By: P. H. Bryce, M. A., M.D.
An Appeal for Justice to the Indians of Canada
The Wards of the Nation:
Please see the link below to access the original book.
This is a damning report that describes the consequences of the Canadian government’s genocidal policies towards First Nations during the first two decades of the 1900s. It was published not long after Dr. Bryce, a renowned physician and public health specialist, was compelled to give up his position as a reporter for the Indian Affairs Department. While he worked as a civil servant, his report on the health conditions in the Canadian residential school system in western Canada was suppressed. The horrific actions of the school staff continued well into the 1980s and later. The last residential school was closed in Saskatchewan in 1996.
Even though Bryce described the appalling conditions he discovered in the residential schools, the government consistently disregarded his findings. He concluded that the Canadian colonial government deliberately promoted the extremely high rate of tuberculosis among First Nations in the Prairies to destroy indigenous communities.
The myth of residential schools not being used for genocide was exposed as a lie by Dr. Bryce. He took a courageous stand in an official letter to Canada’s parliament and First Nations a century ago as he appealed for justice. The fact that “we didn’t know” was deliberate: poet and genocide supporter and enforcer, Duncan Campbell Scott, for instance, carried out policies of deliberate neglect while posing as compassionate in public to try, as he put it, “to get rid of the Indian problem.”
As part of a campaign of forced assimilation, 150,000 Indigenous children were sent to a network of church and state-run institutions, including St. Anne’s, which was located in the Fort Albany community and operated from 1902 to 1976. The school gained notoriety for its pervasive mistreatment, which included the use of a homemade electric chair to discipline Indigenous children.
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I am Indigenous Cree/Metis. Main accomplishments:
1) Mary and her Metis Grandma: a coming-of-age story. Based on true stories, this is a gripping work of auto-fiction / biography and memoir that results in historical accountability.
Filled with wisdom, grit and honesty, this is the journey of a Métis teenager overcoming personal grief, family traumas, witnessing the pain of others, and experiencing the healing power of a Grandma’s love.
Instead of succumbing to self-pity, Mary rises above her presumed narrative with courage and love as her Grandma takes Mary under her wing to guide her into the mature woman she will become.
and
2) Moon Water: a documentary about the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. Moon Water was distributed primarily to educational institutions throughout N. America.
My childhood was spent in Jasper, Alberta, surrounded by nature. My amazing mother encouraged me to write stories and paint or draw pictures for her; she was my first teacher.
https://ritajasperart.com/
Bluesky @ritajasper.bsky.social
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