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Archive Images from inside Canada's Aboriginal Residential Schools
BBC News
June 11, 2008
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In the 19th and 20th Centuries, tens of thousands of Canadian aboriginal children were sent to church-run, government-funded boarding schools, called residential schools.
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For much of that time, attendance was compulsory.
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The objective was to assimilate aboriginals into mainstream society.
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The students attended classes in the morning, and learned practical skills, such as sewing for the girls, in the afternoon.
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Gardening was also part of the training at the Lake La Ronge school in La Ronge, Saskatchewan, 1929.
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Boys from the Williams Lake residential school in Williams Lake, British Columbia, date unknown.
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Many families were forced apart, although some parents wanted their children to attend.
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The intent was to 'kill the Indian in the child', aboriginal leaders say.
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The last school closed in the late 1990s, and former students are being compensated for their suffering.
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