A horror of history
29/05/21 03:17
Our neighbors to the north of us are wrestling with a grim and shameful discovery. Just to the east of the Cascade range in British Canada, a little over 200 miles from where we live is the city of Kamloops. It is a beautiful place to visit. We have enjoyed that part of British Columbia whenever we have had the opportunity to travel there. In 2006, we camped not far from Kamloops and enjoyed the scenic beauty of the Canadian mountains.
Kamloops has a bit of troubled history. The Kamloops Indian Residential School was opened by the Roman Catholic Church, under the authority of the Canadian government in 1890. It was operated by the church until 1960, when the central government took over administration, operating it as a residence for local students until 1978, when the school was closed. To some that may seem like a bit of ancient history, but I am reminded that the school was closed the year we graduated from seminary. To put it into perspective, there were students at the school who were the same age as I was. At the peak of its operation in the 1950s there were as many as 500 students enrolled in the residential school.
On the surface, it seemed like a good idea to many people at the time. The decline of the space and resources for subsistence living had resulted in dramatic poverty among indigenous people. Children were hungry. Traditional methods of education had been destroyed by the advance of settlers, the taking of traditional lands and the ravages of illness and addiction. Well-meaning Christian church members donated to the schools after seeing pictures of neat rows of well-groomed children sitting at desks and studying. They received hand-made craft items as mementos of their donations. The boarding schools, however, had a much darker side. Children were forced to attend. They were literally stolen from their families in what was an official government policy of forced assimilation. Their languages were forbidden. Their traditional dress and hair was taken from them. It was, as stated in the the Truth and Reconciliation report, released in 2015, “cultural genocide.”
In 2008, the Canadian government formally apologized for the system and launched a commission to document its impacts.
It was not better south of the border, though the process of uncovering the stories of Indian Boarding Schools in the United States has lagged behind that in Canada.
In Canada, the Missing Children Project seeks to document the deaths and burial places of children who died while attending the schools. Many of the residential schools had formal cemeteries and documented the deaths of children. To date, more than 4,100 children who died while attending residential school have been identified.
In Kamloops, the deaths of children were hidden. The day before yesterday the chief of the Tk’emlups the Secwepemc First Nation announced that a mass grave containing the remains of 215 children has been found on the grounds of the Kamloops Indian Residential School. More research is being conducted, but it appears that none of the deaths were officially recorded. No documentation referring to the dead children has yet been found. The site was discovered by using ground penetrating radar.
215 children. Hundreds and hundreds of grieving relatives who lost their children and never received any information about what happened to them. The weight of the tragedy is unthinkable. Respect and love for the lost children and their families, however, demands that as much of the truth as possible be discovered. The tribe is reaching out to the home communities whose children attended the school and they expect to have preliminary findings within a month. British Columbia’s chief coroner Lisa Lapointe has announced that her office is “early in the process of gathering information.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted: “The news that remains were found at the former Kamloops residential school breaks my heart - it is a painful reminder of that dark and shameful chapter of our country’s history. I am thinking about everyone affected by this distressing news. We are here for you.
As shocked and horrified as I am by the news from Kamloops, I know that I must resist the temptation to distance myself from that piece of history. I can say, “That was Canada, I live in the United States.” I can say, “It was the Roman Catholic Church. I served the United Church of Christ.” But the truth is that my country and my church participated in the process of indigenous boarding schools. In the northeast corner of Nebraska, the Santee Normal Training School was founded by Alfred L. Riggs, a minister of the American Board of Commissioners, part of the Congregational Church, in 1870. The school operated until 1930 with an average attendance of 69 students. The official roll totals 2,398 children. From 1893 until 1930, the school was operated by the American Missionary Association, part of the Department of Homeland Ministries of the Congregational Church, the predecessor denomination of the church I served. I have visited the site of the Santee School and have met a few adults who attended the school as children.
Indian boarding schools are part of my country’s history and part of the history of my church. What we know of the Santee School is that it was one of the more enlightened schools where indigenous languages were allowed. Riggs himself was responsible for preserving the language through his participation in the publication of a Dakota hymnal and a Dakota translation of the Bible. The Dakota Odowan is the preferred hymnal of Lakota, Dakota and Dakota peoples in the midwest to this day. Still there were families separated and the school attempted to assimilate indigenous children into mainstream culture. And it is the story of the church I have loved and served.
As painful as the history is, I respect the continuing efforts to discover and tell the truth of Indian boarding schools. We cannot continue to hide the truth. The deep pain and grief can only come to healing when we understand and accept the honest history of the places where we live. May the survivors and their families find some peace in the process of truth and reconciliation.
Kamloops has a bit of troubled history. The Kamloops Indian Residential School was opened by the Roman Catholic Church, under the authority of the Canadian government in 1890. It was operated by the church until 1960, when the central government took over administration, operating it as a residence for local students until 1978, when the school was closed. To some that may seem like a bit of ancient history, but I am reminded that the school was closed the year we graduated from seminary. To put it into perspective, there were students at the school who were the same age as I was. At the peak of its operation in the 1950s there were as many as 500 students enrolled in the residential school.
On the surface, it seemed like a good idea to many people at the time. The decline of the space and resources for subsistence living had resulted in dramatic poverty among indigenous people. Children were hungry. Traditional methods of education had been destroyed by the advance of settlers, the taking of traditional lands and the ravages of illness and addiction. Well-meaning Christian church members donated to the schools after seeing pictures of neat rows of well-groomed children sitting at desks and studying. They received hand-made craft items as mementos of their donations. The boarding schools, however, had a much darker side. Children were forced to attend. They were literally stolen from their families in what was an official government policy of forced assimilation. Their languages were forbidden. Their traditional dress and hair was taken from them. It was, as stated in the the Truth and Reconciliation report, released in 2015, “cultural genocide.”
In 2008, the Canadian government formally apologized for the system and launched a commission to document its impacts.
It was not better south of the border, though the process of uncovering the stories of Indian Boarding Schools in the United States has lagged behind that in Canada.
In Canada, the Missing Children Project seeks to document the deaths and burial places of children who died while attending the schools. Many of the residential schools had formal cemeteries and documented the deaths of children. To date, more than 4,100 children who died while attending residential school have been identified.
In Kamloops, the deaths of children were hidden. The day before yesterday the chief of the Tk’emlups the Secwepemc First Nation announced that a mass grave containing the remains of 215 children has been found on the grounds of the Kamloops Indian Residential School. More research is being conducted, but it appears that none of the deaths were officially recorded. No documentation referring to the dead children has yet been found. The site was discovered by using ground penetrating radar.
215 children. Hundreds and hundreds of grieving relatives who lost their children and never received any information about what happened to them. The weight of the tragedy is unthinkable. Respect and love for the lost children and their families, however, demands that as much of the truth as possible be discovered. The tribe is reaching out to the home communities whose children attended the school and they expect to have preliminary findings within a month. British Columbia’s chief coroner Lisa Lapointe has announced that her office is “early in the process of gathering information.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted: “The news that remains were found at the former Kamloops residential school breaks my heart - it is a painful reminder of that dark and shameful chapter of our country’s history. I am thinking about everyone affected by this distressing news. We are here for you.
As shocked and horrified as I am by the news from Kamloops, I know that I must resist the temptation to distance myself from that piece of history. I can say, “That was Canada, I live in the United States.” I can say, “It was the Roman Catholic Church. I served the United Church of Christ.” But the truth is that my country and my church participated in the process of indigenous boarding schools. In the northeast corner of Nebraska, the Santee Normal Training School was founded by Alfred L. Riggs, a minister of the American Board of Commissioners, part of the Congregational Church, in 1870. The school operated until 1930 with an average attendance of 69 students. The official roll totals 2,398 children. From 1893 until 1930, the school was operated by the American Missionary Association, part of the Department of Homeland Ministries of the Congregational Church, the predecessor denomination of the church I served. I have visited the site of the Santee School and have met a few adults who attended the school as children.
Indian boarding schools are part of my country’s history and part of the history of my church. What we know of the Santee School is that it was one of the more enlightened schools where indigenous languages were allowed. Riggs himself was responsible for preserving the language through his participation in the publication of a Dakota hymnal and a Dakota translation of the Bible. The Dakota Odowan is the preferred hymnal of Lakota, Dakota and Dakota peoples in the midwest to this day. Still there were families separated and the school attempted to assimilate indigenous children into mainstream culture. And it is the story of the church I have loved and served.
As painful as the history is, I respect the continuing efforts to discover and tell the truth of Indian boarding schools. We cannot continue to hide the truth. The deep pain and grief can only come to healing when we understand and accept the honest history of the places where we live. May the survivors and their families find some peace in the process of truth and reconciliation.
