Via Institute of Indigenous Learning
The history of Indigenous education in this country is not a proud one. We knew that before May 27th, when the news broke that the Kamloops residential school in BC had the remains of 215 children underneath it.
The horrors of the Indian Residential School system, as it was called, was known. We had read about it, heard about it, but to see that some things had slipped through the cracks, was nothing short of horrific.
The residential school system were boarding schools for Indigenous people. They were funded by our government and managed by the church. Indigenous kids were forced to attend and often were taken from their homes to be put in these schools. They had their origins in 1876, but they really exploded from 1894 to 1947. That’s when it was mandatory to attend. The last school only closed in 1997.
Residential schools have a long history of abuse and mistreatment, not only by the church officials that ran them, but also from our government for turning a blind eye. The actual number of deaths is unknown, but Peter Bryce, the Chief Medical Officer from 1904-1921, estimated that the mortality rate at these schools were double the rest of the country. Other places, it was more than three times.
And it wasn’t just residential schools, or ancient history for that matter. Many Canadians have heard of the Indian Act but how many actually know what it is. The Indian Act was first passed in Parliament in 1876. It’s changed a lot since then, but its still an official act in Canada today. It did a lot of things, one thing it did was restrict education for Indigenous people.
“Maybe it was scary to have an educated Indigenous person.”
Natalie Fletcher is the manager at the Indigenous Institute here at Fanshawe. She says the Indian Act is one of the reasons why historically there’s been such a distrust with Indigenous people and colonial education systems.
“The Indian Act had a provision in it that stated that if an Indigenous person wishes to pursue an education past high school, they would relinquish their rights as an Indigenous person in Canada. So if you became an educated, Indigenous person, at that time, you no longer were considered an Indigenous person in Canada.”
To put it simply:
“To be able to go to school and be educated meant that you no longer had a place in your community.”
But even getting to a point where you could pursue higher education was difficult, let alone the problems associated with that.
“The Indian Act at one point didn’t make any provisions for education of Indigenous people past the age of 16. Even then, education was really just to teach indigenous people how to help on farms or be maids, that kind of thing. It offered limited training for what Indigenous people were able to contribute to society at that time. It’s changed a lot, but it’s still a policy that exists governing Indigenous peoples lives today.”
Many changes have been made in recent years. Natalie Fletcher is the manager of the Indigenous Institute. The Institute is a resource offered to Indigenous students.
“A lot of students refer to it as their home away from home.”
Previously called the First Nation Centre, they help Indigenous students at Fanshawe. Whether that be personal or academic.
“It actually feels like the space belongs to them. Because, you know, we have Indigenous art hanging up. There’s the medicines here that they can use. There’s a kitchen. So they can cook or make their lunch. And we have like a little lounge area, so they can just hang out together. They don’t have to come in here to study, they can just come in and hang out. It’s been redesigned, it’s been painted. It looks really nice. It’s comfortable. It’s just really welcoming.”
It’s hard to parse during the last few years, because of gathering limits, but Natalie estimates that they offer personal support for about 450 students. Pre-COVID, they also saw about 50 students per day accessing their lab.
Canada today sees much more Indigenous representation at post-secondary schools. Its impossible to say that Indigenous students are feeling better about educational institutions than they did in the past. Everyone’s journey here at College is different after all, but Natalie, from her perspective thinks that it has gotten better.
“We see a lot more students registering for college university and making that step. It’s an amazing experience, right? It’s great. But those are often a lot of students that already have all those tools in their back pocket to be successful and resilient. We have students that come from First Nations communities and sometimes that shock of being away from home—it can be really overwhelming for them.”
“Learning is really about the emotional, the spiritual, the physical, and the mental components of a person. Education has to be meaningful, right? So if you’re taking a course and you want to learn something, if it doesn’t mean anything to you, you’re not going to retain that. We’re trying really hard to provide support to Indigenous students and that takes on many forms. We help them with academics, but also with personal things, navigating the city trying to figure out how to use public transportation.”
Keegan’s Perspective:
Keegan McAlpine is in his first year of a social service worker program and a peer support at the Indigenous Institute. He stressed that it isn’t a simple relationship.
“I think there’s a lot of variables and factors that play into it. My mom was a 60’s Scoop baby. Hearing her life story and hearing how that has affected her and trying to find your indigenous identity– and then hearing about the children and the unmarked graves, what happened over there . . . It just made made me realize passionately, from an emotional standpoint, that tragedies unite people. But the problem is with the legacy, I think, when it comes to healing, and that self healing journey for indigenous people is to have ongoing healing, not just something where people come together and then disperse or depart.”
Keegan stressed that its not a simple one and done solution.
“When you check in on people, you don’t check in once and then leave you when you call a friend to check in and see how they’re doing every couple of days. When you’re checking in on people, and you really care, you’re not going to just check in on them once a year. Doesn’t make any sense. So I think, personally, it’s important for that constant involvement.”
He says that you never know how others feel.
“You’d be surprised how many people are really affected by what happened, no matter what title you are, whether you are an Indigenous person or not.”
It’s also important to note too, that Keegan’s experience is his own. His opinions and emotions do not represent all Indigenous students. College is a formative time. It’s a time where you grow, experience, learn, forget, and change. Like Natalie Fletcher says, education is something to get excited for. That being said, it hasn’t always been. Not for everyone.
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