by Vanessa Nevin; IRS Unit, APC
(L-R) Patsy Paul-Martin, Shawn Maloney and Vanessa Nevin.
(Left) Gordon Pictou, GHC speaks to Hants East students about some of the Residential School photos.
“We need to learn about the Residential Schools, learn about what people went through and try to have some kind of understanding and compassion of what they lost so that we go take a stand about the injustice of our people and hopefully this never happens again,” Leanna MacLeod eloquently stated in the APC’s Journey from the Shadows – Metue’k weji tai’kw film.
When Legacy of Hope approached the Atlantic Policy Congress of First Nations Chiefs Secretariat’s (APC) Indian Residential School Unit about co-hosting the “Where are the Children?” Exhibit to Atlantic Canada, we instantly started working with our partners throughout the region to make this happen. Photographs of the residential schools that many Aboriginal people were forced to attend have also been rarely seen. This exhibit attempts to fill this gap. It brings together over one hundred photographs from public and church archives to portray the history of the residential schools in Canada.
To understand this tragic past, we need look no further than in our own First Nations communities to see the effects of the only recognized Indian Residential School in the Atlantic – Shubenacadie.
An image of children at the Shubenacadie residential school in 1929 standing in the school’s sewing room where they made linens that helped pay to finance the school. Along with an architectural sketch and floor plan from the school, is part of an exhibit about Canada’s residential schools called Where are the Children?
APC’s Journey from the Shadows – Metue’k weji tai’kw film draws upon the universal themes of the exhibit and explores how this national Indian Residential School experience affected survivors and intergenerational survivors in our region.
Government records show that the residential school system was a deliberate attempt by the Canadian government to break down Indian families and thereby “get rid of the Indian problem.” The “Indian problem,” as it was called in most government documents, was merely the fact that Indians existed, and were living on lands the settlers wanted for themselves. The system was officially in effect between 1892 and 1969 through arrangement between the Government of Canada and the Roman Catholic Church, the Anglican Church, the United Church, and the Presbyterian Church. Although the Government of Canada officially withdrew in 1969, some of these institutions continued operating up until the 1990s.
Under the residential school system, Aboriginal children were taken from their parents and their communities. Many of these children, in addition to the emotional abuse of being robbed of their family, culture and language, were subjected to horrific physical and/or sexual abuse.
The schools were plagued with abuse by the priests, nuns, and other clergy who operated them. Ironically, many of the pictures in the exhibit were made at the time as a way of showcasing the benefits of the schools.
“They’re sad, withdrawn, angry, upset children,” said Gordon Pictou. “They’re scared, they’re lonely (and) you see that in most of the pictures.”
This free exhibit was on display at the Glooscap Heritage Centre in Millbrook from March 14th – 31st, 2011. Gordon Pictou and all the staff of the Glooscap Heritage Centre have worked tirelessly to make this exhibit a resounding success.
APC has been working with the Legacy of Hope and our regional partners to have this exhibit journey up to Cape Breton University to make its next stop in the regional tour in June 2011. Plans are currently underway to also bring this powerful exhibit to Fredericton, NB and PEI.
