Colonialism and loss in canada

Question 1

describe the truth and reconciliation commission of canada

Answer 1

• Established as a part of one of the largest class action settlements in Canadian history (2007), brought by survivors of the residential school system.
• Commission sought to establish a “comprehensive historical record” (de Bruin, 2020) on residential schools and their impact through the collection of primary documents and survivor testimony, and to raise awareness among the Canadian public about this history.
  2008-2014: Commission visited 300+ communities, heard testimony from thousands of survivors and witnesses, collected millions of documents (TRC, 2015, p, viii).
• Comprehensive report published in 2015 along with 94 Calls to Action

Question 2

What is settler colonialism?

Answer 2

• Intent: removal of Indigenous peoples from the land to facilitate settlers’ access to the land “in perpetuity”. Settler colonialism is an ongoing process.
• Began as “large-scale permanent migration of agricultural settlers” (TRC, 2015, p. 13).
• Enacted through forced removal of Indigenous peoples from their land, denial of claims to the land.
• Led to massive decreases in Indigenous populations: 53-95%
• Cultural genocide: ”the destruction of those structures and practices that allow the group to continue as a group”
• Seize land, restrict movement, ban language, spiritual practices, destruction of religious and cultural artifacts, and the disruption of families “to prevent the transmission of cultural values and identity from one generation to the next”
• Residential Schools played a key role in this process

Question 3

Describe residential schools

Answer 3

• 1831-1996
• Government-funded and church-run
• Indian Act, 1876: gave the government the right to educate, assimilate First Nations children.
• 1894: attendance was made compulsory
• 150,000 children attended
• Removed from their families
• Schools poorly funded, unsanitary conditions, abuse
• Banned language, cultural and spiritual practices

Question 4

Describe disenfranchised grief

Answer 4

• grief can become disenfranchised when there is a failure to recognize that a loss has occurred, when losses are not recognized, commemorated by the broader society.
• Compounds the effect of the loss
• Dehumanizing

Question 5

What are the two myths about residential schools?

Answer 5

Myth 1: People didn’t know about deaths of Indigenous children in residential schools
Myth 2: Those running schools had good intentions

Question 6

Who is Dr. Bryce and Duncan Scott Campbell?

Answer 6

Dr. Bryce was removed from history when he noted the maltreatment in residential schools and advocated for better measures

Duncan is a coward who knew about the abuse and deaths yet lied about what was happening

Question 7

What is ambiguous loss?

Answer 7

• losses that cannot be adequately mourned, that lack closure or understanding. Disappearance, missing persons.
• Unknown number of children died (4,000-6,000)
• Destroyed, incomplete, missing records of deaths.
• 1922 – Report published on the high rates of death in the schools
• 1941-1945 death rate for children at residential schools 4.9 times higher than the general death rate for Canadian schoolchildren.
• 1960s, death rates for children at residential schools were still double the general school-aged population.
• Relates to spread of disease, exacerbated by poor conditions, neglect, abuse
• Practice was not to return remains of students who died to their home communities.
• Cemeteries have been abandoned, left in disrepair

Question 8

What are the contemporary consequences of settler colonialism

Answer 8

• exacerbating the death and non-death losses experienced by Indigenous peoples in Canada.
• Intergenerational trauma
• Lack of equal funding for children and families on reserve (2016 Canadian Human Rights - Tribunal finding that government discriminated against First Nations children by underfunding on-reserve child welfare services).
• Overrepresentation of children in child welfare system.
• Discrimination in the healthcare, legal systems.
• MMIWG 2019 Inquiry
• Targeting of Indigenous women, girls, gender diverse and non-binary peoples constitutes genocide.

Question 9

describe survivors leading social change and give examples

Answer 9

• Movement for justice, reconciliation led by survivors, intergenerational survivors
• Loss, grief can be politicizing, can lead to development of social movements
• Agency – the capacity to act – can exist alongside tremendous grief, loss
• examples: youth leader Shannen Koostachin who advocated for the lack of access to adequate school facilities in her community
• example: Phyllis Webstad who advocated for the trauma residential schools caused, started orange shirt day & national day for truth and reconciliation

Question 10

what does this mean for the implication in thanatology?

Answer 10

• Awareness of social, historical context of inequality, oppression as it relates to death and loss. How historical injustices shape present experiences of death, dying, grief, and loss.
• Awareness of agency even in contexts of tremendous grief, loss, death