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Formats:
Live Online
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Duration:
12 hours
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Registration Fee:
$195
Start Date
Live Online 
Part Time: October 19, 2022 – November 09, 2022
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Overview
In this course, students will analyze the history of the residential school system in Canada. Students will become familiar with terms relating to residential schools and the forms of segregation, isolation and abuse that took place in residential schools. This course will examine the involvement of the Canadian government and the various churches that created and implemented the framework for residential schools, as well as the church-government relationship. Students will gain an appreciation for Indigenous culture in comparison to the vastly different teachings and structure of residential school education. The impact of residential schools is seen today generations after the last residential school shut down, and this course will look at some of the initiatives in reconciliation that are happening currently.
Learning Objectives
Upon completion of this course, the successful student will have reliably demonstrated the ability to understand:
- Explain the history of residential schools
- Identify the Canadian government's mission when creating residential schools and their reasonings for targeting Indigenous children
- Define colonization, assimilation and aggressive civilization
- Explain the mechanisms used to remove language, culture and beliefs
- Explain the history of Catholic missionary boarding schools and the funding from the government to run them
- Identify the churches that partnered with the Canadian government to run the residential schools
- Differentiate between the missions of the government and the mission of the churches in residential schools
- Compare the themes in Indigenous cultural teachings and the themes in the limited education received in residential schools
- Determine the legislation that permitted assimilation
- Discuss the Indian Act and the stipulation making residential schools mandatory
- Identify the punishments on parents who tried to protect their kids from residential schools
- Outline the ways in which Indigenous culture was stripped from children in residential schools.
- Describe the harmful conditions of residential schools and the abuse that took place in these institutions
- Identify the approximate number of Indigenous children who attended residential schools, the fatalities throughout their time running and the recent uncovering of mass grave sites
- Identify the lifelong impacts on residential school survivors and their family members, including psychological trauma and intergenerational trauma
- Discuss the programs and initiatives currently in place today to begin the process of healing and reconciliation
Instructors*
Betsy Bruyere
Bruyere is a Survivor of the Canadian Residential School System who was confined for seven years, starting from age six. Betsy Bruyere returned to school as an adult student and graduated from Simon Fraser University with a Master’s in Adult Education. She has also received “Sacred Elder Teachings” from Respected Community Elders. Betsy has been teaching about the issues surrounding Canadian Residential Schools for over 20 years and she has developed the skills to create a safe and welcoming learning space despite its controversial and emotional subject matter. As an educator, she recognizes and respects education as the key to becoming healthy, respectful and contributing global citizens.
Katherine Morton Richards
Katherine Morton Richards (she/her) is a settler colonial researcher, PhD candidate and instructor at Memorial University of Newfoundland. She is interested in the meaning-making processes found in political and social responses of settler colonial institutions to colonial violence. Her PhD research identifies points of intersection between violence, Indigenous identity and colonialism in relation to the material spaces of residential schools. She examines residential schools as carceral spaces that contradict Canada’s national sense of self. She completed research in her MA on the construction of tropes of Indigenous identity and their presence in Indigenous-focused public inquiries. Her independent research focuses on femicide in Canada, particularly the case of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls (MMIWG).
*Subject to change without notice
Dates
Live Online
Part Time:
- October 19, 2022 – November 09, 2022
- Students must devote at least 3 hours per week to attend live webinars
- Webinars will be held on Wednesdays from 5:00 to 8:00 pm PST
- Outside of live instructional periods, students will be expected to take part in various independent and/or group activities
Required Materials
- Residential Schools: Righting Canada’s Wrongs. Author: Melanie Florence. Publisher: James Lorimer & Company Ltd., Publishers, July 2021. ISBN-13:9781459416611.
Fees
- The registration fee for this course is $195.
Technical Requirements
Live Online Students
Ashton College uses web conferencing tools for conducting online classes and online learning management systems for managing resources, assignments, and grades. These tools help instructors and students connect live online as well as asynchronously. The basic requirements for online learning include a computer, webcam, speakers, and a microphone or a headset and headphones, along with a reliable internet connection. Though online learning can be pursued using smartphones and tablets, the use of laptops or desktop computers is encouraged for an enhanced learning experience.
This course does not require approval by the Private Training Institutions Branch of the Ministry of Advanced Education, Skills & Training. As such, it was not reviewed.
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