In Joseph
Boyden’s Three Day Road he vividly paints the cruel experiences of
Canadian residential schools. This issue is highlighted within the novel
because all three protagonists Niska, Xavier and Elijah were forced to attend
these schools. Residential schools are usually “forgotten” in Canadian history
because it’s not something you want the world to know. This dark part of
Canadian history seems to always get swept under the rug. Even though Three
Day Road is a fictional novel, it still contains hard and real facts about
residential schools.
The novel was
set during World War One therefore you would think residential schools were
only around during those few years. You would be wrong. The first residential
school opened in 1880 and the last one closed in 1996! Residential schools and
all of their harm have been around for over a century and have just recently
stopped but Canadians still have very little knowledge about this part of their
heritage. These government run schools were a cross-country issue effecting
over 150,000 children and yet it is still Canada’s best kept secret.
The conditions
in the residential schools created by Boyden in Three Day Road were
horrible. Niska, Xavier and Elijah were ripped apart from their families and
never allowed to visit “so the nuns could work their spells without any
interruption.” (Boyden 91) Soldiers told
aboriginal parents “it is for the greater good of God that they come with me.”
(Boyden 92) The settlers from Europe wished to erase all First Nation culture,
tradition and language. The nuns who ran the schools had no respect for the
children and told them “the old Cree are heathen, backwards and anger God.”
(Boyden 56) The nuns forced their religion and language onto the children. If
they were caught speaking their own tongue they would be punished by washing
their mouth with lye soap and no food for days. “The younger children were
beaten with switches and forced to eat food from the floor like dogs.” (Boyden
92) Both Elijah and Xavier were beaten
on their bare bottoms with branches by the nuns for simply disrupting the class.
Abuse and cultural genocide are just the start of all the problems associated
with residential schools.
Boyden created a
horrible experience with residential schools without mentioning sexual abuse
and death, which were also a reality. Researchers have been combing through old records and have already
discovered 3000 deaths in residential schools. This number is already
unbelievably large and they have only found records for about 1/5 of the existing
schools. According to researcher Alex
Maass “The schools were a particular breeding ground for tuberculosis and
dormitories were incubation wards.” The main cause of death in residential
schools was disease, which could have easily been avoided if simple precautions
were taken. For example caring for the sick children and keeping them away from
the healthy ones, better nutrition and better ventilation.
Residential
schools have finally been recognized for their cruelty and more people are
trying to raise awareness of this issue. Researchers are trying to get all the facts to educate the public
about a serious problem that has always been right under their noses. This
research from secondary sources has helped me understand residential schools
even more by knowing the numbers of all those who have been effected. It wasn’t
until 2008 that the government owned up to the reality of residential schools
with Stephen Harper’s formal public apology. Canada is taking steps towards
trying to compensate the victims but it still doesn’t change what happened to
them.
Sources
Three Day Road by Joseph Boyden
No comments:
Post a Comment