Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-kw2vx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-09T14:50:05.587Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Genocide Question and Indian Residential Schools in Canada

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 July 2012

David B. MacDonald  and
Graham Hudson
David B. MacDonald*
Affiliation:
University of Guelph
Graham Hudson*
Affiliation:
Ryerson University
*
David B MacDonald, Political Science Department, University of Guelph, 50 Stone Road East Guelph ON, N1G 2W1[email protected]
Graham Hudson, Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology, Ryerson University, 350 Victoria Street, Toronto ON, M5B 2K3, [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Abstract. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission has been investigating the array of crimes committed in Canada's Indian Residential Schools. Genocide is being invoked with increasing regularity to describe the crimes inflicted within the IRS system, the intent behind those crimes, and the legacies that have flowed from them. We ask the following questions. Did Canada commit genocide against Aboriginal peoples by attempting to forcibly assimilate them in residential schools? How does the UN Genocide Convention help interpret genocide claims? If not genocide, what other descriptors are more appropriate? Our position might be described as “fence sitting”: whether genocide was committed cannot be definitively settled at this time. This has to do with polyvalent interpretations of the term, coupled with the growing body of evidence the TRC is building up. We favour using the term cultural genocide as a “ground floor” and a means to legally and morally interpret the IRS system.

Résumé. La Commission de vérité et réconciliation a enquêté sur la matrice de crimes commis dans les pensionnats indiens au Canada. Le mot génocide est invoqué avec une régularité croissante pour décrire les crimes infligés au sein du système des pensionnats, l'intention derrière ces crimes, et l'héritage qui s'en est ensuivie. Nous posons les questions suivantes: le Canada a-t-il commis le génocide contre les élèves Aborigènes en essayant de les assimiler de force dans des pensionnats indiens? Comment la Convention des Nations Unies sur la prévention de génocide peut-elle aider interprétations des revendications de génocide ? Si ce pas de génocide, quel autre descripteur est plus approprié ? Notre position pourrait être décrite comme « séance de clôture »: la question de génocide ne peut être réglée définitivement en ce moment. Cela concerne les interprétations polyvalentes du terme, couplé avec le corps grandissant d'évidence que le CVR accumule. Nous préférons le terme génocide culturel comme « un rez-de-chaussée » et comme un moyen de légalement et moralement interpréter le système IRS.

Type
Research Article
Information
Canadian Journal of Political Science/Revue canadienne de science politique , Volume 45 , Issue 2 , June 2012 , pp. 427 - 449
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Political Science Association 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aboriginal Healing Foundation. 2010. Reconciliation: A Work in Progress. Ottawa, ON: AHF.Google Scholar
Alston-O'Connor, Emily. 2010. “The Sixties Scoop: Implications for Social Workers and Social Work Education” Critical Social Work 11(1): 1–10.Google Scholar
Assembly of First Nations. 1994. Breaking the Silence. Ottawa ON: AFN.Google Scholar
Assembly of First Nations. 2004. Resolution no. 52. July 20–22. http://www.afn.ca/article.asp?id_389~ (April 27, 2011)Google Scholar
Barkan, Elazar. 2003. “Genocides of Indigenous Peoples: Rhetoric of Human Rights.” In The Specter of Genocide: Mass Murder in Historical Perspective, ed. Gellately, Robert and Kiernan, Ben. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Barta, Tony, Finzsch, Norbert, and Stannard, David. 2008. “Three Responses to ‘Can There Be Genocide without the Intent to Commit Genocide?’” Journal of Genocide Research 10 (1): 111–113.Google Scholar
Bischoping, K., and Fingerhut, N.. 1996. “Border Lines: Indigenous Peoples in Genocide Studies.” Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropology 33(4): 481–511.Google Scholar
Cairns, Alan. 2003. “Coming to Terms with the Past.” In Politics and the Past: On Repairing Historical Injustices, ed. Torpey, John. Lanham MD: Rowman & Littlefield.Google Scholar
Cardinal, Harold. 1999. The Unjust Society: the Tragedy of Canada's Indians. Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre.Google Scholar
Carlston, Kenneth. 1950. “The Genocide Convention: A problem for the American lawyer” American Bar Review 36: 205–09.Google Scholar
Chalk, Frank. 1994. “Redefining Genocide.” In Genocide: Conceptual and Historical Dimensions, ed. Andreopoulos, G.. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.Google Scholar
Charny, Israel. 1994. “Toward a Generic Definition of Genocide.” In Genocide: Conceptual and Historical Dimensions, ed. Andreopoulos, G.. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.Google Scholar
Chrisjohn, Ronald and Young, Sherri. 1997. The Circle Game: Shadows and Substance in the Indian Residential School Experience in Canada. Penticton BC: Theytus Books.Google Scholar
Churchill, Ward. 2004. Kill the Indian, Save the Man: The Genocidal Impact of American Indian Residential Schools. San Francisco CA: City Lights Books.Google Scholar
Curthoys, A. and Docker, J.. 2001. “Introduction: Genocide: definitions, questions, settler-colonies.” Aboriginal History 25: 1–15.Google Scholar
Davis, Robert and Zannis, Mark. 1973. The Genocide Machine in Canada. Montreal: Black Rose.Google Scholar
DeGagné, Michael. 2002. “Implementing Reparations: International Perspectives.” Sydney AU: Australian Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission. http://www.hreoc.gov.au/movingforward/speech_degagne.html (Accessed June 21, 2010).Google Scholar
Deiter, Constance. 1999. From our mothers' arms: The intergenerational impact of residential schools in Saskatchewan. Etobicoke ON: United Church Publishing House.Google Scholar
Draft UNDRIP, United Nations “Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples”http://www.unhchr.ch/huridocda/huridoca.nsf/(Symbol)/E.CN.4.SUB.2.RES.1994.45.En?OpenDocument (Accessed April 27, 2011).Google Scholar
Drinnon, Richard. 1980. Facing West: The Metaphysics of Indian-hating and Empire-building. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.Google Scholar
Friesen, John and Friesen, Virginia. 2002. Aboriginal Education in Canada: A Plea for Integration. Calgary: Detselig.Google Scholar
Grant, Agnes. 1996. No End of Grief: Indian Residential Schools in Canada. Winnipeg: Pemmican.Google Scholar
Green, Leslie C. 1988. “International Law: A Canadian Perspective.” In The Canadian Encyclopedic Digest Ontario. 2nd ed.. 17. Toronto: Carswell.Google Scholar
Haig-Brown, Celia. 1988. Resistance and Renewal: Surviving the Indian Residential School. Vancouver: Arsenal.Google Scholar
Henderson, James. 1994. “Empowering Treaty Federalism.” Saskatchewan Law Review 58 (1): 241–329.Google Scholar
Henderson, James Sakej. 2008. Indigenous Diplomacy and the Rights of Peoples: Achieving UN Recognition. Saskatoon CA: Purich Publishing Ltd.Google Scholar
Hitchcock, R. and Twedt, T.. 1997. “Physical and Cultural Genocides of Various Indigenous Peoples.” In Century of Genocide: Eyewitness Accounts and Critical Views, ed. Totten, S., Parsons, W. and Charny, I.. London: Garland.Google Scholar
Hudson, Graham. 2008. “Neither Here Nor There: The Non-Impact of International Law on Judicial Reasoning in Canada and South Africa.” Canadian Journal of Law and Jurisprudence, 21 (2): 321–355.Google Scholar
Kiernan, Ben. 2007. Blood and Soil: A World History of Genocide and Extermination from Sparta to Darfur. New Haven CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Ladner, Kiera. 2003. “Treaty Federalism: An Indigenous Vision of Canadian Federalisms.” In New Trends in Canadian Federalism, eds. Rocher, Francois and Smith, Miriam. 2nd ed.Peterborough ON: Broadview.Google Scholar
Lemkin, Raphael. 1944. Axis Rule in Occupied Europe. Washington DC: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.Google Scholar
MacDonald, David. 2007. “First Nations, Residential Schools, and the Americanization of the Holocaust.” Canadian Journal of Political Science 40 (4): 995–1015.Google Scholar
MacDonald, David. 2008. Identity Politics in the Age of Genocide: The Holocaust and Historical Representation. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Miller, James R. 2004. Lethal Legacy: Current Native Controversies in Canada. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.Google Scholar
Miller, James R. 1996. Shingwauk's Vision: A History of Native Residential Schools. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.Google Scholar
Milloy, John. 1996. A National Crime: The Canadian Government and the Residential School System, 1879 to 1986. Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press.Google Scholar
MISSING CHILDREN & UNMARKED BURIALS: RESEARCH RECOMMENDATIONS The Working Group on Missing Children and Unmarked Burials Undatedhttp://www.trc.ca/websites/trcinstitution/File/pdfs/Working_group_on_Mis_7456E0.pdf.Google Scholar
Moses, A.D. 2005. “Genocide and Settler Society in Australian History.” In Genocide and Settler Society, ed. Moses, A.D.. New York: Berghahn.Google Scholar
Neu, Dean, and Therrien, Richard. 2003. Accounting for Genocide: Canada's Bureaucratic Assault on Aboriginal People. Blackpoint NS: Fernwood.Google Scholar
Powell, Christopher. 2007. “What do genocides kill? A relational conception of genocide.” Journal of Genocide Research 9 (4): 527–47.Google Scholar
Regan, Paulette. 2010. Unsettling the Settler within Indian Residential Schools: Truth Telling, and Reconciliation in Canada. Vancouver: UBC Press.Google Scholar
Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court relating to the adoption of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, and the establishment of the Court (covering the period ending on 31 December 2003)http://untreaty.un.org/cod/icc/statute/romefra.htm.Google Scholar
Ronayne, Peter. 2003. Never Again? The United States and the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide Since the Holocaust. Lanham MD: Rowman and Littlefield.Google Scholar
Schabas, William. 2008. Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. United Nations Audiovisual Library of International Law. http://untreaty.un.org/cod/avl/pdf/ha/cppcg/cppcg_e.pdf (Accessed April 27, 2011).Google Scholar
Schabas, William. 2009. Genocide in International Law. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
“Schedule N—Mandate for Truth and Reconciliation Commission” In Residential Schools Settlement Agreement May 8, 2006http://www.residentialschoolsettlement.ca/SCHEDULE_N.pdf.Google Scholar
Secretariat Draft First Draft of the Genocide Convention, Prepared by the UN Secretariat, [May] 1947 [UN Doc. E/447]http://www.preventgenocide.org/law/convention/drafts.Google Scholar
UN Secretariat. 1947. Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide—the Secretariat and Ad Hoc Committee Drafts—First Draft of the Genocide Convention. May [UN Doc. E/447].Google Scholar
United Nations. 1994–1945. Draft declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples. http://www.unhchr.ch/huridocda/huridoca.nsf/(Symbol)/E.CN.4.SUB.2.RES.1994.45.En?OpenDocument (Accessed April 27, 2011)Google Scholar
United Nation General Assembly. 2007. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peopleshttp://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/en/drip.html (Accessed April 27, 2011).Google Scholar
Woolford, Andrew. 2009. “Ontological Destruction: Genocide and Aboriginal Peoples in Canada.” Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal 4 (1): 81–97.Google Scholar