Residential Schools
Books: Fiction
Shi-shi-etko
By Nicola I. Campbell, 2005.
This beautifully illustrated storybook is about a young girl being reminded of her culture before being sent to residential school. Appropriate for young students and students of all grades.
RELATED LESSONS: Featured in two lessons offered by the Montana Office for Public Instruction, Indian Education for All: Grade 1 lesson and grade 6 lesson.
See Film & Video section below for information about the short film based on the book, Shi-shi-etko.
Shin-chi's Canoe
By Nicola I. Campbell, 2008.
Shi Shi Etko prepares her little brother, who must follow her to residential school, by giving him something to help him remember his home. A follow up to Shi-shi-etko.
Fatty Legs: A True Story
By Christy Jordan-Fenton, Margaret Pokiak-Fenton, and Liz Amini-Holmes, 2010.
Although eight year-old Olemaun (OO-lee-mawn) hears ominous tales of the outsider's school, she wants nothing more than to learn how to read. When she's finally granted permission to leave her Inuvialuit people and attend the Anglican residential school, nothing can prepare her for the institution's intentional humiliations, nor the ridicule of her fellow students. (Link to Blog)
As Long as the Rivers Flow
by Larry Loyie, 2002.
This autobiographical short chapter book tells the story of a young boy and his last summer at home with his family, before being taken away to residential school. The story is full of information about Cree practices and traditions and is also about a resourceful, skilled and wise First Nations community that values the environment and each other.
Porcupines and China Dolls
by Robert Alexie, 2009
Enough alcohol silences the demons for a night; a gun and a single bullet silences demons forever. When a friend commits suicide and a former priest appears on television, the community is shattered. James and Jake confront their childhood abuse and break the silence to begin a journey of healing and rediscovery.
Books: Non-Fiction
Shingwauk's Vision: A History of Native Residential Schools
by James Rodger Miller, 1996
With the growing strength of minority voices in recent decades has come much impassioned discussion of residential schools, the institutions where attendance by Native children was compulsory as recently as the 1960s. Former students have come forward in increasing numbers to describe the psychological and physical abuse they suffered in these schools, and many view the system as an experiment in cultural genocide. In this first comprehensive history of these institutions, J.R. Miller explores the motives of all three agents in the story.
A National Crime: The Canadian Government and the Residential School System, 1879 to 1986
by John Sheridan Milloy
For over 100 years, thousands of Aboriginal children passed through the Canadian residential school system. Begun in the 1870s, it was intended, in the words of government officials, to bring these children into the “circle of civilization,” the results, however, were far different. More often, the schools provided an inferior education in an atmosphere of neglect, disease, and often abuse. Using previously unreleased government documents, historian John S. Milloy provides a full picture of the history and reality of the residential school system.
The Circle Game: Shadow and Substance in the Residential School Experience in Canada
by Roland Chrisjohn and Sherri Young, 1995
Film & Video
Shi-shi-etko
Directed by Kate Kroll, Monkey Ink Media, 2009. (12 mins.)
Synopsis from Moving Images Distributions website: "Based on the children's book Shi-shi-etko by Nicola Campbell, this beautiful story follows a young Aboriginal girl on the last four days before she is taken to residential school. Each day of these days she spends with a different family member-her mother, her father and her Yayah (grandmother). Knowing what's in store, each of them reminds her of the beauty of her culture, who she is and, most importantly, to never forget."
Halq'emalem with English subtitles.
The film trailer may be viewed on the blog posted by Debbie Reese (March 14, 2011).
John Pelletier, former residential school student, talks about his experience. YouTube (2:04 min)
Unseen Tears trailer. YouTube (2:05 mins)
Older Than America trailer. YouTube (7:16 mins)
US Guilty of Genocide. YouTube (6:25 mins)
Indian Boarding School Abuse. YouTube (4:20 mins)
Kill the Indian, Save the Man. YouTube (4:57 mins)
Prime Minister Stephen Harper and other Canadian political leaders apologizing for residential schools. Phil Fontaine, former chief of AFN speaks as well. June 11 2008. Video from CPAC. (10:42 mins)
We Are Deeply Sorry
Report by Kas Roussy, CBC Digital Archives, 1998. (5:14 mins)
From the CBC Digital Archives: "It's a day the leaders of the Indian Brook band in Nova Scotia have been waiting for. A group gathers at the local school to watch as Jane Stewart, Canada's minister of Indian Affairs, makes a formal apology to those who suffered in residential schools. They're also anxious for concrete solutions to some of the problems on their reserve. When Stewart announces infrastructure plans and support for native language learning, they're not disappointed.
But as CBC reporter Kas Roussy learns, another group isn't satisfied by the apology. On the site of the now-gone Shubenacadie Indian Residential School, former students remember the mistreatment they endured and vow to pursue a lawsuit against the government."
Unrepentant
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Video: Unrepentant Trailer from a full length award-winning documentary on the planned extermination of aboriginal people by church and state in Canada. The film is told through the eyes of survivors of this genocide, and a former minister who tried to hold his church accountable for its crimes. Video from Google (Intermediate|Senior) (1:48:56) |
Canada: A People's History Series
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, 2000.
See also their teacher section, which includes links to resources.
Where the Spirit Lives
Made for TV movie, 1989.
From the ScreenDoor website: "Set in 1937 amid the rugged beauty of Western Canada, WHERE THE SPIRIT LIVES is the uplifting story of Komi, a courageous young Blackfoot girl. Taken from her home on the reserve, she is sent by the government to an English-speaking residential school and re-named Amelia. With only the help of Kathleen, a compassionate schoolteacher, Amelia must find within herself the courage to live in what white society calls civilization, and what to her is a foreign and hostile environment."
The Day of The Apology - Video Vault
From the website: "Here you will find links to various speeches made in the House of Commons on June 11, 2008".
Canada Apologizes for Residential School System. YouTube (10:42 min)
Prime Minister Stephen Harper and other Canadian political leaders apologizing for residential schools. Phil Fontaine, former chief of AFN speaks as well. June 11, 2008. (Intermediate|Senior)
Websites
Aboriginal Healing Foundation
Aboriginal Healing Foundation provided funding to projects which facilitated community healing. Although the foundation is currently winding down its operations, the website provides information about projects they have funded, and its own history of funding with the federal government.
Where Are the Children.
From the website: "Silence is more often than not an expression of hurt or pain kept inside. This web site attempts to give voice to the untold stories of so many Aboriginal boys and girls who attended residential schools in Canada from 1831 to the 1990's.”
A well-made flash site with many interactive features for students. Includes a virtual 3D tour of a real residential school, provincial-specific maps and timelines. (html option available)
1000 Conversations
From the website: “1000 Conversations is a national campaign intended to engage all Canadians in a dialogue about the history of residential schools, their resulting impacts and the need for healing and reconciliation."
This website has a link to a brief history of residential schools and ways to start conversations about healing in your own community. Inspirational cards and ideas are available for students.
Legacy of Hope Foundation
From the website: "A national Aboriginal charitable organization whose purposes are to educate, raise awareness and understanding of the legacy of residential schools, including the effects and intergenerational impacts on First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples, and to support the ongoing healing process of Residential School Survivors.”
This website includes free resources, an updated national events listing, a section on teaching about residential schools (click here), information about residential schools, and information on what is being done today to facilitate survivor healing.
Truth and Reconciliation: Commission of Canada
This website includes news about Canada’s TRC, its events, and publications. The site is in English and French.
CBC News Canada
This is a 'frequently asked questions' page on residential schools.
We Are Not the Savages
Dr. Daniel N. Paul states, "It’s my fervent hope that information contained in these Web pages will help users acquire a better understanding of the history, hopes, and aspirations of First Nation Peoples.”
Written by a Mi’kmaq elder, this website talks about events specific to the east coast of Canada and the Mi’kmaq people. Warning: the history related to the province of Nova Scotia’s treatment of Indigenous people is at times deeply violent.
Native Residential Schools in Canada: A Selective Bibliography
From the Library and Archives Canada, a selcted bibliography regarding residential schools.
Hidden From History: The Canadian Holocaust
From the website: "On April 20, 2007, Canada and those churches suffered a fundamental moral defeat in Parliament, when the first cabinet minister in Canadian history publicly acknowledged that untold thousands of children had died in Christian Indian residential schools. The extent of this defeat has yet to be appreciated by most Canadians, or even indigenous people. But its impact is nevertheless reverberating throughout every level of society and undermining the very basis of Canada ’s existence."
This website includes Native survivor's testimonies, recent updates and articles, and archived radio broadcasts.
Digital Stories
The "Digital Stories" hosted by the Prairie Women's Health Centre are stories told by Aboriginal women about how residential schools affected mutiple generations of women - posted Nov. 10/12
CD-ROMS
Where Medicine Men Tread: The History of Canada’s Native Nations. London, ON: A-V
News Articles
Film Shows Youth Views of Nation School Survivors
CBC News, June 29, 2011.
At a meeting of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Inuvik, N.W.T, two adolescents discussed their documentary of what non-Aboriginal youth thought of residential school survivors.
Opinion/Blog
Teach with Picture Books
This blog includes information on the story Fatty Legs: A True Story
Ruby's Story
This blog by âpihtawikosisân discusses the experiences of a First Nations student in Grade 2 when she chose the topic of residential schools for a class assignment. Through her presentation, Ruby wanted to share information about the effects Indian Residential School has had on her family and community in terms of language loss.