Native and Non-Native Voices on the Residential School Issue and Historical Revisionism: Writing Between the Times
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Native and Non-Native Voices on the Residential School Issue and Historical Revisionism: Writing Between the Times
Wayne A. Holst
University of Calgary
Calgary (Alberta)
HISTORIOGRAPHY TO THE PRESENT
- Missionary Record
The late Thomas A. Lascelles, OMI, author of a study of Roman Catholic residential schools in British Columbia (Lascelles, 1990), provided a major service to historians of the Canadian Oblate schools with the release, in 1991, of a three volume survey of documents held at the Deschatelets Archives in Ottawa.2 This is material written essentially by non-Natives. "Native views" form a special category of material and appear in numerous texts outlined in this outline of holdings. Yet, it is clear from the "comments" column in this section that these views were filtered through the interpretive lens of non-Natives (Lascelles, 1991).3
For many years, the missionaries served as liaisons between Native and non-Native cultures. Considerable energy was expended to understand the Native people in order to communicate their intentions and defend their rights. Because they could not adequately comprehend the causes of wider social changes affecting their lives and because of their limitations in using the methods of the dominant culture, Natives were often unable to explain themselves appropriately. Users of archival materials must realise both their value and their limitations.
The vocational investment of the missionaries in evangelisation and social welfare as they understood it is readily observable in their historical interpretation of the schools.
Fr. Yvon Levaque, a former school principal, in a paper entitled "The Oblates and Indian Residential Schools," speaks of the
[...] heroic sacrifices which [...] predecessor - priests, brothers, and sisters - made in order to provide Native children with the opportunity to learn about the Catholic faith. Another ultimate goal was to assure the children's acquisition of the skills required to make their way in the new society which was beginning to surround and engulf them.
[...] I categorically reject the thesis that the Catholic Church, through the ministry of the Oblate missionaries, was in league wi th the federal government to exterminate Native cultures by means of the residential school system.
[…]
[…] Today's values, influenced by an increased awareness and concern for human rights, are not valid criteria for judging a society as it evolved over the past century. I would respectfully suggest to historians and researchers that their evaluation of the Oblates' work in missions and schools requires the reconstruction of the times, the reliving of events and the motivational analysis of those Oblates involved [...] (Levaque, 1990, p.182-183)
Levaque claims that as the Native societies disintegrated, alternate institutions such as the schools were required to provide order and transition for Native youth. The Oblates advocated on behalf of the Natives until they could be in a position to defend themselves. Unlike the Native communities, the schools provided equal opportunity for boys and girls and prepared Natives to ultimately take control of their own educational systems. "[...] the residential school was expected to do everything that society and government had not done," he muses (Levaque, 1990, p. 190).
[...] the Indians needed a bridge to help them cross the abyss created by the white man [sic] and his ways. As pioneer missionaries, the Oblates did their best to do what had to be done [...] (Levaque, 1990, p. 191)
Historian Raymond Huel assumes the role of the Oblates' "loyal opposition" while assessing the schools and serves as a constructive, moderating evaluator. Residential schools were an important instrument in facilitating the desired plan for transformation of Indian society sought by church and state, he says (HueI, 1996). Missionaries wereuntrained in what today is known as "cross-cultural awareness." As a result, serious misunderstandings and conflicts occurred. For example, because of the normative, non-Native practice of shaming students into changing their behaviour (a technique that ran counter to traditional aboriginal training methods) the Natives often viewed the residential school personnel as both cruel and vindictive. The missionaries viewed Indian society as hopelessly indulgent of their children. The Natives were not above duplicity. Many students, taken in by the missionaries, had been rejected by their own people. These differing cultural perceptions ultimately doomed the schools. Huel summarises that the Oblates had held high hopes for their educational institutions but, on the whole, these objectives were not realized. In addition to being unattractive, the schools reflected a restrictive and highly structured milieu. The food was strange, the surroundings unfamiliar, family and friends were distant and the language was different (Hue!, 1996). In many ways, the schools proved to be a frustrating exercise for everyone.
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