H-NET BOOK REVIEWS
Published by H-Canada@h-net.msu.edu (March, 1997)
Miller, J.R. _Shingwauk's Vision: A History of Native Residential
Schools_. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1996. xvii + 582 pp.
Notes, bibliography, maps, photographs, and index. $70.00 (cloth), ISBN
0-8020-0833-X; $29.95 (paper), ISBN 0-8020-7858-3.
Reviewed for H-Canada by Ken Coates, <kcoates@waikato.ac.nz>, Department
of History, University of Waikato (New Zealand).
The headlines are among the most sensational and disturbing in recent
years in Canada. In court cases, testimony before government commissions,
literature and public speeches, First Nations people in Canada have
recounted their experiences in residential schools. These educational
institutions, designed as instruments of "civilization" and training,
became powerful tools of cultural destruction, language suppression and
personal torment. In recent years, media attention has focused on
examples of sexual abuse and brutality, documented in frightening detail
by the survivors of the residential school experience. The recent Royal
Commission on Aboriginal Peoples listened to many First Nations speakers
as they recounted their stories, and included a detailed examination of
residential schools in their final report.
For many years, First Nations people in Canada described the cultural and
social mistreatment that they experienced at the hands of religious and
government school officials and attempted to convince Canadians of the
long-term effects of the residential school experience on their lives and
their communities. Few non-Natives paid much attention to their
criticisms. Education was, after all, one of the "good things" that
governments did for indigenous peoples, the foundation of the First
Nations meager economic prosperity and their hope for the future. Only a
handful of Canadians had more than an inkling of the deep-seated hostility
and anger that First Nations had for the residential schools.
Save for a few ardent defenders of the residential schools, few Canadians
continue to hold to that view. What has often been described as the
"mission-school syndrome" is now well know across the country.
_Shingwauk's Vision_ (the title refers to the effort of Chief Shingwauk to
bring Anglican missionary services and education to his people, in the
hope that it would enrich the lives of the Ojibwa) is not an attempt to
raise the temperature in an already heated debate. It does provide an
explanation for the angers and frustrations of former students and their
parents. What the book does offer is even more important--a balanced,
carefully considered and scholarly appraisal of an important and intrusive
colonial institution. Historian J.R. Miller has stepped into a debate
that is inflamed by the passions of contemporary indigenous politics, the
pain of personal experience, and the rationalizations of the church and
government organizations. This is difficult ground, since the
controversies surrounding residential school education in Canada reveal
the degree to which indigenous history, in particular, remains contested
territory. Few historians could have handled this challenge with more
compassion, caution and insight.
The history of Native residential schools in Canada is told in three
sections. In the first, "Establishing the Residential School System,"
Miller examines the nature of indigenous education, and recounts the
origins of the residential school system in Canada. He follows the trail
through the hitherto little known developments in New France, experiments
in British North America, and the expansion of the residential school
concept across the new nation of Canada from the 1880s to the 1920s. The
account focuses primarily on the objectives of the missionary and
government agencies involved with setting up the early residential
schools; few accounts of students' experiences survived. What is
available, however, is used to illustrate the continuity between early
developments and twentieth-century activities--particularly indigenous
dissatisfaction with the educational initiatives and cultural structurings
built into the school system.
The heart of the book rests in the second section, "Experiencing
Residential Schools," which focuses on twentieth-century developments.
Here Miller draws on a judicious balance of written (largely government)
sources and oral testimony from former students and teachers. While he
gives fair attention to government priorities and objectives--previously
the central focus of historical work on residential schools--Miller
devotes much of this segment to a study of the students' experiences. The
chapters on "Abuse" and "Resistance" are particularly compelling. The
author, obviously confronted with disturbing accounts of violence and
sexual assault, works to keep the experiences in perspective and to
provide a convincing analysis while not losing sight of the personal
suffering encapsulated in the stories. Miller provides a compelling and
disturbing account of the nature and extent of violence and abuse--
teachers and supervisors toward students and student to student--that
was often a big part of life in the residential schools. The discussion
of resistance is of particular importance, for it illustrates the degree
to which First Nations students and parents protested conditions in the
schools--while often still supporting the concept of Canadian education--
and their often futile attempts to gain government attention. Miller does
not pull punches in his descriptions--one male supervisor at a
Saskatchewan school is described as a "monster"--and the accompanying
account reveals the accuracy of the word (p. 327)--but even this account
is not overwhelmed by the emotional situation.
Part Three offers an assessment of the final years of the Native
residential school program and an analysis of the meaning and contemporary
significance of the residential school experience in Canada. "An
Assessment" provides an excellent discussion of the historical processes
involved with residential schools, including government-missionary
motivation, First Nations response, pedogogical elements, and long-term
social and cultural impacts. This survey provides a concise overview of
the book's main themes and a very insightful analysis of the lingering
effects of residential school education on First Nations relations with
other Canadians. It is the best short summary of the significance of the
residential school education available. Of particular note is the final
section of the chapter, which offers a compelling discussion of the
question of the moral and practical responsibility for the legacy of the
residential schools. Miller argues that Canadians have a continuing and
unresolved collective responsibility for dealing with the fall-out of the
educational experiments. He ends his book with the cautionary note that
contemporary political leaders have not yet surrendered the paternalistic
impulses that underlay the residential school initiative.
While it is important to note that _Shingwauk's Vision_ provides a great
deal of historical background to the claims and accusations of
contemporary First Nations people, the greatest strength of the book lies
elsewhere. Native residential schools were comprehensive institutions, in
that they sought to control all aspects of the students' lives. By moving
beyond the important but more sensational elements--violence, sexual
abuse, suppression of indigenous languages--Miller provides an excellent
means of understanding the long-term impact of the government-funded
schools. His study of the relationship between gender and education
provides useful insights into the differential impact of residential
schools on boys and girls, and an introduction to European concepts
of gender differences to First Nations children. Similarly, Miller offers
a detailed examination of the work conducted by residential school
students--often involving more time than classroom instruction--and the
social and recreational activities offered after hours. The chapter
entitled "Child Care" provides an excellent description of the
institutional life within residential schools. Collectively, Miller's
account illustrates the pervasive impact of residential school education
on the children that passed through the institutions and provides an
excellent examination of the lasting social, cultural and emotional
effects of government-sponsored education.
Miller draws from a wide and diverse range of sources. He makes good use
of well-known government collections, and draws extensively
on the available historiography. To a degree that still remains rare, he
makes effective use of major missionary collections and explores
little-used materials in a variety of other repositories. Most
significantly, Miller collected oral testimony from many people, most of
them former students of the residential schools. Teachers and school
administrators may argue (they have done so in many other instances)
that they were not interviewed as extensively as the students, but their
thoughts and experiences are far better recorded in the written record
than are those of the students. Miller also kept a close eye on
contemporary media coverage of the residential school experience, and
used the material generated to good effect, in framing and explaining
historical developments.
This is a book with few shortcomings. A set of useful maps is provided
and numerous photographs--most of them are of the official variety,
showing staged, well scrubbed students--are included in the text. Each
chapter in the "Experiencing Residential Schools" begins and ends with an
extended quote from a First Nations student, offering readers the words
and sentiments that, until recently, went largely unheard. Miller might
have devoted a little more time to describing the relationship between the
residential schools and the dozens of day schools operated by the Canadian
government and missionary organizations. After all, more First Nations
students attended the day schools than the high profile residential
schools. And, there is perhaps not enough about the motivations of the
school workers; their devotion to their cause is a matter of considerable
significance in understanding the evolution and impact of the schools.
The lack of systematic analysis to the missionaries and teachers remains a
significant historiographical gap. Finally, Miller follows the well
established Canadian tradition of exploring the developments in a national
context. Some attention should have been paid, even if only in summary
form, to the comparable developments in the education of indigenous
peoples in other countries. This broader, comparative, perspective would
have strengthened an already strong book.
_Shingwauk's Vision_ is a wonderful example of the historian's craft.
Miller has combined a strong narrative thread, drawn largely on the
administrative and policy history of residential school education in
Canada, with well chosen accounts of experiences of students and teachers.
The study is engaging, well written and insightful. It does not shy away
from contemporary public debates--Miller's position on the current issues
is made abundantly clear--but nor do these discussions dominate or direct
the analysis. This is not polemic masquerading as history, but rather a
sound, systematic and thorough examination of an issue of vital
contemporary importance. The debate that must and will continue about the
impact of residential school education on First Nations people in Canada
will be much stronger with Miller's timely contribution.
Copyright (c) 1997 by H-Net, all rights reserved. This work
may be copied for non-profit education if proper credit is
given to the author and the list. For other permission, please
contact h-net@h-net@msu.edu.