5 ms·

I would say “not very well known”. That’s why there’s such a furor now. The extent of the deaths was quite well known to anyone who read the reporting on the re

by graeme 5y ago

I would say “not very well known”. That’s why there’s such a furor now. The extent of the deaths was quite well known to anyone who read the reporting on the residential schools and the truth and reconciliation commission. But clearly a lot of people didn’t know that so these findings are a shock. Probably an instance of “one death is a tragedy, a million is a statistic”. Some countable number of graves has a more visceral effect than “disease was rampant in residential schools are up to 40% of children in attendance died”.

inasio 5y ago
Agree, this was known in that you could read about it if you cared to, but was not taught in schools or acknowledged officially. A different approach would be to go the Germany route and confront the past head on and not shy away from it.
sandworm101 5y ago
>> But clearly a lot of people didn’t know that so these findings are a shock. Only those who have actively avoided the issue. I was taught it in school, then again during university. The issue has been discussed on radio/TV for decades. At work (government) we all attend aboriginal awareness training, where residential schools are a big subject. It is an acknowledged part of Canadian history. Those who are shocked now are only so because they chose to remain ignorant year after year.
- graeme 5y ago
  Use some basic reasoning: * Many people are shocked and surprised by these findings * They are sympathetic to aboriginal causes and not sticking their fingers in their ears. They were not trying to avoid it You are in the educated set (university), work for the government, and are commenting on a text based forum so you probably easily consume and retain text based information. You also had a school that taught death stats specifically (mine didn’t) and are young enough that these stats were known at the time the curriculum was formed. If most people were like you, these findings would not be headline news. The fact that the finding are surprising sympathetic people should indicate that you’re not the majority. And it is not fair to people to say they “choose” to remain ignorant because they didn’t pay close attention and integrate statistics at the time the truth and reconciliation report was released. Do you have no gaps in your knowledge? In particular outside of bookish, text based knowledge, which you are surely top 1% in.
  - defaultname 5y ago
    "Use some basic reasoning" It is impossible to be Canadian without having been thoroughly exposed to the realities of the residential school system. There have been multiple government inquiries. There were reparations paid. There was a truth and reconciliation commission. This is not at all new news. But it's being presented as new news making people think this is some new discovery, as if unknown murder pits have been exposed. As if it's in addition to what everyone already knew about the residential school system. But it isn't. Aside from some exaggerated, unverified numbers, there is literally nothing new in these claims. And it has become essentially a PR vehicle, so it's going to percolate for months to come.
    - highstep 5y ago
      for some perspective, i went to school in ontario from 1986-2004 and never heard a single word about residential school. I think its safe to say that canada is only starting out on this journey of reconciliation. Its going to take decades of work and focus to right these wrongs.
    - graeme 5y ago
      I certainly agree none of this is news per se. I disagree that most people know about it. I think most people were aware on some level of what residential schools were and had an opinion that bad stuff happened there. I do not think most people knew there was high levels of death. Even though that was quite clear from the report. The other key thing is social media was not big in the era of the truth and reconciliation report. You could easily tune out the details or take it in passively. But finding the graves now, in 2021, allows for virality.
      - stevenhuang 5y ago
        For what it's worth, elementary schools in Vancouver, BC were taught about residential schools as part of regular curriculum. I know our classes had it.
        5y ago

by graeme 5y ago

inasio 5y ago

Agree, this was known in that you could read about it if you cared to, but was not taught in schools or acknowledged officially. A different approach would be to go the Germany route and confront the past head on and not shy away from it.

sandworm101 5y ago

>> But clearly a lot of people didn’t know that so these findings are a shock. Only those who have actively avoided the issue. I was taught it in school, then again during university. The issue has been discussed on radio/TV for decades. At work (government) we all attend aboriginal awareness training, where residential schools are a big subject. It is an acknowledged part of Canadian history. Those who are shocked now are only so because they chose to remain ignorant year after year.

graeme 5y ago
Use some basic reasoning: * Many people are shocked and surprised by these findings * They are sympathetic to aboriginal causes and not sticking their fingers in their ears. They were not trying to avoid it You are in the educated set (university), work for the government, and are commenting on a text based forum so you probably easily consume and retain text based information. You also had a school that taught death stats specifically (mine didn’t) and are young enough that these stats were known at the time the curriculum was formed. If most people were like you, these findings would not be headline news. The fact that the finding are surprising sympathetic people should indicate that you’re not the majority. And it is not fair to people to say they “choose” to remain ignorant because they didn’t pay close attention and integrate statistics at the time the truth and reconciliation report was released. Do you have no gaps in your knowledge? In particular outside of bookish, text based knowledge, which you are surely top 1% in.
- defaultname 5y ago
  "Use some basic reasoning" It is impossible to be Canadian without having been thoroughly exposed to the realities of the residential school system. There have been multiple government inquiries. There were reparations paid. There was a truth and reconciliation commission. This is not at all new news. But it's being presented as new news making people think this is some new discovery, as if unknown murder pits have been exposed. As if it's in addition to what everyone already knew about the residential school system. But it isn't. Aside from some exaggerated, unverified numbers, there is literally nothing new in these claims. And it has become essentially a PR vehicle, so it's going to percolate for months to come.
  - highstep 5y ago
    for some perspective, i went to school in ontario from 1986-2004 and never heard a single word about residential school. I think its safe to say that canada is only starting out on this journey of reconciliation. Its going to take decades of work and focus to right these wrongs.
  - graeme 5y ago
    I certainly agree none of this is news per se. I disagree that most people know about it. I think most people were aware on some level of what residential schools were and had an opinion that bad stuff happened there. I do not think most people knew there was high levels of death. Even though that was quite clear from the report. The other key thing is social media was not big in the era of the truth and reconciliation report. You could easily tune out the details or take it in passively. But finding the graves now, in 2021, allows for virality.
    - stevenhuang 5y ago
      For what it's worth, elementary schools in Vancouver, BC were taught about residential schools as part of regular curriculum. I know our classes had it.
      - 5y ago