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FranklyMydear1 - I don't know if it was common practice or not to admit
non natives to any of the other residential schools.
The "institution" (and that is a very good name for it) was always referred to as a "mission school" by everyone in our area and not a residential school. This distinction however did little to change the fact that it had a residential element. If non native students were not allowed in other residential schools, I certainly know the reasons. Aside from the blatant racism that had us living in a double standard world, the introduction of non native students to our school was instrumental in its downfall.
posted by
gomedome
on October 20, 2006 at 11:36 AM
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From the Republic (I never knew they allowed non natives in)
The last residential school closed in Tofino in 1983. The Government of Canada estimates that there are approximately 87,500 people alive today who once attended these institutions. Their children and grandchildren comprise the remainder of Canada's Aboriginal population, which hovers around the 800,000 mark. Even if we accept the most optimistic forecasts, the consequences of this trauma will plague First Nations communities for decades, if not centuries, to come. How could it be otherwise? Canada has nearly destroyed the ability of First Nations communities to transmit the basic requirements for sanity from one generation to the next. The obscene rates of alcoholism, violence, disease, and suicide that we see in so many First Nations communities are expressions of wounds that Canada has inflicted.
posted by
FranklyMydear1
on October 20, 2006 at 11:07 AM
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FranklyMydear1 - I have had first hand experience with residential schools
The mission school I attended in Northern Ontario was a purely residential school until the late 50's when day students like myself were admitted as a means for the administrators to glean more money from the government. This change also addressed the need for education of a very small non native populace. I sat in classes that were comprised of about 90% natives, who were essentially prisoners and of this number at least 70% were boys. Where I never witnessed anything as brutal as what you describe, native languages were not allowed and beatings were commonplace. So too were runaways commonplace, with some young students attempting to get back to homes that were as far away as 800 miles. Most were returned by search parties but many were never heard from again. I'm not sure when the residential school system was dismantled but I don't think it lasted until the 90's. The one I attended closed in the mid 70's and was later burned to the ground by the local natives.
What was particularly insidious about the school that I attended was the fact that its remote location provided a perfect place to hide a great number of priests, jesuits and nuns fleeing prosecution from all over the world. That is how the catholic church kept it all under wraps for so long, they proactively participated in hiding criminals.
The entire residential school debacle is a black spot in our history (of all North America) and sadly the catholic church has led the way in covering this all up. (to be fair however there were also other churches involved as well).
posted by
gomedome
on October 20, 2006 at 10:58 AM
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An old man I once met on an airplane who was once a Cree
Lots has been written about the Catholic church and the abuses it visited upon the unsaved, but I have a personal anecdote: this old man told me a story about nuns and the Catholic church and the Residential Schools...when the man was eight years old, he was kidnapped(his words) from his Cree village, along with all the other children of school age and shipped off to be saved. He hated being away from his grandfather (his only relaive left, his parents had died of alcoholism) but the place was lockeddown so no one could leave. One night, he and an eight year old friend were caught speaking their native language in the bathroom. Two nuns held the friend down while a priest nailed the kid's tongue to a board because they were "caught" speaking the language they first learned....that night, traumitized and alone, the boy escaped back to his village and his grandfather hid him in the forest when the school's nuns came looking for him...he stayed hidden for years and never did go back to the school. The Residential schools were finally closed in I believe, 1990....this story doesn't really repsond to your piece, but when we're all dead and hanging around in the same wood lot, I know what I'd like to see done to some of the workers of jesus...
posted by
FranklyMydear1
on October 20, 2006 at 9:38 AM
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Hi faholo - those are very kind words - thank you
That is the entire point of reading differing opinions is it not? Seeing another point of view and gleaning from it anything that could be useful to our own thoughts.
posted by
gomedome
on October 20, 2006 at 9:28 AM
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Hi gomedome, as always an interesting post! I hope we do end up
in the same place when we die since I would love to see you someday, because sometimes I can imagine your tongue in cheek facial expression
as you write your entries. I also imagine a twinkle in your eye that says, I know something you don't know! Anyway I enjoy your posts even though they are sometimes challenging! Keep writing and making me stop and think about what I believe and what I live. Helps me keep them on the same track! faholo
posted by
faholo
on October 20, 2006 at 9:04 AM
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gomedome
Did I mention the college I went to is Catholic? The only predominately black one in the Northern Hemisphere, or so the literature said. Nuns, the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrement, lived on campus just like the students. It made things more interesting, that's for sure. Nothing like a campus kegger on a Friday night and there's a couple of nuns sitting there sipping tea. At least I thought it was tea.
posted by
Talion
on October 19, 2006 at 6:10 PM
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jimmy68 - now there's a blast from the past - how have you been keeping?
posted by
gomedome
on October 19, 2006 at 5:46 PM
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When told that I am going to hell, which happens rather often...
I tell the idiots that that is fine by me as all my friends will be there and I would rather spend eternity in a lake of fire than an afternoon with them...so they can just sod off, the lot of them.
Peace...
posted by
jimmy68
on October 19, 2006 at 5:40 PM
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Talion - ah yes, the good old days of being a freshman
When a grocery shopping trip consisted of picking up a few loaves of bread, a jar of peanut butter and 2 cases of beer. When all plans to "score" with the opposite sex always seemed to end up like Beavis and Butthead's plans to score. I remember being lost like that as well but it was nothing that a little maturity couldn't fix.
posted by
gomedome
on October 19, 2006 at 2:57 PM
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gomedome
I was lost and confused once in my life too, the first week or so of my freshman year of college. It was the first time I was away from home in New Orleans, on a campus where the girls outnumbered the guys 8 to 1 and the legal drinking age was still 18. I found myself and a whole bunch of other things rather quickly.
posted by
Talion
on October 19, 2006 at 2:21 PM
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tawakwan - really, no kidding - but that notion adds even more absurdity
to the notion of heaven and hell.
If some of these folks that we have been exposed to in our lifetime get into the mythical heaven, despite their behaviour towards others . . . what is the point of aspiring to be amongst them?
posted by
gomedome
on October 19, 2006 at 1:03 PM
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Do you
really wish to go to the same place,as all those self righteous,double standard morons?. Could you imagine?. I'd rather go to hell.
posted by
tawakwan
on October 19, 2006 at 12:45 PM
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They get caught up in the small rules and lose sight of the big picture
posted by
SuccessWarrior
on October 19, 2006 at 9:55 AM
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TVBlogger -- that's a good line, I wish I could use it myself
But in my case, indoctrination never took hold. I have always been lost and confused.
posted by
gomedome
on October 19, 2006 at 8:35 AM
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SuccessWarrior - I envision, you, me, Talion, Kooka, TVblogger, Ariel70 and
a few others standing in a very short line on judgement day.
Beside our short little line is this countless miles long line up disappearing into the horizon. The long line is made up of every self righteous believer that has ever existed (should give an indication how long this line is) . . . finally Jesus appears at the pearly gates, the people standing in the long line all get down on their knees but Jesus doesn't respond to them. Instead he walks towards our little short line shaking his head and muttering to himself, he unclips the crowd control rope from its stand and motions for us to enter directly into heaven bypassing the long line up. As we walk past him he says: "these knuckleheads lived their entire lives without ever understanding my message, it was never about worship or who could memorize the bible, it was only ever about how they conducted their lives"
Of course I don't really believe any of this but it gave me an excuse to mention a few names in my comment title for a few clicks.
posted by
gomedome
on October 19, 2006 at 8:31 AM
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What I know is...
I was never so lost as when I was saved and I didn't feel saved until i became lost.
posted by
TVBlogger
on October 19, 2006 at 8:21 AM
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To the circus?
I have to agree with this. Many of the lost and confused people are the ones that are trying to make sense with the disparity of their religion and reality. When science comes up with another answer, they get lost.
I know exactly where I'm going. I don't feel lost and confused at all. Of course, I'm going to hell as well and that knowing makes it easier to do what I need to do here. No hoops to jump through, no rituals, hell is cheaper to get into, and all the other benefits of have a clear picture of how my life is going to go.
If it turns out that there are gods, I'm sure a couple of them are going to come up and slap me on the back and tell me how funny some of my posts were.
"Gods at a barbeque, SW? That's a good one. We haven't done that for a while since most of us joined nutrisystems."
posted by
SuccessWarrior
on October 19, 2006 at 8:05 AM
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