Comment by rohitb91
1 year ago
There’s things that are left out that are important
Many indigenous wanted their kids to go to these schools
There was abuse in the school system everywhere and it seems like catholic schooling has been sexually abusive everywhere
Rural canada was extremely poor
Viruses like influenza ravaged everyone
The media reporting on the matter makes it seem like everything bad of the past was exclusively done to indigenous when it was a combination of life sucking for everyone and then it being a bit worse to the indigenous on top of that. But painting it as this extreme injustice to indigenous is misleading IMO. To say nothing of the extreme grifting and people looking for payouts from the government that only make the lives of the indigenous worse.
> Many indigenous wanted their kids to go to these schools
For a bit more background, see my other reply here:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39256850
But I wanted to address this idea that somehow it's alright because the parents were ok with it.
My grandparents sent their children to this school partly because they couldn't afford to feed them and partly because my grandfather (a white man) wanted them there. My mother used to tell me stories of my grandmother going out into the woods and picking berries and hunting just to feed them.
Don't mistake a family sending their children to these schools for responsibility for what happened there or condoning it.
It sounds like you should read the report.
"Life sucking for everyone" is not equal to the government of the day targeting a racial group for the multiple negative policies that were enacted. What level of injustice do you ascribe to taking children away from families if not extreme?