How the truth about Indian Residential Schools in Canada was suppressed

By Renita Bangert

Three early reports by settler Canadians documented abuse and attempted genocide, yet the Residential School system persisted

Indigenous people have known the truth about what happened at Residential Schools since long before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) created a historical record of it. Survivors of Residential Schools spoke their truths to the Commission and revealed the secrets being kept by church organizations and the Canadian government.

However, Indigenous people weren’t the only ones raising concerns about the abuse that Indigenous children were experiencing at these institutions. As public records at the Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre at UBC show, some settler Canadians also knew what was going on and the harm being done.

These settler Canadians involved in the Residential School system—government officials, missionaries and more—spoke up about what they were witnessing at the schools. Yet, government systems and church organizations suppressed the truths they told in order to continue their mission to erase Indigenous communities and culture.

Ahead of National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on September 30, Dr. Tricia Logan, Interim Academic Director of the Centre, and the centre’s researchers, highlight three reports by settler Canadians and their significance.

Government intention to assimilate Indigenous children
The Davin Report, 1879

The goal of the Residential School system, from its inception, was to fast-track genocide for colonial gain by the forceful removal of Indigenous children from their families, and by forbidding them to practice their culture or speak their language.

That is clear from the Davin Report, written by Nicholas Flood Davin, a politician who was commissioned by the Government of Canada to write a report on the United States’ “industrial school” system (also known as Native American Boarding Schools). Davin was to assess whether a similar system would be effective for assimilating Indigenous children in Canada. Mission and Day Schools already existed in Canada, and Davin noted that children should be “aggressively civilized” from a young age by establishing a Residential School system in Canada.

The Davin report showed the clear methodical intention of the Canadian government to force Indigenous children out of their communities and away from their cultures by any means necessary. The government followed Davin’s recommendations. By the late 1800s, the government had adopted an official policy of funding Residential Schools across Canada.

The TRC concluded that Residential Schools were “a systematic, government-sponsored attempt to destroy Aboriginal [Indigenous] cultures and languages and to assimilate Aboriginal [Indigenous] peoples so that they no longer existed as distinct peoples.”

Staff awareness of residential school abuse
The Shaw letter, 1898

In 1898, missionary Elizabeth Shaw worked as the matron at the Crosby Boys’ Home in Lax Kw’alaams (Port Simpson, BC) for five weeks. She wrote a letter to the Woman’s Missionary Society of the Methodist Church, the religious organization running the school. In her letter, she wrote that there was rampant physical and mental abuse taking place, and none of the children were healthy or happy. She said the school system was a failure, and that no honest worker at the schools would be able to say otherwise.

Shaw’s letter resulted in an intentional dismissal of her concerns, with only a lackluster investigation of the Crosby school by the Woman’s Missionary Society. Thomas Crosby, the Methodist missionary who founded the school, declared that Shaw was mentally unfit and that the consequences of further investigation would negatively impact the Indigenous children at the school.

The matter was then dropped. Shaw experienced a mental-health breakdown after her concerns for the children went unaddressed. She was eventually moved to the Brockville asylum in Ontario.

Whistleblower calls for Residential School reform
The Bryce Report, 1907

Dr. Peter Henderson Bryce was appointed Chief Medical Officer for the Department of the Interior and Indian Affairs in 1904. After conducting an environmental scan of 34 Residential Schools, he wrote a report on his findings that called for a reform of the Residential School system in order to prevent further deaths. Although this initial report was distributed to members of Parliament and covered by the press, it did not lead to any lasting change. Bryce was fired from his job as Chief Medical Officer and never worked in the medical field again.

Bryce spent years repeatedly calling for change and pointing out the atrocities occurring within the schools, until he was forcibly retired in 1921. He then published a book, The Story of a National Crime, in 1922. In it, he clearly outlined the government’s active role in establishing and condoning conditions at the schools that led to a massive number of student illnesses and deaths. In particular, the report noted that schools kept students confined in poorly ventilated conditions, which resulted in the rapid spread of tuberculosis. Bryce noted that the government failed to act despite having these atrocious conditions pointed out repeatedly from 1907. Despite all Bryce’s efforts, the number of Residential Schools operating in Canada rose, and illness and death continued to devastate the student population.

The Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre at UBC houses digital copies of the above reports, among others. The Centre supports Survivors’ access to Residential School records, Indigenous data sovereignty, and Truth and Reconciliation education.

Learn more about the truth of Indian Residential Schools.

Renita Bangert is a writer for the Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre. This article was published on September 13, 2024. Feel free to republish the text of this article, but please follow our guidelines for attribution and seek any necessary permissions before doing so. Please note that images are not included in this blanket licence.