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Arctic Survey Part II. Survey of Education in the Mackenzie District
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 November 2014
Extract
The duties assigned to the writer, as his part in the project of the Canadian Social Science Research Council for the study of the Canadian Arctic, were: (a) to visit Indian Residential and Day Schools as well as non-denominational schools for children who are not wards of the Dominion Government; (b) to survey all educational facilities and activities; (c) to make recommendations for improving educational services. In pursuing this assignment during the months of July and August, 1944, the localities were visited in the following order: (a) Fort Smith, (b) Norman Wells, (c) Arctic Red River, (d) Aklavik, (e) Fort McPherson, (f) Fort Good Hope, (g) Fort Simpson, (h) Fort Providence, (i) Hay River, (j) Fort Resolution, (k) Yellowknife, (l) Port Radium. Thanks to a very complete list of key people provided by the Department of Mines and Resources, it was possible to meet those who knew most about the matters under investigation and who, without exception, were most cooperative and anxious to provide all relevant information and all possible assistance.
- Type
- Articles
- Information
- Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science/Revue canadienne de economiques et science politique , Volume 11 , Issue 1 , February 1945 , pp. 61 - 82
- Copyright
- Copyright © Canadian Political Science Association 1945
References
1 In this report they will be called “Indians,” which term will include both the “Indian” and the “Non-Treaty Indian” as defined in the Indian Act (R.S.C., 1927, chap. 98, sec. 2). All other individuals having a mixture of Indian and any other blood will be referred to as being of mixed blood.
2 Jenness, D., Indians of Canada (National Museum of Canada, Bulletin no. 65, Ottawa, 1932), pp. 257–9.Google Scholar
3 Raley, G. H., “Canadian Indian Art and Industries” (Journal of the Royal Society of Arts, vol. LXXXIII, 09, 1935, pp. 991–4).Google Scholar
4 The following memorandum by Mr. M. J. Dempsey, a veteran Park Warden in Wood-Buffalo Park is of interest in this connection.
“There are about thirty families of treaty Indians living at Fort Smith. Prior to 1930 about one-half of these Indians lived regularly at Salt River Settlement about twenty miles down Slave River from Fort Smith, and the other half used to spend the first half of the summer there putting up dry fish. They have gradually all moved to Fort Smith and established homes where they make a much poorer living than when they lived at Salt River Settlement. The late Chief Squirrel had his permanent home at Salt River Settlement and there were two trading posts there. Now there is no settlement and no trading posts.
“The Indians are living in Fort Smith to be able to take in as much as they can find in opportunities to get liquor and gamble. At Fort Smith they do not have the natural recreation of the Indian and instead try to imitate the whites which is contrary to their best interests.
“At Salt River Settlement a properly established community properly supervised with a school, church, some kind of medical facilities, enforced sanitary precautions, and amortization of the fur catches to ensure that the women and children would at all times have sufficient proper food, would in a few years result in developing a feeling of thrift and self-respect in the Indians and have the effect of improving the health of the Indians generally.
“At Salt River Settlement the soil is good and the Indians could be encouraged to raise gardens which would also be of great benefit in producing a kind of food which is noticeably deficient in their diet at present.
“There are two other locations which would be very suitable and would be worth investigating. One is at the Fox Lake Indian reserve on Peace River and one at Fond Du Lac oh Lake Athabasca. At both of these locations the chiefs are men of outstanding qualifications and are trying to improve the conditions of the Indians under them but have not the necessary authority to enforce co-operation.
5 Robinson, J. Lewis, “Eskimo Population in the Canadian Eastern Arctic (Canadian Geographical Journal, vol. XXIX, 09, 1934, p. 134).Google Scholar
6 Revised Statutes of Alberta, 1942, chap. 329.
7 Saskatchewan Gazette, vol. XL, 07 15, 1944, p. 4 Google Scholar; and the Annual Report of the Northern Areas Branch, 1941–2 (Regina), p. 18.Google Scholar
8 Manitoba Gazette, vol. 73, 03 4, 1944, p. 156.Google Scholar
9 The Consolidated Ordinances of the North West Territories of 1898 and Amendments, chap. 75, The School Ordinance, 1901, chap. 29.
10 Report of the Department of Mines and Resources for the Fiscal Year Ended March 31, 1943 (Ottawa, 1943), p. 150.Google Scholar
11 Consolidated Ordinances, 1898, chap. 75.
12 The Census of 1941 shows 164 white children in the North West Territories, and 87 children of mixed blood not under the Indian Affairs Branch.
13 The School Ordinance, 1901, chap. 29.
14 The Census of 1941 shows that there are 87 half-breed and 164 white children between the ages of five and fourteen years inclusive, in the North West Territories.
15 The School Ordinance, 1901, chap. 29, sees. 8-11 inclusive.
16 The General Ordinances of the North West Territories in Force September I, 1905 (Being the Consolidated Ordinances of the Territories 1898 and All Subsequent Public General Ordinances of the Legislature of the Territories Revised in Force at the Commencement of the Saskatchewan Act), ed. Reginald Rommer (Regina, 1907). (a) Schools, pp. 1008 to 1061; (b) School assessment, pp. 1061 to 1103; (c) School grants, pp. 1103 to 1108; (d) Treasury Department, sec. 29, p. 1171.
17 Regulations of the Board of Education for the North West Territories:
(a) For the Examination of Candidates for Certificates to Teach in the Schools of the Territories, Printed by Order of the Board of Education (Regina, 1886), 10 pp.Google Scholar
(b) General Regulations Adopted 15th March 1888, Printed by Order of the Board of Education (Regina, 1889), 36 pp.Google Scholar
18 Miller, James Collins, National Government and Education in Federated Democracies, Dominion of Canada (Philadelpha, 1940), pp. 272–293 Google Scholar incl. The author was. a Professor in the University of Pennsylvania.