Indian Residential Schools: a governmental assault on religious freedom
In 2008 Canada's Prime Minister apologized to survivors of Canada’s Indian Residential Schools, which had operated for almost a century, and were intended to assimilate Aboriginal children into the dominant society. Some survivors appreciated the gesture. Others were critical, especially of the...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic/Print Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
[2015]
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| In: |
Studies in religion
Year: 2015, Volume: 44, Issue: 4, Pages: 441-456 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Canada
/ Indians
/ Mission school
/ Boarding school
/ Religious freedom
/ Infraction
|
| IxTheo Classification: | AD Sociology of religion; religious policy BB Indigenous religions KBQ North America RF Christian education; catechetics RJ Mission; missiology |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | In 2008 Canada's Prime Minister apologized to survivors of Canada’s Indian Residential Schools, which had operated for almost a century, and were intended to assimilate Aboriginal children into the dominant society. Some survivors appreciated the gesture. Others were critical, especially of the Prime Minister’s description of the schools as a "mistake" rather than a crime, which they convincingly argue they were, with respect to the crime of genocide. I will suggest in this essay that this was not the only omission - that the school system also profoundly violated religious freedom. By exploring dominant Canadian narratives concerning religious freedom, I will highlight the way in which: (i) the system was intended to be a religious assault; (ii) the system contravened dominant understandings of freedom of religion; and (iii) dominant understandings of religion have marginalized Aboriginal religion, such that the profoundly religious character of the residential school assault has yet to be fully confronted. |
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| ISSN: | 0008-4298 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Studies in religion
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1177/0008429815605774 |