At this point in the course, my interest lies in Government ‘interventions’ with Indigenous peoples. Specifically, I am considering residential schools in Canada and Australian intervention with mixed-raced Aboriginal children being removed from their homes and put into state institutions. I am intrigued by the governments’ rationale and thinking behind these policies as well as the length of time that they were enacted.  I am curious as to how policies that today seem to be oppressive and against human rights were enforced by a government under the premise of being in the best interest of its citizens, for over one hundred years. As a historian, I am interested in the historical context and societal beliefs that fostered these policies for so long. Personally I am interested in residential schools as one of the largest/most notorious schools was in my hometown.

I am not quite sure just yet how I will narrow the topic, but am hopeful this will naturally become apparent in the early stages of my research.

Some resources I think will be useful are:

– Cassidy, J. (2006). The stolen generations – Canada and Australia: The legacy of assimilation. Deakin Law Review, 11,1, 131-177.

– Indigenous Foundations – Comprehensive website from UBC that considers varied Indigenous topics (government policy, culture, community and politics, global indigenous issues)

– Jacobs, M.D. (2005). Maternal colonialsim: White women and Indigenous child removal in the American west and Australia, 1880 – 1940. The Western Historical Quarterly, 36, 4, 453-476.

– Miller, J. R. Shingwauk’s Vision. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1996.

– Milloy, John S. A National Crime: The Canadian Government and the Residential School System, 1879 to 1986.Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 1999.

– Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council, Indian Residential Schools: The Nuu-Chah-Nulth Experience. Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council, 1996.

– Report of the Royal Commission of Aboriginal Peoples – Report created by the department of Indian and Northern Affairs

– Where Are the Children – An interactive website that looks at the residential school experience, by Library and Archives Canada.