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Aggressive Assimilation
Facing the resilience of indigenous traditional education in Canada, Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald, who was also Minister of Indian Affairs, commissioned Nicholas Flood Davin, a journalist, lawyer, and politician, to go to Washington, DC, in 1879 to study how the United States tackled the same issue.
Historical Background: The Indian Act and the Indian Residential Schools
Go deeper into the history of the Indian Act and the founding of the Residential Schools system.
Prime Minister Harper's Apology
As part of the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement, a Truth and Reconciliation Commission was established. Before its work got under way, Prime Minister Stephen Harper issued a public apology on June 11, 2008, on behalf of the Canadian government. The apology is part of the process arranged by the government and the First Nations as parties to the agreement, part of an overall attempt to address the government’s role in the history of the Indian Residential Schools.
They Have Stolen Our Lands
Read this 1910 statement by chiefs of the Shuswap, Okanagan, and Couteau nations that sheds light on how Indigenous Peoples viewed Europeans during this period.
Killing the Indian in the Child
Learn about the goal of assimilation held by many in colonial Canada and its influence on the creation of the Indian Residential Schools system.
Resistance
Learn about ways that parents and students spoke and acted out against the Indian Residential Schools system.
A Canadian Genocide in Search of a Name
Read a call to Canada's government to recognize its treatment of Indigenous Peoples in colonial Canada as genocide.
Cultural Genocide
Consider how the term cultural genocide describes the efforts of the Canadian government to assimilate the Indigenous Peoples through residential schools.