Truth and Reconciliation Day is around the corner. Sept. 30th honours residential school survivors while bringing attention to the history and effects of the residential school system. Such history has received well-needed attention in recent years, yet, residential schools were only one cog in a system designed to erase Indigenous identities. Day Schools were another.
By the time foreigners came to settle in the Campbell River area in the 1880s, the federal and provincial governments had come to see the Indigenous people and their claims on the land as a roadblock to settlement and developing a resource extraction economy. By then, the federal government had resorted to a series of measures designed to diminish Indigenous presence and power, such as displacing First Nations onto reserves, banning cultural ceremonies such as potlatches, and many more. The goal was to “assimilate” Indigenous people into the European culture, to “cause [Indigenous] peoples to cease to exist as distinct legal, social, cultural, religious, and racial entities in Canada.” Education was to be one of the main tools used to do it.
"I want to get rid of the Indian problem. [...] Our object is to continue until there is not a single Indian in Canada that has not been absorbed into the body politic, and there is no Indian question[...]" - 1920, Duncan Campbell Scott, Superintendent of the Department of Indian Affairs.
When the federal government took charge of Indigenous education at the Confederation (1867), it decided to keep building on the existing church-run day schools and boarding schools already operating across the country. The government would fund the schools, but the churches would keep running them.
As two parts of the same educational system, day schools were similar to residential schools on many fronts. Both shared the same purpose: by teaching the English language, and Christian beliefs, and promoting a settled lifestyle based on agricultural work, they hoped to replace Indigenous culture and traditions altogether. In many instances, children were physically punished for speaking their native language and made to feel their culture was inferior. The teachers were the lowest paid in the country, which attracted underqualified individuals. Physical, sexual and cultural abuse was also widespread in Day Schools across Canada.
Yet, many First Nations across BC pushed for schools to open on their reserve. First Nations parents sought out Western instruction to help equip their children for the changing world. Day Schools were also largely seen as preferable to residential schools. In our area, the We Wai Kai and Wei Wai Kum Nations worked hard to have Day Schools open.
The first local Day School was built in 1892 by the Methodist Church mission in Cape Mudge at the request of the We Wai Kai First Nation and ran until 1958. In his book, “Assu of Cape Mudge: Recollections of a Coastal Indian Chief,” Billy Assu recalled how his father asked for a school:
“My father went aboard the Crosby [a Methodist mission ship travelling in the area] and asked for a missionary to be sent here to teach and preach. He hinted that if this didn’t happen fairly soon he might have to go somewhere else! [to a different congregation] [...]”
The community helped build the school and provided the land for it. Over the years, they appealed many times to the government to rectify the poor conditions the school found itself in.
By 1930, BC had three times as many day schools as residential schools. Yet residential schools were viewed by the government as more efficient for divorcing Indigenous children from their culture. Reasons like poor attendance at day schools or a perceived inadequate family situation were given to force children to attend Residential Schools.
The Wei Wai Kum First Nation specifically cited their discontent with alternatives like residential schools when requesting the establishment of their own Day School in 1931. To make it happen, the Wei Wai Kum donated land from the reserve. When electrical wiring was needed for the school, the Nation paid for both the installation and the monthly bill. The school opened in 1935 and closed in 1955 when the last students were integrated into the province’s public school system.
Local day schools also saw their share of competent and compassionate teachers. By many accounts, Reverend J. Roy Walker and Reverend J.E. Rendle at Cape Mudge as well as Peggy Yeatman at Campbell River were said to be well-loved by students. It was then not surprising that Day Schools were sometimes perceived as “the lesser evil.” Yet much damage was done within their walls. In 2009, a class action lawsuit against the federal government was pursued by Day School survivors. Although the resulting claims process had received much criticism, $1.47 billion was granted to a portion of the survivors in 2019.
As we move forward with Truth and Reconciliation, it is important to acknowledge and build an understanding of the many cogs in the system, such as Day Schools that were intended to erase Indigenous identities. Many of these truths are difficult to relive when such a subject is brought up. Help is available for Indigenous people impacted by the Day School system. The KUU-US Crisis Line Society operates a 24/7 Indigenous BC Wide crisis line reachable at 1-800-588-8717 (See https://www.kuu-uscrisisline.com/services-programs for more details.) The First Nations Health Authority also lists many resources like the Indian Residential School Survivors Society (1-800-721-0066, www.irsss.ca) at https://www.fnha.ca/Documents/FNHA-IRS-community-supports-guide.pdf.
