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John Milloy, A National Crime: The Canadian Government and the Residential School System -- 1879 to 1986. Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 1999. 462 pages, ISBN 0-88755646-9, $24.95 paperback, $55.00 cloth.
For over a century thousands of Aboriginal students were forced to attend government-sponsored, church-run residential schools, where, it was believed, they could be acculturated into the dominant Canadian society. John Milloy's A National Crime is the latest in a number of recently published books which explore this neglected aspect of Canadian history.
The story that he tells is tragic from almost every angle. Established with the purpose of assisting in the assimilation of Aboriginal people into Canadian society, the residential school system was seen as the most efficient means of replacing traditional Aboriginal values and practices with Eurocentric ones. Thus, it seemed logical to take the children away from the "bad" influence of their parents and community and place them in a "civilized, Christian setting." In reality, the residential school system was consistently under-funded and often poorly managed. School buildings were badly constructed, and students were often poorly fed and housed in overcrowded quarters. Disease and death became a common feature of the residential school system during the early part of the century. Reports by medical doctors concerning the horrific health conditions under which the students lived and died were ignored by government officials and the public alike. Physical, emotional and...