From Our Editors
Until just recently, Aboriginal children in Canada were removed
from their homes and put into schools that were supposed to
integrate them into society. In reality, these children were ripped
away from the communities that supported them and thrown into
schools that were underfunded, disease-ridden and exclusionary.
John Milloy traces the terrible history of this
system whose practices plagues the Native Canadian community to
this day. A National Crime looks at
memos, complaints and reports that reveal the government has always
understood the disastrous effect this program had on its young
charges.
From the Publisher
For over 100 years, thousands of Aboriginal children passed through
the Canadian residential school system. Although the system was
meant to bring Aboriginal children into the "circle of
civilization," the actual results were far different. More
commonly, it provided an inferior education in an atmosphere of
neglect, disease, and often - abuse.
Using access to previously unreleased government documents, Milloy
provides a full picture of the ideological roots of the system, and
follows the paper trails of internal memorandams, reports from
field inspectors, and letters of complaint. In the early decades,
the system grew without planning or restraint. Despite numerous
critical commissions and reports, it persisted into the 1970s, when
it transformed itself into a social welfare system without
improving conditions for its thousands of wards.
A National Crime shows how the residential system was
chronically underfunded and mismanaged, and how this affected the
health, education, and well-being of entire generations of
Aboriginal children.
About the Author
John Milloy teaches history and Native studies at Trent University. A National Crime is based on his research for the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, which helped lead to the federal public apology in 1998 for the harm done by the residential school system.