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“In the 19th century, the Canadian government believed it was responsible for educating and caring for Aboriginal people in Canada. It thought their best chance for success was to learn English and adopt Christianity and Canadian customs. Ideally, they would pass their adopted lifestyle on to their children, and native traditions would diminish, or be completely abolished in a few generations.
The Canadian government developed a policy called “aggressive assimilation” to be taught at church-run, government-funded industrial schools, later called residential schools. The government felt children were easier to mold than adults, and the concept of a boarding school was the best way to prepare them for life in mainstream society.
Residential schools were federally run, under the Department of Indian Affairs. Attendance was mandatory. Agents were employed by the government to ensure all native children attended.”
– CBC News, A history of residential schools in Canada.
“Thousands of people braved a pouring rain in Vancouver Sunday to take part in a reconciliation walk marking the sad history of residential schools in Canada, erupting in a raucous cheer as the daughter of American civil rights hero Martin Luther King Jr. urged all Canadians to move forward and heal.
Dr. Bernice King told the crowd not to give up on the process of progress.
“My father said something very powerful about progress. He said, human progress is neither automatic, nor inevitable,” she said from a stage set up at the start of the march, which drew a huge crowd that some estimates put more than 10,000.
“Even a superficial look at history reveals that no social advance rolls in on the wheels of inevitability. Every step towards the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering and struggle.”
There is no time for apathy or complacency, said King, who gathered with tens of thousands of people last month to mark the 50th anniversary of her father’s iconic “I Have a Dream” speech at the March on Washington.”
– CBC News, Thousands walk for reconciliation in Vancouver.
“Canada will never completely erase the stain left from decades of abuse of aboriginal people at government-funded, church-run residential schools.
But thousands of people walked through the streets of downtown Vancouver in a steady rain on Sunday to at least try to heal the deep wounds left by the system whose effects are still rippling through First Nations communities.”
– CBC News, Thousands join Reconciliation Walk in Vancouver to heal wounds of residential schools.
To find out more information go to Reconciliation Canada and The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada.
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Download the 18″x24″ poster (.pdf), Indian Country 52 #38 – Reconciliation.
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Indian Country 52
Indian Country 52 is a weekly project by David Bernie that uses the medium of posters that promote issues and stories in Indian Country.
Creative Commons License
This work by David Bernie is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. You may download, share, and post the images under the condition that the works are attributed to the artist.
