Why did so many indigenous children die in Canada’s residential schools?
The Inquiry
BBC
4.6 • 1.7K Ratings
🗓️ 15 July 2021
⏱️ 23 minutes
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Summary
The recent discoveries of unmarked graves at the sites of so-called Indian Residential Schools has put Canada’s treatment of its indigenous peoples back under the spotlight.
For more than a century, tens of thousands of children were forced by the state into a religious school system that split families and brutalised the children in its care. Tanya Beckett looks at the history of the residential schools and asks why so many children died there.
Producer: Rob Cave and Olivia Noon
(former Kamloops Indian Residential School, British Columbia, Canada, 2 June 2021. Credit: Cole Burston/Getty Images)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the inquiry with me, Tonya Beckett. |
| 0:04.2 | One question for expert witnesses and an answer. |
| 0:16.2 | It's the 30th of June, the eve of a national celebration in Canada. |
| 0:21.8 | Canada Day. |
| 0:24.2 | But just as the country prepares for the annual festivities, |
| 0:28.3 | news of a horrific discovery casts a shadow across the nation. |
| 0:34.0 | The remains of 182 bodies have been found in unmarked graves near the grounds |
| 0:40.5 | of a former residential school for indigenous children. |
| 0:46.5 | They add to the sum 400 more that have been found at the sites of two other schools |
| 0:52.3 | in the last month. |
| 0:55.3 | The news raises uncomfortable questions about the country's treatment |
| 0:59.3 | to first nation or indigenous people. |
| 1:02.7 | Not only that, there were many, many more such schools in Canada. |
| 1:07.7 | How many more graves might yet be discovered. |
| 1:12.4 | Speaking on Wednesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the discoveries have |
| 1:17.0 | forced us to reflect on the historic and ongoing injustices that indigenous |
| 1:22.9 | peoples face. |
| 1:26.1 | So this week we're asking, why did so many indigenous children |
| 1:30.8 | die in Canada's residential schools? |
| 1:39.3 | Part one, kill the Indian and save the man. |
| 1:46.8 | It's hard to say what their aim was. |
| 1:50.0 | Their aim was to completely destroy the spirits and the identity of these children. |
... |
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