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Hospital were deliberately destroyed in 1995, soon after a much- publicised police investigation was to open into residential school atrocities in British Columbia. Ms White stated in 1998: I worked at the Bella Bella hospital, and I know that Barb Brown, one of the administrators there, dumped sterilisation records at sea on two occasions. Some of the records were found washed up on the beach south of town. That was just after the cops opened their investigation into the schools, in the spring of 1995. They were covering their tracks. We all knew Ottawa was funding sterilisations, but we were told to keep quiet about it. (Testimony of Christy White to Kevin Annett, August 12, 1998) Hospital were deliberately destroyed in 1995, soon after a much- which ran them—Roman Catholic, United, Presbyterian or publicised police investigation was to open into residential school Anglican—suggests that common conditions and policies were atrocities in British Columbia. Ms White stated in 1998: behind these deaths. For every second child to die in the residen- I worked at the Bella Bella hospital, and I know that Barb tial school system eliminates the possibility that these deaths were Brown, one of the administrators there, dumped sterilisation merely accidental or the actions of a few depraved individuals act- records at sea on two occasions. Some of the records were ing alone without protection. found washed up on the beach south of town. That was just Yet not only was this system inherently murderous, but it oper- after the cops opened their investigation into the schools, in ated under the legal and structural conditions which encouraged, the spring of 1995. They were covering their tracks. We all aided and abetted murder and which were designed to conceal knew Ottawa was funding sterilisations, but we were told to these crimes. keep quiet about it. (Testimony of Christy White to Kevin The residential schools were structured like concentration Annett, August 12, 1998) camps, on a hierarchical military basis under the absolute control of a principal appointed jointly by church and state, and who was Legislation permitting the sterilisation of any residential school usually a clergyman. This principal was even given legal inmate was passed in BC in 1933 and in Alberta in 1928 (see guardianship rights over all students during the early 1930s by the "Sterilization Victims Urged to Come Forward" by Sabrina _ federal government, at least in west coast residential schools. Whyatt, Windspeaker, August 1998). The Sexual Sterilization This action by the government was highly unusual, considering Act of BC allowed a school principal to permit the sterilisation of that native people were by law the legal wards of the state, and any native person under his charge. As their legal guardian, the had been so since the commencement of the Indian Act. And yet principal could thus have any native child sterilised. Frequently, such absolute power of the school principal over the lives of abo- these sterilisations occurred to riginal students was a requirement of whole groups of native children any system whose killing of aborigi- when they reached puberty, in insti- Th id ti | h | nals had to be disguised and later tutions like the Provincial Training e residential schools were denied. School in Red Deer, Alberta, and the constructed behind this The residential schools were con- Ponoka Mental Hospital. (Former structed behind this deception in such nurse Pat Taylor to Kevin Annett, deception in such a way that a way that the deaths and atrocities January 13, 2000) the deaths and atrocities that that constitute genocide could be hid- Of equal historical significance is den and eventually explained. In the the fact that the Canadian federal constitute genocide could be Canadian context, this meant a policy government passed legislation in hidden and eventually of gradual but deliberate extermina- 1920, making it mandatory for all . tion under a protective legal umbrel- native children in British explained. la, administered by "legitimate and Columbia—the west coast of which trusted" institutions: the mainline was the least Christianised area churches. among aboriginals in Canada—to It should be clarified from the out- attend residential schools, despite the fact that the same govern- set that the decisions concerning the residential schools, including ment had already acknowledged that the death rate due to commu- those which caused the deaths of children and resulting cover-ups, nicable diseases was much higher in these schools and that, while were officially sanctioned by every level of the churches that ran there, the native children's "constitution is so weakened that they them and the government which created them. Only such sanc- have no vitality to withstand disease". (A. W. Neill, West Coast tion could have allowed the deaths to continue as they did—and Indian Agent, to Secretary of Indian Affairs, April 25, 1910) the perpetrators to feel protected enough to operate with impunity That is, the Canadian government legally compelled the for many years within the system, which they universally did. attendance of the most "pagan" and least assimilated of the native peoples in residential schools at precisely the time when the death ¢ Exposure to Diseases rate in these schools had reached their pinnacle—about 40%, In 1909, Dr Peter Bryce of the Ontario Health Department was according to Indian Affairs officers like Dr Peter Bryce. This fact hired by the Indian Affairs Department in Ottawa to tour the alone suggests a genocidal intent towards non-Christian Indian residential schools in western Canada and British aboriginals. Columbia and report on the health conditions there. Bryce's oo that rannet o constructed behind this deception in such a way that the deaths and atrocities that constitute genocide could be hidden and eventually explained. ¢ Exposure to Diseases In 1909, Dr Peter Bryce of the Ontario Health Department was hired by the Indian Affairs Department in Ottawa to tour the Indian residential schools in western Canada and British Columbia and report on the health conditions there. Bryce's report so scandalised the government and the churches that it was officially buried and only surfaced in 1922 when Bryce—who was forced out of the civil service for the honesty of his report— wrote a book about it, entitled The Story of a National Crime (Ottawa, 1922). In his report, Dr Bryce claimed that Indian children were being systematically and deliberately killed in the residential schools. He cited an average mortality rate of between 35% and 60%, and alleged that staff and church officials were regularly withholding or falsifying records and other evidence of children's deaths. Further, Dr Bryce claimed that a primary means of killing native children was to deliberately expose them to communicable diseases such as tuberculosis and then deny them any medical Article II (a): Killing members of the group intended to be destroyed That aboriginal people were deliberately killed in the residential schools is confirmed by eyewitness testimonies, government records and statements of Indian agents and tribal elders. It is also strongly suggested by the bare fact that the mortality level in residential schools averaged 40%, with the deaths of more than 50,000 native children across Canada (see Bibliography, inc. the report of Dr Peter Bryce to Department of Indian Affairs Superintendent Duncan Campbell Scott, April 1909). The fact, as well, that this death rate stayed constant across the years, and within the schools and facilities of every denomination NEXUS ¢ 37 The residential schools were FEBRUARY — MARCH 2002 www.nexusmagazine.com