A Brief History
Prior to Confederation
1867 - 1892
1893 - 1923
1923 - 1958
1958 - 1976
1977 - present
a) Prior to Confederation:
Until 1860, the Imperial Government was responsible for the management and expense of Indian Affairs, but then the Province of Canada assumed responsibility. The Commissioner of Crown Lands became the Chief Superintendent of Indian Affairs.
The `manual-labour school' emerged as the preferred model for education, developed in 1804 by Gideon Blackburn, an American Presbyterian missionary among the Cherokees. Its schedule allotted equal time to study and to work in the fields, shops, or kitchen of the institution. This was "a new era in Indian missions, marked by the centrality of residential schools to which young people would be removed from parental influence in the hope that they would become effective emissaries of Christian civilization among their people." (Grant, p. 86)
In 1866 Presbyterian work began among Aboriginal peoples not yet reached by any other denomination. Moir comments (p. 157) that "... Presbyterianism in all its branches and in all the colonies was, for a communion of its size and wealth, tardy in taking up the task of missionary work among the native peoples of North America.".
By a special provision in the British North America Act of 1867, the administration of Indian Affairs, which had been under the management of several provinces, came under the jurisdiction of the Government of Canada. Indian Affairs was made the responsibility of the Department of the Secretary of State at the time of Confederation, and in 1873 became a branch of the Department of the Interior. In 1880, a separate Department of Indian Affairs was established, which continued until 1936, when Indian Affairs became a Branch of the Department of Mines and Resources. Since January 1950, Indian Affairs became the responsibility of the Department of Citizenship and Immigration. In January 1966 it became a branch of the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development.
After 1867, the federal government involvement in Indian education increased, but it was not until 1892 that financial support of any consequence was provided. Based on government perception that expanding immigrant communities were harmful to Indian interests, the period from about 1850 to 1950 was characterized by schooling for Indians which was segregated. As a result, from 1890 onward, residential schools became a major feature of the education system.
In 1892, an Order-in-Council was passed which set regulations governing the operation of residential and industrial schools. The buildings were to be the joint responsibility of government and church. Books and educational supplies were provided from government appropriation, but maintenance, salaries and other operating expenses were paid by the Church, with assistance from the government by way of per capita grants. Government regulations also set standards of instruction (provincial curricula were introduced later) and domestic care, and inspectors were appointed to enforce them. This Order-in-Council governed the financing of Indian residential schools until 1958.
Nisbet, the first Presbyterian missionary to Aboriginal peoples, held schooling to be paramount. "Although his instructions were to itinerate on the plains, he soon decided like others before him that settlement was to provide the best opportunity for systematic instruction, especially since many Indians sought out the mission. Despite repeated admonitions, therefore, he placed much more emphasis on a school and model farm than on trips to Indian encampments." (Grant, 148) By 1874 Presbyterians were so frustrated by the migratory patterns of Indians that they decided to send no more missionaries until reserves had been established. (Grant, 155)
In 1875, The Presbyterian Church in Canada was formed. The next year the Women's Foreign Mission Society (WFMS) began its work, and by 1883 resolved to undertake work among Indian women and children. "Well before the end of the century [the Society] was contributing approximately two-thirds of their church's Indian budget." (Grant, 163) In 1878, Lucy Baker was appointed as first woman missionary to Indians for educational work.
In 1883, Birtle school opened, and in 1888 became a boarding school. In 1887, the first bale of clothing was sent to Broadview, Assinaboine. The voluntary work of sending presents and clothing continued into the 1960s. By 1888 the women were helping to support nine schools. The 1889 Annual Report of the Department of Indian Affairs noted: "The boarding school dissociates the Indian child from the deleterious home influences to which he would otherwise be subjected. It reclaims him from the uncivilized state in which he has been brought up. It brings him into contact from day to day with all that tends to effect a change in his views and habits of life. By precept and example he is taught to endeavour to excel in what will be most useful to him."
Grant (p. 189) assesses this early period as follows:
Mission was conducted in the late nineteenth century for and to the Indians - `our Indians,' as the title of a missionary booklet designated them - with less opportunity than in previous years for Indian Christian leaders to give significant direction to the enterprise. The activities regarded as most vital took place in schools that were often located so far from the reserves that Indians could neither interfere nor complain effectively. The objective was to create a controlled environment ... . The churches were only seeking to achieve a control over Indian behaviour that they had long sought to exercise in Canadian life as a whole. The Indian had less opportunity to resist, however, and could respond to missionary authoritarianism only by passive if by no means passionless acquiescence. Missionaries devoted much earnest effort to the service of the Indian, under the most difficult conditions and with inadequate support from either churches or governments.
A policy shift occurred soon after the system was established. From Sifton's period as Minister (1896) to the establishment of a single category of residential schools in 1923, Ottawa attempted to reduce expenditure on residential schooling by closing some institutions, shifting the emphasis to so-called "new, improved day schools" and by ignoring the educational needs of Indian bands that were not yet receiving educational funding. This shift was the consequence of growing bureaucratic and political disillusionment. (Miller, 5) In 1894, the government gave in to missionary requests for compulsory attendance legislation.
In 1902, the Cecilia Jeffrey school opened, named after the first secretary of Indian work for the WFMS, appointed in 1896. It was originally built for 40 children (enlarged for 62 in 1926). The school was built at the request of the tribe, and the founding agreement clearly shows that the band requested the school and laid down some conditions. This was quite unusual for the times.
By 1908, over 500 children were attending Presbyterian schools. There was a proposal in the first decade to secularize Indian education because of the drain on Church budgets and questions of efficacy. The Presbyterian response was to call the proposal 'a national calamity'. (Grant, 195)
Another important policy shift occurred in 1912. At considerable expense to the Society, and against its strong belief that smaller facilities were more effective, schools were enlarged to accommodate more children, and in accordance with government standards which had been raised in 1910. In the same year the General Assembly transferred Indian work from the Foreign Missions Board to the Home Missions Board, but the WFMS continued its work among Indian women and children.
In 1914, the WFMS became the Women's Missionary Society. There were 21 centres of mission work (eight boarding, seven day schools attached to reserves, six reserves near boarding schools). By 1921 the government paid for maintenance of pupils, while the Society was responsible for salaries of staff, except the nurse and farm instructor, who were paid out of school funds. Teachers were paid by the government, and missionaries to reserves by the Home Missions Board.
After 1923, government funding enjoyed a cycle of rich years (1920s, 1950s and 1960s) and lean ones (during the Depression and the Second War). By 1925 the work of the Society stretched from Kenora to Vancouver Island. After Union the Church continued to operate both Birtle and Cecilia Jeffrey schools. The Society was financially and administratively responsible for all work over and above the government grant. In 1927, the Mistawasis day school began. A new school building was built for Cecilia Jeffrey and the old site was abandoned because of its remoteness from medical care, and in 1931 the Department of Indian Affairs built a new school at Birtle.
In 1943 the principle of churches conducting the schools, and the Department financing them by per capita grants, was endorsed.
The Indian Act was amended in 1951, but Indian agents retained their control over daily life, and the underlying philosophy was not changed. "Overall, the general approach to Indian education shifted after World War II from an emphasis on segregation and isolation to a policy of so-called integration. ... What the new policy had in common with the older policy of segregated education was its underlying objective of assimilating Indians - the `extinction of Indians as Indians' - by means of schooling." (Miller, 9) By 1954 all teachers were employed by the Department.
In 1957, at Birtle, staff totalled 20, including five teachers, and enrollment was 164. At Cecilia Jeffrey, staff totalled 24, including seven teachers, and enrollment was 150.
Again government policy changed. In 1958, the Department assumed full financial responsibility instead of making per capita grants. Two years later the Department began a programme of integration into local schools, turning residential schools into residences or hostels (completed at Cecilia Jeffrey by 1964).
The Church expanded its work with natives who were off reserves. In 1961, property was bought, and the first Director of the Kenora Fellowship Centre was appointed in 1963, and the centre opened in the fall of 1964. The same year the Prince Albert Fellowship House opened. In 1968, the Winnipeg fellowship house (later renamed Anishanabe Fellowship) opened.
The work of Walter Donovan and Stephen How over many years was highly appreciated by native peoples. In addition, one should mention that in the mid 1960s W. W. Moore completed over 44 years of ministry with Aboriginal peoples in Saskatchewan. The work of women such as Kay Blake gained national recognition.
In 1969, the federal government released a white paper which proposed the abandonment of treaties and treaty rights, and the transformation of reserves into communities in the interest of "equality". The paper was withdrawn in 1971. The federal government then provided funding for regional and national Aboriginal organizations, and transferred some administrative functions from the Department of Indian Affairs to local, predominantly male, chiefs and councils. Also in 1969, the government took over the Residential Schools, while responsibility for residences stayed with the Society until 1972, when this was passed to the Board of World Mission. Again, in 1969, the Church became more aware that materials used in upper middle class white congregations did not correspond with culture and thought patterns of the Indian people (BWM report).
In 1964, Prince Albert Fellowship House for Boys was opened (closed by March, 1979). The high point of work with Aboriginal peoples was 1975 when all work was staffed. The next year the Cecilia Jeffrey residence was closed.
The Church, during this time, formed a policy base to advocate for aboriginal rights. The 1960 General Assembly contains a report which notes that the "Canadian Indian" needs full justice and that the people of Canada need to keep faith with the "Indians". The Assembly adopted recommendations to urge the federal government to provide enfranchisement and full citizenship for native Canadians, without depriving them of any rights and privileges that are theirs by virtue of their status. The 1962 General Assembly outlined some problems of reservations: poverty, population growth beyond the capacity of the reserve to sustain, `welfare mentality', the increasing impact of non-native society upon the traditional way of life, and loss of self-respect. General Assemblies in the later 1960s continued to examine these problems, with the 1969 General Assembly adopting the following recommendation: "that the General Assembly inform the governments (Federal and Provincial) of its support of the just demands of the Indians of Canada for full participation in all affairs that concern them, and their desires for self-realization within the social and economic structures of Canadian Life." A report to the 1975 General Assembly stressed the need for the whole Church to sensitize non-native Canadians to the concerns of natives, to bring together native and non-native congregations for cooperation and assistance, and to consult with native Canadians on issues affecting them. A 1976 Report stated that urgent problems facing our Church include "empathizing with the native communities in their seeking justice and self-determination."
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f) 1977 - present:
The Board of World Mission began to assess its work in 1979. A report frankly stated: "In spite of the investment of lives and money and love and prayers by Presbyterians over the past 50 years, the fruits of the Gospel amongst native people were not always easy to see. ... On the other side of the picture - the honest assessment of native people themselves of the value of this ministry, as it has been exercised - was not exactly encouraging." (402 - 403). In the 1980s there were a declining number of appointments: work at Dakota Tipi was suspended in 1982, and W. Palmer retired from work in the Kenora area in 1987.
Government policy continued to evolve. Bill C-31 was passed in 1985 to amend the Indian Act to bring it into line with the equality provision of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Some women regained Status and the Bill also contained limited self-government provisions.
A major study was undertaken by the Board in 1986 and 1987. A report, which included the formation of the National Native Ministries Committee, was submitted to the General Assembly in 1989.
Advocacy work continued as well. The Church joined Project North, an ecumenical coalition which dealt with northern Native concerns, in the 1970s. Project North wound up in 1988. The Church then joined its successor, the Aboriginal Rights Coalition, in 1990. Other coalitions we support, including the Task Force on the Churches and Corporate Responsibility, and Ten Days for World Development, work on land rights issues. We continue to work ecumenically in furthering the transformation of society based on a statement by church leaders entitled "A New Covenant" (1987). A 1991 report to General Assembly noted that new approaches to aboriginal rights issues in Canada are required, which reflect principles of justice, peace and truth.
(From The Acts and Proceedings of the 120th General Assembly - 1994)