Essay: Ingigenous Children sent to Residential Schools Across Canada

Thousands of indigenous children were removed from their homes and sent to residential schools across Canada. Residential schools were used as a means to eliminate all aspects of Indigenous culture. By enforcing mandatory enrollment into government funded facilities run by the church, the government hoped to assimilate the indigenous people. Learning to communicate in English adopting Christianity and developing agricultural, home making and trade skills were some of the requirements of the children that attended residential schools. The Canadian government believed that by adopting a new more “civil” way of life through the dismissal of Indigenous traditions, culture and language was the only way the indigenous population would thrive.
The Lejac or Fraser Lake Residential School named after Father Jean Marie Lejac was located on Fraser Lake in northern British Columbia and opened in 1890. As the number of children forcibly removed from their homes increased a larger facility was required. In 1922 a new building was erected that would accommodate the influx of students. Many of the children that attended the institution were from surrounding communities such as the Gitxsan, Wet’suwet’en and Sekani. From 1922 to 1976 when the institution closed Lejac residential school was operated by the missionaries from the Order of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate of the Roman Catholic Church .The Dakelhs spiritual beliefs that were centered on Utakke (high God or sky spirit) and many spirits in nature were abandoned and Christianity was adopted.
The school was located in the heart of Dakelh Territory in North central British Columbia and many children that attended the school were of Dakelh descent, practiced Dakelh cultural traditions and spoke the dialect of their region. The English name Carrier is a translation of the Sekani name for the Dakelh, Aghele. The origin of this term comes from the widows of Dakelh men who carried around their cremated remains for a period of mourning that lasted approximately three years. Spiritual beliefs include. The spiritual beliefs of the Dakelh people
Figure 1. Lejac Residential School
Dakelh meaning “people who travel by boat” occupied territory along the Fraser River from north of Prince George to south of Quesnel, the Nechako Valley, the areas around Stuart Lake, Trembleur Lake, and Fraser Lake, and the region along the West Road and Blackwater Rivers, west to the Coast Range, including the Kluskus Lakes, Ootsa Lake and Cheslatta Lake. Prince George, Vanderhoof, Fort Saint James, Fraser Lake and Quesnel are in Dakelh territory. (Dakelh (ᑕᗸᒡ). (n.d.). Retrieved from http://maps.fphlcc.ca/dakelh). The Dakelhs lively hood depended mainly on the abundance of salmon. However, they also hunted moose, deer and other wild game found in their region and wild plants were also a part of the Dakelh diet. When Lejac Residential school closed in 1976 the land was transferred back to the Nadleh Whut’en First Nation and the buildings were demolished. The only evidence of the former school that still remain is the Roe Prince memorial and the cemetery.
Figure 2. Lejac Residential School, Central Interior BC 1922- 1976 (Nadleh Whut’en First Nation, 2013
Although the exact number of students that died while attending Lejac Residential school is uncertain the most notable were the deaths of Allen Patrick 9 years old, Andrew H. Paul 8 years old, Justa Maurice 8 years old and John Michel Jack who was seven years of age. On New Year’s Day 1937 the young boys ran away from the Lejac Residential School. After covering a an estimated 7 miles, the boys were found frozen to death.