Integration, Forced Assimilation, or Genocide

What Really Happened at Indian Residential Schools?

The following meticulously detailed and documented essay, first published on January 3, 2023 was written by anonymous author Pim Wiebel, a former Indian Residential School teacher. It is reproduced here in its entirety with his kind permission.

The piece systematically destroys several core myths surrounding Indian Residential Schools including that: (1) all aboriginal children attended these schools; (2) force was used to ensure their attendance; (3) the parents of these students did not want their children to receive a Western education; (4) the schools neglected the health of the children; (5) “cultural gencoide” was employed to eradicate any trace of their indigneous beliefs and practices; and (6) the same cultural destruction was enforced against the larger indigenous population outside the schools.

This piece is essentially reading for anyone interested in seeing the true face of indigneous/ non-indigneous interaction during the period the government-sponsored Indian Residential schools were operating (1883-1997).