson’s Bay Company had done earlier.
The various treaties usually included a clause whereby the government was obliged to provide schools for the children. The Aboriginal signatories recognized that new knowledge and skills would be required in the rapidly changing world. On larger reserves in particular day schools were constructed. However, many smaller and scattered groups made day schools unfeasible and boarding schools were constructed. Generally, the schools were financed by the federal government but operated by various Christian churches. The record of these schools is a matter of great controversy today.
The First World War, the Great Depression, and the Second World War drew most public attention during the first half of the 20th century. The following period of mass immigration, the baby boom, and economic recovery continued to be the focus of government activity. First Peoples’ issues were largely ignored. The growing civil rights movement in the USA and the celebration of Canada’s centennial in 1967 led to considerable reflection on both the successes and failures of the nation’s past. It was time to deal with the groups that had been left out of the progress made in many aspects of life in this country.
Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and Minister of Indian Affairs Jean Chretien presented a plan formally known as the Statement of the Government of Canada on Indian Policy, 1969. Trudeau believed in individual rights rather than group rights, so the proposal was to abolish the Indian Act and abrogate all the treaties. First Peoples would simply become Canadian citizens with all the same rights and responsibilities. While some welcomed the idea, there was sufficient opposition that the plan was dropped. Instead, the Constitution Act of 1982 with its Charter of Rights and Freedoms specifically stated that “existing Aboriginal and Treaty Rights of the Aboriginal people of Canada are hereby recognized and affirmed.” The Constitution defines “Aboriginal” as including Indian, Inuit and Métis.
III
A series of government sponsored reports have provided a great deal of information but have also helped to create a now widely accepted narrative that is, however, viewed skeptically by many researchers. Below is a short description of these reports. Following that is a brief commentary about the problems associated with them.
The Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (RCAP) was established in 1991 to investigate the relationship between Indigenous peoples in Canada, the Government of Canada and Canadian society as a whole. It was a response to heated constitutional controversies and even violent clashes, such as at Oka (Kanesatake) in Quebec in 1990. The final report was issued in 1996 and included many recommendations. Reactions were mixed. Some felt that the recommendations did not go far enough to protect traditional cultures. Others felt that the proposals went too far in accommodating unrealistic desires of certain Aboriginal groups.
One of the topics raised in the RCAP was that of Indian Residential Schools. As a result, the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement (IRSSA)was achieved in 2006. It was an agreement between the government of Canada and approximately 86,000 Indigenous people who at some point had been enrolled as children in the Indian Residential School system between 1879 and 1997. The IRSSA acknowledged that considerable serious damage had been inflicted by the residential schools and established a $1.9-billion compensation package called the Common Experience Payment (CEP) for all former IRS students.
Going further, The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC), organized by the parties of the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement, was active from 2008 to 2015. The commission was officially established with the purpose of documenting the history and lasting impacts of the Canadian Indian Residential School system on Indigenous students and their families. It provided residential school attendees an opportunity to share their experiences during public and private meetings held across the country. The TRC emphasized that it had a priority of displaying the effects of the residential schools to the Canadians who had been kept in the dark about these matters. In June 2015, the TRC released an executive summary of its findings along with ninety-four “calls to action” regarding reconciliation between Canadians and Indigenous Peoples. The commission officially concluded in December 2015 with the publication of a multi-volume final report that concluded the school system amounted to “cultural genocide”.
It was also deemed that yet another study was essential. The National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls was conducted from 2016 to 2019. The study included reviews of law enforcement documents as well as community hearings and testimonies. The final report of the inquiry concluded that the high level of violence directed at First Nations, Inuit, and Métis women and girls is “caused by state actions and inactions rooted in colonialism and colonial ideologies.” It also concluded that the crisis constituted an ongoing “race, identity and gender-based genocide.”
The Final Report of Special Interlocutor for Missing Children and Unmarked Graves and Burial Sites associated with Indian Residential Schools (Ms. Kimberly Murray), issued in 2024 followed on the previous investigations. It outlines 42 “legal, moral and ethical obligations” of governments, churches, and other institutions in regards to children who did not return from the schools, including that Canada must provide full reparations to families of missing and disappeared children. Murray called on the federal government to establish a national, Indigenous-led commission of investigation into missing and disappeared Indigenous children and unmarked burials, as well as to enact legislation to protect burial sites, support families to obtain records, and address long-term, sufficient and flexible funding.
She also wants the government to refer to the missing children as victims of “enforced disappearance” and to refer the enforced disappearance of children, as a crime against humanity, to the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Furthermore, investigations into missing children and unmarked gravesites are to be led by Indigenous groups, be informed by a human rights approach, governed by Indigenous laws and cultural protocols, sustained by adequate and ongoing funding, co-ordinated among jurisdictions through national repatriation legislation and policy, and provide support for Indigenous families and communities navigating the repatriation process.
Finally, Murray suggests that denial of Residential School abuses or the existence of unmarked graves could become a criminal offence.
Commentary:
It should be noted that all of these investigations and studies have been significantly challenged with regard to their mandates, methodologies, and conclusions. They sometimes ignore or decline to demand and examine pertinent evidence. They are at times unscientific. Finally, and most disturbingly, they collectively pose a threat to free expression in that daring to question them can possibly become viewed as a human rights violation or criminal act.
Many outstanding issues remain. Going forward for humanists it is essential that the pursuit of evidence and the employment of logical analysis be applied to these controversies. And, of course, empathy and compassion must always be involved also.
PART THREE
RESEARCH SOURCES
BOOKS
I
SCHOLARLY STUDIES
The Indians of Canada
Diamond Jenness (1st ed. 1932; 7th ed. 1977)
This classic anthropological study was first produced at a time when disease, alcoholism, and difficulties in adapting to the agricultural/industrial economy foreshadowed the disappearance of First Peoples. While this proved not to be the case, Jenness’ dedicated fieldwork, solid academic knowledge, and an undoubtedly sympathetic attitude towards the groups that he studied make this book essential reading still. It needs to be followed up by reading more recent anthropological research.
Natives and Newcomers: Canada’s Heroic Age Reconsidered
Bruce Trigger (1989)
According to conventional nineteenth-century wisdom, societies of European origin were naturally progressive; native societies were static. This well respected anthropologist discredits that myth. He argues that native people have played a significant role in shaping the development of Canada. Trigger also shows that the largely ignored French traders and their employees established relations with native people that were indispensable for founding a viable European colony on the St Lawrence.
Educating About Native People: A Way to Help Right Chronic Social Problems?
Trigger also urged secondary school teachers to include native people in their curricula. (1989)
First Peoples in Canada
Alan D. McMillan and Eldon Yellowhorn (2004)
A non-aboriginal and an aboriginal anthropologist provide a great updating to Jenness’ pioneering work. There is a fine introduction followed by cultural studies region by region. It also addresses current issues of the time, most of which remain relevant now. A chapter on the Métis is very informative. Somewhat technical, it may be difficult for those unfamiliar with anthropology. It is well worth the effort to learn more about the most scientific of the humanities and the most humane of the sciences. It contains an extensive bibliography.
I Have Lived Here Since The World Began: An Illustrated History of Canada’s Native People
Arthur J. Ray (rev. ed. 2005)
This excellent study focuses on the economic history of Canada’s Native people. It describes efforts to survive as distinct First Peoples and addresses issues of treaties and land claims. It is essential reading for anyone wishing to have perspective on current issues. There is an extensive bibliography of sources both native and non-native.
The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People in North America is a book Thomas King, (2012)
King, an Aboriginal author, presents a history of Indigenous peoples in North America with wit and insight. It is a pleasure to read as well as being very informative.
II
OBSERVATIONS
In addition to scholarly studies by anthropologists and historians to develop some knowledge of the background to today’s issues, it also worthwhile to read accounts written by missionaries, fur traders, and artists who travelled across what is now Canada and left keen, if biased, observations of Aboriginal life as it was gradually transformed by contact with expanding European influences. Some of these are included in the following books.
Alexander Mackenzie and the Explorers of Canada
Georgia Xydes (1992)
The fur trade was a primary factor in the relationship between First Peoples and Europeans. The rivalry between the Hudson’s Bay Company and the North West Company drove traders further and further across the continent in search of Native trading partners. At the same time, however, there was a spirit of adventure and a scientific curiosity that motivated some traders to become explorers. One the most intrepid was Alexander Mackenzie, who became the first European to traverse the continent in 1793. This book focuses on Mackenzie but throughout the importance of Native guides and French voyageurs is acknowledged.
The Writings of David Thompson: The Travels
edited by William E. Moreau (2009)
Primarily a fur trader, David Thompson was also a gifted amateur geographer, naturalist, and ethnologist. Travelling across the continent in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, he left many pertinent observations about the lives of various Native groups. His writings help to dispel many stereotypes of his time and afterwards.
Paul Kane The Artist: Wilderness to Studio
Kenneth Lister (2010)
Paul Kane travelled widely across Canada in the 1850s and documented the world of many Native groups through his written observations and paintings. His landscapes and portraits offer a penetrating look at life at a time when the bison hunt was still taking place. Although Kane was a commercial artist who sometimes dramatized his paintings to improve their salability, they remain an excellent source of information. Royal Ontario Museum curator Lister has given us a detailed study of Kane’s work in a beautifully illustrated tome.
The Indians of Canada: Their Manners and Customs
John McLean (3rd ed. 1892, reprint 2012)
McLean was a missionary who had extensive contact with various Aboriginal groups over a period of nine years in the late 19th century. He had a Christian bias but was very observant and open-minded. He displayed both admiration for and repulsion from certain aspects of Native traditions. Recognizing the negative impacts of Western civilization, he saw “Indian laziness” as a result of rapid social transformation and ill-treatment by some whites. He shared the notion of the time that the disappearance of First Peoples was imminent. For him, guided and thoughtful integration into a new way of life was necessary.
The Diaries of Edmund Montagu Morris: Western Journeys 1907-1910
Transcribed by Mary Fitz-Gibbon (1985)
It contains descriptions of the Aboriginal world and interviews with Aboriginal people who could recall the great bison hunts. Morris’ photographs and pastel portraits offer an exceptional record of Native life at a time when the old ways were rapidly disappearing.
III
Current Issues
Disrobing the Aboriginal Industry
Frances Widdowson and Albert Howard (2008)
Despite the billions of dollars devoted to aboriginal causes, Native people in Canada continue to suffer all the symptoms of a marginalized existence – high rates of substance abuse, violence, poverty. Disrobing the Aboriginal Industry argues that the policies proposed to address these problems – land claims and self government – are in fact contributing to their entrenchment. This highly controversial study presents the argument that the “Aboriginal Industry” has failed to address the fundamental economic and cultural basis of native problems, leading instead to policies that offer a financial benefit to the leadership and their agents, while entrenching the misery of many Aboriginal people.
Stolen Lives: the Indigenous Peoples of Canada and the Indian Residential Schools
Theodore Fontaine and others (2015)
This book was hailed by Dr. Marie Wilson, one of the Truth and Reconciliation commissioners, as a rich backgrounder and study guide about Indian Residential Schools that was well researched, provocative, and helpful going along the path toward reconciliation.
Separate but Unequal: How Parallelest Ideology Conceals Indigenous Dependency
Frances Widdowson (2019)
This book is a follow up to Widdowson’s earlier book on the “Aboriginal Industry”. Building on the idea that certain Indigenous leaders and their agents manipulate the system to their advantage, she clearly states the view that trying to return to a romanticized past based on untrustworthy oral histories and a reliance on “traditional ways of knowing” will not lead to a brighter future. Hunting and gathering communities based on kinship ties are not productive enough to sustain the standard of living which First Peoples desire and deserve. Parallel development, with Native bands viewed as sovereign nations, cannot achieve success without massive government subsidies or cultural adaptation. Widdowson argues that misguided assumptions that go back at least as far as the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (1996) have led to a narrative that is misleading, unscientific, and undemocratic.
This is not a book, perhaps, for the general reader. It requires considerable interest in history, political science, and economics.
Rez Rules: My Indictment of Canada’s and America’s Systemic Racism Against Indigenous Peoples
Clarence Louie (2021)
Clarence Louie, Chief of the highly successful Osoyoos Indian Band (Okanagans) in southern British Columbia, has written an informal but insightful description of the problems he sees with the Indian Act and the failure of governments to provide enough land on reserves. He presents constructive ideas about how to move forward. He urges governments to respect the treaties. Indigenous leaders who fail their own people are soundly criticized too. Anyone interested in Aboriginal issues should read this book.
Permanent Astonishment: Growing Up Cree in the Land of Snow and Sky
Tomson Highway (2021)
This well known Indigenous Canadian author presents a joyful memoir of life as a child in the sub-Arctic. His parents, devoutly Roman Catholic and wanting him to have a future in the changing world, sent him to an Indian residential school. Despite the sexual improprieties of one lay brother (not a priest), Highway recounts the positive experiences that he had at boarding school, and how the caring staff provided him with an education that helped lead him to success and satisfaction.
From Truth Comes Reconciliation
Rodney A. Clifton and Mark DeWolf (2021)
This book contains a series of articles which challenge some aspects of the 2015 Truth and Reconciliation Report. It does not deny that there were significant abuses in the Indian Residential School system, but it does contend that there were many good people involved also, and that many students had positive experiences. In particular, it asks why the Final Report referred so little to the testimony of former attendees who spoke favourably about the schools. It asks if some of the memories of abuse were not induced by the method of questioning during the investigation. Furthermore, it takes the position that the terms “genocide” and “cultural genocide” should not be applied to the IRS system.
In the Shadow of the Red Brick Building
Raymond Tony Charlie (2022)
One of about 150,000 Indigenous children who attended Indian residential schools in Canada, the author exposes the emotional, physical, and sexual abuse that he experienced at two government sponsored schools run by the Roman Catholic Church. He describes the intergenerational impact of such experiences for many families.
The Boy from Buzwah: A Life in Indian Education
Cecil O. King (2022)
This is a memoir of his life from childhood on a reserve to both day and residential school. Having obtained an education, he returned to his former school as a teacher. Later he helped develop curriculum specifically for Indigenous students as well as training programs for Indigenous teachers. He says that positive views of IRS are disregarded and suppressed.
Tsqelmucwilc: the Kamloops Indian Residential School—resistance and reckoning
Celia Haig-Brown (2022)
This book is highly critical of the Indian Residential School system and states that students were taken from their parents to institutions where they were subjected to physical, mental, and sexual abuse while their Indigenous languages and traditions were stifled and denounced. It includes first-hand reminiscences of former students. It asserts that 215 unmarked graves were discovered on the Kamloops Residential School site in 2021 [an assertion that has yet to be proven].
Broken Circle: the Dark Legacy of Indian Residential Schools
Theodore Fontaine (1st ed. 2010; commemorative ed. 2022)
This memoir recalls his experience at boarding schools in Manitoba. He recounts psychological, emotional, and sexual abuse as well as disconnection from his language and culture. Despite the fact that his parents sent him there willingly and that he was able to see them frequently, he chose to describe his situation as “incarceration”.
Note:
There was some physical abuse but it was generally no more than at other boarding schools.
He experienced no sexual abuse other than the embarrassment of the prepubescent boys being washed by a priest in order to teach them personal hygiene.
He claims that the staff was nice only to allow them to take the “Indian” out of the students.
Students were told that they were savage and would not amount to much [yet they were provided with an education that allowed them to integrate without losing their identity].
The ideology of the RC Church was taught as being the only truth: heaven and hell. He claims that the teachers were just trying to save souls and enrich the Church, not doing the best for the children.
The trauma of the school drove him to alcoholism but, paradoxically, the education that he received there later allowed him to have a successful career off the reserve despite the anti-Aboriginal prejudices that he sometimes faced.
Grave Error: How the Media Misled Us (And the Truth about Residential Schools)
Edited by C.P. Champion and Tom Flanagan (2023)
This collection of articles disputes the claim that 215 graves (sometimes referred to incorrectly as “mass graves”) were located in 2021 on the property of the Kamloops Indian Residential School. It points out that the discovery of disturbances identified by ground penetrating radar only suggest the possibility of graves and that there are other likely explanations for the test results. No exhumation has as yet taken place despite the fact that the local First Nation has received considerable sums of money from the federal government to investigate. Furthermore, the contributors relate that claims of hidden graves elsewhere in Canada have been shown to be incorrect when further research was done. They also dispute that children went missing, or were tortured and murdered. Government leaders and journalists are criticized for jumping to conclusions and overreacting to the initial claims.
The 1867 Project: Why Canada Should be Cherished—Not Cancelled
Edited by Mark Milke. (2023)
This collection of twenty articles addresses various issues including critical race theory, identity politics, cancel culture, and legal issues. While not specifically about Indigenous matters, it does strive to rehabilitate the reputations of several important figures in Canadian history who have recently been demonized as being enemies of First Peoples.
IV
NOVELS
I Heard the Owl Call My Name, Margaret Craven (1967)
Indian Horse, Richard Wagamese (2012)
The Orenda, Joseph Boyden (2013)
Internet Sources
The Canadian Encyclopedia has a wide variety of relevant articles with a broad spectrum of interpretations as does Wikipedia. In both cases it is important, of course, to note the biases and points of view of the editors.
https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
Some topics to investigate include:
The Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (1996)
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (2015)
The National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (2019)
Indian Residential Schools
Royal Proclamation of 1763
Numbered Treaties
Oka Crisis
Jesuit Relations
Jordan’s Principle
Sixties Scoop
Assembly of First Nations
Congress of Aboriginal Peoples
Métis National Council
Inuit Tapiirit Kanatami
Indigenous Services Canada
https://www.canada.ca/en/indigenous-services-canada.html
Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada
https://www.canada.ca/en/indigenous-northern-affairs.html
https://www.rcaanc-cirnac.gc.ca/eng/1100100013791/1535470872302
Final Report of Special Interlocutor for Missing Children and Unmarked Graves and Burial Sites associated with Indian Residential Schools
https://osi-bis.ca/osi-resources/reports/?report-type=final-report
