PERPETUATING THE COLONIAL LIE: The refusal of the Conservative Party to admit to the genocidal purpose of the Residential Schools in Canada

Bill Lee

December 30, 2020

A little while before Christmas, Erin O’Toole the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, had taken to peddling the old colonial lie that Residential Schools were created with some sort of benevolent intent. Press Progress (2020) reported that, at an event at Ryerson University in Toronto, O’Toole suggested that John A and his gang, and the governments that followed, simply wanted to make it possible for those little “savages” to be able to fit into the enlightened society of the properly “civilized” European interlopers.

Good Grief! This is disheartening, though perhaps less than surprising. This vile mendacity has been “accepted wisdom” in this country until very recently. Nevertheless, the absurd lie that good intentions were at the root of the residential school project (which lasted for generations) continues to be trotted out by various people. The idea of presenting the residential school project, one of the founding acts of this country, as anything but a shameful genocidal act on the part of the Canadian government, and therefore in the name of the Canadian people, is simply another colonial act. It is akin to gaslighting, attempting to deny the reality of facts and experiences of Indigenous people. The full history of these malign and destructive institutions clearly tells us that, no matter how much soft soap is lathered onto it, the story is, and was, first, last and always, one of colonial government attempting to rid itself, and Canada, of the first peoples of this land, Indigenous people and their cultures, in order to abrogate to itself the parceling out of land and resources to settlers and the corporations. There were three clear purposes that are well known, but just to be clear about how problematic O’Toole’s prattle is I will briefly note them below.

Killing the Indian in the Child

First, the very act of placing young children in these truly appallingly horrible institutions was an obvious act of genocide, the “killing” of Indigenous cultures in the children. This clearly resulted in their inability to relate in a healthy way to their communities. We have the words of MacDonald, “… Indian children should be withdrawn as much as possible from the parental influence, and the only way to do that would be to put them in central training industrial schools where they will acquire the habits and modes of thought of white men.” Duncan Campbell Scott, who enforced and expanded residential schools, refused to respond to a tuberculosis epidemic and oversaw a treaty process that “… robbed Indigenous peoples of land and rights. His oft-quoted goal to “get rid of the Indian problem” (Canadian encyclopedia, 2018) became the

defining focus of the federal government’s treatment of Indigenous peoples. The damage was intense and lethal.

Training, not Education, for Servitude

Second, the “curricula” of the system was not one aimed at “integration” of the little prisoners of these places into society in general. As Indigenous.Foundations.arts.ubc.ca suggest: “Residential schools provided Aboriginal students with an inferior education, often only up to grade five, that focused on training students for manual labour in agriculture, light industry such as woodworking, and domestic work such as laundry work and sewing.” In other words, the unfortunate inmates of these “schools” were taught to be workers for the colonial class. The idea of social mobility was not a part of the “goal” of these institutions.

Free Reign for the Worst in Human Behaviour

Third, the individual school authorities, usually but not always religious, were unregulated and unsupervised. “That was a sure recipe for abuse of the vilest kind. In addition to unhealthy conditions and corporal punishment, children were frequently assaulted, raped, or threatened by staff or other students.” (Indigenous.Foundations.arts.ubc.ca) There may very well have been some individuals here and there who thought they could do some good. But even these “good” experiences occurred within a system aimed at destroying Aboriginal cultures and assimilating Aboriginal students. (Indigenous.Foundations.arts.ubc.ca) The best that can be said of the people that were of good intent is that they were seriously mistaken. The fact that so few whistle blowers actually emerged should tell us something.

A day or two after his interview at Ryerson, and after a good deal of opprobrium had been heaped on him, O’Toole tried to walk back his offensive remarks. First though his Conservative spokesperson tried to suggest that the Cons were “better” in terms of Indigenous issues than the Liberals (Press Progress, 2020), which is simply an absurd obfuscation, and an amateur one at that. Any, ANY attempt to soften the image of the residential schools is vile, wrong-headed and continues to play into the hands, deliberately, of colonial racists like the loathsome and justly reviled Lynn Beyak (the still sitting Conservative Senator). In any event, there is no “walk back” or apology (actually, he has refused to apologize) that could possibly be credible in this case. It is one thing for the loony right-wing radicals to whine and lie, about how this country has treated first people, but it is quite another for a leader of a major political party to try to hornswoggle the public with malign codswallop. I have no idea how smart this leader of the Conservative Party of Canada is, but it is impossible to believe that he is unaware of; (1) the awful history of the Residential Schools and; (2) the awful history of the manner in which members of his party have spoken about Indigenous peoplei. O’Toole has shown his true colours, despite all his gibberish about being forward thinking and trying to get more Canadians to vote for the Cons. I hope that what O’Toole said, and tried to do, will not be forgotten over the Christmas-New Years period. Indeed, he was sending a message to the part of his base that are avowed colonial racists, namely he will continue to wink at the colonial lie.

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Resources

Canadian Encyclopedia (2018). Duncan Campbell Scott. https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/duncan-campbell-scott.

Indigenous.Foundations.arts.ubc.ca (Undated). The Residential School System. https://indigenousfoundations.arts.ubc.ca/the_residential_school_system/.

Press Progress (2020). Erin O’Toole Claimed Residential School Architects Only Meant to ‘Provide Education’ to Indigenous Children. https://pressprogress.ca/erin-otoole-claimed-residential-school-architects-only-meant-to-provide-education-to-indigenous-children/?fbclid=IwAR1ukOGHz9SMN9X8jcD8pHgyp8GD4KEBfW0P6pMqOCubIpBOENHea9tP1Gw

Working Effectively with Indigenous Peoples®. (2016). 10 quotes John A. Macdonald made about First Nations. https://www.ictinc.ca/blog/10-quotes-john-a.-macdonald-made-about-first-nations.

i Recently the Conservative Premier of Manitoba, Brian Palliser, bleated about the unfairness to “Manitobans” of the possibility that Indigenous people in his province might receive a little preferential treatment with the Covid-19 vaccine. They were deemed, logically, to be at greater risk because of the poor living conditions they are forced to endure under Colonialism. Palliser obviously saw it as an affront to the Colonial Advantage of the Colonial class.