Indian Residential Schools

In 2008 Canada’s Prime Minister apologized to survivors of Canada’s Indian Residential Schools, which had operated for almost a century, and were intended to assimilate Aboriginal children into the dominant society. Some survivors appreciated the gesture. Others were critical, especially of the Prime Minister’s description of the schools as a “mistake” rather than a crime, which they convincingly argue they were, with respect to the crime of genocide. I will suggest in this essay that this was not the only omission—that the school system also profoundly violated religious freedom. By exploring dominant Canadian narratives concerning religious freedom, I will highlight the way in which: (i) the system was intended to be a religious assault; (ii) the system contravened dominant understandings of freedom of religion; and (iii) dominant understandings of religion have marginalized Aboriginal religion, such that the profoundly religious character of the residential school assault has yet to be fully confronted.