Evidence and AnalysisThe Indian Act, published in 1876, was a set of policies that allowed the government to control several aspects of First Nations (Metis and Inuit not included) lives and lifestyles. It determined who was and wasn't a "status Indian" under certain categories (Any male person of Indian blood reputed to belong to a particular band; Any child of such person. Any woman who is or was lawfully married to such person.) Also, this Act segregated First Nations people onto reserves, which allowed the government to implement rules that restricted their rights. And, this Act gave the government the ability to create residential schools (but more on that later). The Indian Act is a main contributor to criminal negligence. The government of Canada implemented this act without consulting the First Nations, and by doing so neglected their cultural and basic needs. For example, the Act states that women did not have status, forbade First Nations from practicing their traditional religion, forbade western First Nations from appearing in any public dance, show, exhibition, stampede or pageant wearing traditional regalia, and declared potlatch and other cultural ceremonies illegal.(refer to figure 1.04) By disregarding women as "human", it is now a crime. (refer to figure 1.02) Women not having status affected the population. If her husband died, she may not have claim to her children, or the land her family lived on. This shows how neglecting to include female rights affected the women. They could lose their entire livelihood just because they weren't considered 'human'. By not appearing in ceremonies, and making potlatches illegal, the act neglected basic cultural needs. How does one practice their culture without traditional practices? (refer to figure 1.04) Also, potlatches were very beneficial to the communities involved. It allowed the people to share wealth, meaning no one was struggling in the society and couldn't get help. Making these illegal may have caused many families to die or suffer because they couldn't survive on their own, and by doing so, these acts fall under criminal negligence. (refer to figure 1.02) Residential schools--to be further explained in the 'Genocide' section of this website--are a terrible black mark on the history of Canada. These schools required students as young as four years old to attend them. Not complying with this mandatory law meant possible imprisonment and other punishments. There are several accounts of the students being provided sub-standard food—maggot infested or rotten. Other experiences reported from Survivors of residential schools include sexual and mental abuse, beatings and severe punishments, overcrowding, illness, children forced to sleep outside in the winter, the forced wearing of soiled underwear on the head or wet bed sheets on the body, use of students in medical experiments, disease, and in some cases--death.
In addition, these institutions were known as schools while many students received a sub-standard education. As late as 1950, according to a study by the Department of Indian Affairs, over 40 per cent of the teaching staff had no professional training. Another main part of neglect was in conjunction with the residential schools. These schools neglected the culture, trying to stamp it out in children, and also neglected the children while they attended. During this time, tuberculosis was peaking, causing several deaths at the schools. Not treating kids because they "assumed" it was hereditary is a crime under criminal negligence. Kids were dying and they refused to research and save them. (refer to figure 1.02) The first residential schools were set up in the 1870's and the last school finally closed in 1996. That's over a century worth of students attending these schools. How could the government justify these schools and what did they tell the public? To start with, the justification for residential schools came from the churches that 'ran' (they were in control because of their want to convert students to Christianity or Catholicism.) them. “The problem with the Indians is one of morality and religion,” said the Reverend A. E. Caldwell of his school in 1938. “They lack the basic fundamentals of civilized thought and spirit, which explains their childlike nature and behavior. At our school we strive to turn them into mature Christians who will learn how to behave in the world and surrender their barbaric way of life and their treaty rights, which keep them trapped on their land and in a primitive existence. Only then will the Indian problem in our country be solved.”
The second question's answer is a little bit more complicated. First off, the public was mostly unaware of what really went on in the schools. They didn't know how many children were ill, dying, or shoved into the schools. They didn't know about the beatings for disobedience, the sexual abuse, or the psychological damage. They didn't even know how the children got there--they most likely assumed by choice. The video above is exactly what the government fed to the public. Propaganda that made the schools seem like a wonderful place to be--which is why no one did anything (or tried to do anything) about them until the truth was revealed. The government actually paid a man to conduct research into the residential schools. His name was Dr. Peter Bryce, and he wrote the P.H. Bryce Report of 1907.
The government was not impressed with the findings and work Dr. Bryce returned. He spoke critically, but factually, about the schools, not leaving any details from his report. His findings had countless accounts of illness, and he even mentions, and I quote, “I believe the conditions are being deliberately created in our residential schools to spread infectious diseases. It is not unusual for children who are dying from consumption to be admitted to schools and housed alongside healthy children.” After the Bryce Report was written, the Canadian government pushed it aside, and kept the "only" copy. This report told of how many First Nations' children were dying due to tuberculosis among other factors. The government labelled tuberculosis as hereditary, basically saying that treating the Aboriginal children was a waste of resources. (refer to figure 1.05) Indian Superintendent Duncan Scott wrote to a colleague about the report. “It is readily acknowledged that Indian children lose their natural resistance to illness by habitating so closely in these schools, and that they die at a much higher rate than in their villages. But this alone does not justify a change in the policy of this department, which is geared towards the final solution of our Indian Problem.” Does this sound legal to you? Deliberately leaving children to die just to get rid of the culture. I'm not a lawyer, but gosh darn that sounds like a perfect example of criminal negligence. Other reports have since been published, and other shocking evidence has turned up. Kevin Annett, Anglican Church leaders told the Globe and Mail in 1953 that it was standard practice in their schools to deliberately expose children to deadly diseases and then offer no medical treatment. The evidence just keeps stacking up, doesn't it? In 1933, residential school principals were made the legal guardians of all native students. This law required Indigenous parents to surrender custody or face imprisonment. First off, introducing this law neglected that fact that children needed their parents, and secondly, if they were the legal guardians, they neglected the children even more when they allowed all of the punishments and experiments mentioned above to happen. An indifference to the safety of people falls under criminal negligence--and the principal was supposed to be caring for these kids. Now, we can't just try one principal, that would be ridiculous. All principals were the legal guardians, but did they choose to be? Who put them in charge? Oh yeah, the government... Is that a strong enough reason to charge them with neglect? |
That's educational and all,
But what does all this mean?
But what does all this mean?
As we learned before, significance can be measured by several factors. Because of how many people were impacted at the time, still are, and still will be, under three categories of significance, I choose to define it as so. I also believe that we learned from the effects of neglect on First Nations people, and therefore also define it as historically significant. And finally, because all of the events involved in neglect are able to be traced to one main document, I decree that the events causing neglect changed history, making all five sections of significance applicable to neglect.
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Witness Testimony
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Bibliography
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An interview and insight with Dr. Caroline Tait
Dr. Caroline Tait is a Metis psychiatry professor in the College of Medicine at the University of Saskatchewan and helped start the First Peoples-First Person Indigenous Hub, which is an research initiative to examine mental wellness issues among Canada's first peoples who have experienced depression, suicide, and/or post-traumatic stress disorder.
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Specific quotes from this transcript--such as "its been over a month and their doesn't appear to be any other commitment from the provincial and federal government," suggests that the suicide rates are a good one or two day story, while never truly following up and helping prevent them. "Just waiting for the implementation of it" doesn't sound like the government is ranking their needs very high on their radar, which can be argued as neglect (disregard for human life).
Pictures:
Tuberculosis Lungs, http://www.jarrelook.co.uk/Urbex/Beelitz%20Heilstatten/Beelitz-Heilstatten.htm
Why are we here?, https://tifwe.org/twelve-days-of-significance-living-a-more-purposeful-life/
Information:
Youtube propaganda video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_V4d7sXoqU
Bryce Report information, Bryce Quote, Annett quote, https://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/canada/oh-canada
Caldwell quote, https://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/canada/oh-canada
Custody of Students, http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/doreen-nicoll/2015/06/canadas-first-nations-push-back-against-centuries-murder-abuse-
Residential schools, http://1000conversations.ca/?page_id=48
Dr. Caroline Tait interview, http://www.vice.com/en_ca/read/canada-had-all-the-information-it-needed-to-predict-attawapiskat-suicide-crisis
21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act, 28/04/16, http://www.ictinc.ca/blog/21-things-you-may-not-have-known-about-the-indian-act-
Population Aboriginal, 28/04/16, http://www.statcan.gc.ca/access_acces/alternative_alternatif.action?l=eng&loc=/pub/98-187-x/2000001/4198819-eng.pdf
http://indigenousfoundations.arts.ubc.ca/home/government-policy/the-indian-act/indian-status.html
Suicide rates 1, http://www.heretohelp.bc.ca/visions/aboriginal-people-vol5/aboriginal-mental-health-the-statistical-reality
suicide rates 2, http://www.ctvnews.ca/health/suicide-among-canada-s-first-nations-key-numbers-1.2854899
Documents:
Demographic documents: The Population in Collective Dwellings, page 37, http://www.statcan.gc.ca/access_acces/archive.action?loc=/pub/91f0015m/91f0015m1996002-eng.pdf&archive=1
Bryce Report, http://canadiangenocide.nativeweb.org/mort_rate1.html
Tuberculosis Lungs, http://www.jarrelook.co.uk/Urbex/Beelitz%20Heilstatten/Beelitz-Heilstatten.htm
Why are we here?, https://tifwe.org/twelve-days-of-significance-living-a-more-purposeful-life/
Information:
Youtube propaganda video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_V4d7sXoqU
Bryce Report information, Bryce Quote, Annett quote, https://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/canada/oh-canada
Caldwell quote, https://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/canada/oh-canada
Custody of Students, http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/doreen-nicoll/2015/06/canadas-first-nations-push-back-against-centuries-murder-abuse-
Residential schools, http://1000conversations.ca/?page_id=48
Dr. Caroline Tait interview, http://www.vice.com/en_ca/read/canada-had-all-the-information-it-needed-to-predict-attawapiskat-suicide-crisis
21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act, 28/04/16, http://www.ictinc.ca/blog/21-things-you-may-not-have-known-about-the-indian-act-
Population Aboriginal, 28/04/16, http://www.statcan.gc.ca/access_acces/alternative_alternatif.action?l=eng&loc=/pub/98-187-x/2000001/4198819-eng.pdf
http://indigenousfoundations.arts.ubc.ca/home/government-policy/the-indian-act/indian-status.html
Suicide rates 1, http://www.heretohelp.bc.ca/visions/aboriginal-people-vol5/aboriginal-mental-health-the-statistical-reality
suicide rates 2, http://www.ctvnews.ca/health/suicide-among-canada-s-first-nations-key-numbers-1.2854899
Documents:
Demographic documents: The Population in Collective Dwellings, page 37, http://www.statcan.gc.ca/access_acces/archive.action?loc=/pub/91f0015m/91f0015m1996002-eng.pdf&archive=1
Bryce Report, http://canadiangenocide.nativeweb.org/mort_rate1.html