Indian Day Schools
In addition to residential schools, the Canadian government and Christian churches also ran Indian day schools. The Canadian government relied on day schools to assimilate Indigenous children until the late 1870s, when residential schools began to be more prominent. Day schools were schools where First Nations, Métis and Inuit children were sent during the day, but lived with their parents and remained in their communities. These schools were not included in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, nor were they included in the Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement of 2006. However day schools, like residential schools, were places were students experienced mental, physical, verbal, emotional, spiritual and sexual abuse. Little research has been done on day schools, but this is beginning to change.
In 2009, Garry McLean started legal action seeking justice for day school Survivors. In August 2019, the Federal Court approved a nation-wide class settlement to compensate Survivors of day schools.
Day School Settlement Agreement and Claims
Find updated information on the Day School Settlement Agreement including Claims Forms, updated deadlines, and support for submitting a Claims Form.
Further Resources
- Luby, B., & Labelle, K. (2015). “The New Generation” Cooperative Education at the Day School on Dalles 38C Indian Reserve, 1890-1910. Ontario History, 107(1), 88-110.
- Norman, A. (2015). “True to my own noble race” Six Nations Women Teachers at Grand River in the early Twentieth Century. Ontario History, 107(1), 5-34.
- Osoyoos Museum Society, edited by Andrea N. Walsh (2005). Nk’Mip Chronicles: Art from the Inkameep Day School. Osoyoos, Canada: Osoyoos Museum Society.
- Raptis, H., and members of the Tsimshian Nation (2016). What We Learned: Two Generations Reflect on Tsimshian Education and the Day Schools. Vancouver, Canada: UBC Press.
- Walls, M. E. (2011). “[T]he teacher that cannot understand their language should not be allowed”: Colonialism, Resistance, and Female Mi’kmaw Teachers in New Brunswick Day Schools, 1900–1923. Journal of the Canadian Historical Association, 22(1), 35-67.
- W.D., H. (1986). The Federal Indian Day Schools of the Maritimes. Fredericton, Canada: Micmac-Maliseet Institute.