The residential school system has to come to represent one of the darkest periods and greatest atrocities in Canadian history. Today, the verbal, physical and even sexual abuses experienced by Canadian aboriginal children are common knowledge, and the motivation behind this systematic attempt by the Canadian government in conjunction with the Catholic Church to eradicate the culture and ancient practices of an entire community is well known. The residential school system was designed to assimilate indigenous groups into colonial Canadian society by any means possible, and this brutal destruction of identity and culture is an abhorrent and embarrassing period of history for many Canadians, and rightfully so. Perhaps more tragically, the effects of the system linger in many aboriginal societies, and issues of resentment, poverty and loss of identity stemming from this dark period of history continue to plague many indigenous populations at large, further widening the gulf between aboriginal peoples and the rest of colonial Canada.

I’ve often wondered how there could be so little investigation, so little resistance to the residential school system during the decades in which it operated. However, I now feel that I have part of the answer after watching a propaganda video filmed and published by the Canadian government in an effort to conceal the true nature and motivation behind the residential school system. In this video, bright-eyed, happy aboriginal children play skip rope, enjoy participating in a game of hockey and eagerly learn cursive English vocabulary from an earnest and honest teacher. Throughout this video, a calm and eloquent speaker provides a voiceover describing the various activities enjoyed by the aboriginal children, while constantly emphasizing that enrollment in the residential school was for their own good. He stresses that these schools allow children in remote areas of the country to receive an education, and also how a Western education in English would allow the children to fully join and compete in Canadian society. If I watched this video when in aired in the 1950’s, I certainly would be persuaded of the benefits awaiting aboriginal children who attended a residential school, and I would also be convinced that they were being fairly, compassionately and positively treated. The video would have achieved its purpose in the eyes of the government, fully convincing me to support the residential school system.

However, with the benefit of hindsight, I completely recognize the video as propaganda and a blatant lie to the Canadian people. The music alternates between a happy, playful tune and a tranquil, peaceful tone, immediately conveying a positive impression on a viewer. The images of happy aboriginal children appear fake and staged. In particular, the fact that the government is asserting an argument that “everything is fine” in relation to how it is treating a group of its own citizens raises flags of alarm in my mind, as I recognize this to be a classic standby of state propaganda. In truth, this video reminds me of similar videos that I’ve seen produced by Nazi Germany, which were designed to display the positive experience of a state concentration camp. The video produced by the Canadian government is clearly propaganda: not only does it ignore the horrors that we know today as being an intrinsic part of the residential school system in an attempt to package a more positive message to the Canadian public, but it also features the government attempting to argue that it knows best for its people, and that its residential schools explicitly benefit and support the children who attend them. Any time any government makes assertions like these, I think the public should immediately become cautious of being duped by persuasive propaganda. It’s unfortunate that the Canadian public failed to recognize the deceit of their government until it was too late to undo the atrocities and absolve the countless wounds inflicted upon innocent aboriginal citizens by decades of the residential school system.