Throughout much of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Canadian authorities forcibly seized Indigenous children, then raised them in boarding schools in order to “civilize” them. The results were tragic on multiple levels. It was not the only tragedy visited upon children in the care of Canadian officials. Below are seventeen shocking facts about those dark episodes from Canadian history.
17. Mandatory Boarding Schools for Indigenous Children
In the nineteenth century, Canada established a network of mandatory boarding schools for Indigenous children. It was funded by the government, and administered by Christian churches. Known as the Indian Residential School System, it sought to assimilate Indigenous kids into mainstream white Canadian culture. In theory, the intent was benign. At least compared to what took place to Canada’s south in the nineteenth century. There, American authorities did not even bother to try and pretend that they wanted to assimilate the Natives. Indeed, the one time that Natives voluntarily settled down in the US, established towns, and emulated whites, they were rewarded with expulsion from their lands and the tragic Trail of Tears.
