In the 1870’s the federal Canadian government took part in developing and administrating residential schools. The objectives of these schools were to remove and isolate aboriginal children from the influence of their homes, families, traditions and cultures, and to assimilate them into the dominant culture. However as demonstrated in the TRC it was made clear to me that the treatment of these children was completely unfair to the point in which it became almost surreal and completely unbelievable. It was believed the mission of the residential schools was “to kill the Indian in the child.” In Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s statement of apology from 2008 in which he apologized for the mistreatment of former students of Indian residential schools he says that it “is a sad chapter in our history.”
However even after the 1870’s it would seem as though the federal Canadian government never really seemed to have changed as I have noticed whilst conducting my own research of the Chung collection from the UBC archives under the rare books and special collections. When the Chinese started to emigrate over from China their lives were never peachy, they were actually rather grim. They weren’t treated fairly, they had to deal with completely unreasonable situations, such include the head tax they were obliged to pay. Also like the residential schools the aboriginal children were forced to attend, in school the Chinese were also forced to be put through a western way of learning as I noted from my research from the archives. From my research I noted that not only were the children being taught but it was almost as though the goal of the schools was to kill the Chinese in the child. However this being said in the children’s workbooks their was a lot of evidence showing that the students were trying to maintain their identity by writing certain words in Chinese. However this was minimal which highlights the strong desire for the schools to change and westernize the students. Like the aboriginals this event should also be classified as a sad chapter in Canadian history.
This is an interesting connection I haven’t thought of yet; reflecting on Canada’s handling with the Chinese-Canadians further reveals their skillful intentions to westernize their country. The fact that you were able to gather this information about this community of that certain time period, and make a construction of their identity is also something to reflect about. As Carter Rodney explicates, archives are “how [a community] know[s] [themselves] as individuals, groups, and societies” (221), so without the existence of this archive collection that you decided to research on, you would not have been able to study the identity of those Chinese-Canadians, and might not ever be aware of this past reality. Thus, not only should we appreciate that archives can reveal history to us, but we should also acknowledge the purpose of their creation: to be remembered.
Carter, Rodney. “Of Things Said and Unsaid: Power, Archival Silences, and Power in Silence.” Archivia 61 (2006): 221.