Today is a day set aside to reflect on the harmful legacy of Native residential and boarding schools – their survivors – and those who never came home.
In Canada – it’s a statutory holiday, Truth and Reconciliation Day. In New York and elsewhere in the United States – it’s observed as Orange Shirt or Every Child Matters Day. The legacy of these often pseudo-militarized and manual labor-heavy schools persists for Native communities.
"Kill the Indian, save the man" was the mission of Native residential and boarding schools on both sides of the border. That’s right from the mouth of General Richard Henry Pratt, founder of one of the most notorious schools located in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Schools where Native children were taken from their communities often without consent of parents, had their hair cut, clothes taken, language and culture suppressed, and experienced high levels of abuse and disease.
“The boarding schools were the ultimate in ethnic cleansing. And many of my colleagues have told me, Dean, why don’t you just call these schools what they are? Because a school has a playground outside, these boarding schools had graveyards.”
That’s Dean Seneca, a Seneca Nation member, and longtime public health professional formerly with the Center for Disease Control, UB instructor, and founder of Seneca Scientific Solutions. He links a bulk of health disparities facing Native people to years of trauma from assimilation tactics.
“This is a direct result of the health conditions that we have today," said Seneca. "Diabetes, cardiovascular disease, unintentional injuries, substance use disorders, domestic violence, sexual violence. All of these things are plaguing our people because of this convoluted history and what has been done structurally to Native people.”
A history the Canadian government has formally admitted and apologized for. It operated or funded over 100 schools, including the Mohawk Residential School in Brantford, Ontario – nicknamed the “Mush Hole” by students for its poor quality food. Canada funded these kinds of schools until 1997.
New York State operated the Thomas Indian School in Cattaraugus County until the 1950s, and has never taken responsibility. The U.S. government has also yet to make a direct apology for its hundreds of boarding schools – even after Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, the first Native American woman in a cabinet position, oversaw a three year investigation.
“You know what? Native people can not move forward and heal until there is some sort of reconciliation, until there’s some sort of acknowledgement. The other thing though I think is more important, we know there are unmarked graves in our communities, around these boarding schools," Seneca said. "We’ve all heard stories about kids that would come in, and next thing you know they’re not there anymore. I think we really want to know, how many unmarked graves are there?”
A Canadian government commission estimated residential schools deaths at over 6,000 – and official numbers continue to rise with more research. Haaland’s investigation reported nearly 1,000 deaths – but believes the numbers could be higher.
