Jan 7, 2022
What a Creep: Canada’s Residential Schools
Season 14, Episode 1
The systematic cultural genocide of indigenous people of North America
From 1831 – 1998 North America put seven generations of indigenous people (primarily children) into residential schools to take the culture of First Nation and turn it into a Christian/European society. The Catholic Church was often involved, but the Canadian Government ran some. Over 150,000 children were forcibly taken from their families and sent to overcrowded schools that cut their hair off, changed their names, made them convert to Christianity, exposed them to violence. They were forbidden from speaking in their native language, and died were not reported to authorities. (It's estimated about 25% died from everything from illness to malnutrition.)
Last year in May 2021, more than 1300 unmarked graves were found at four different former residential schools, which caused the nation to finally come to terms with a national stain that has never really been rectified.
This episode has trigger warnings: child abuse, sexual assault, racism, and cultural genocide. Take care of yourselves while listening.
Sources:
Canadian Residential School WIKI
The Guardian Newspaper (Map of Schools)
Carlisle Indian School Project
The Sleeping Giant Awakens by David B MacDonald
Intimate Integration: The History of the Sixties Scoop by Allyson D. Stevenson
Canada's Dark Secret Documentary
The Fifth Estate: The Truth About St. Anne's
Home From School (PBS Documentary)
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