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b0hemian_graham's review
5.0
Believe it or not, but two things prompted me to move this text up on my reading list. 1) the current Canadian election campaign and the ever growing antagonism towards native activists by the current federal government, and 2) Two of the novels from the Leaders and Legacies Young Adult series, the ones focusing on John Diefenbaker and Paul Martin, examined Native issues, and both novels were set around the time the residential school system was in ful swing.
I grew up 10 minutes down the road from the site of the former school. I was educated early on about how horrific the school really was, though it had long since shut its doors, yet, this work by Chris Benjamin discussed many issues, facts, and events I was unfamiliar with. Another notch in Nova Scotia's belt for government mandated abuse in the name of education. It does seem like we have a history of this, as in addition to Shubie, we had the Home for Coloured Children and the Shelburne Boys School.
The research by Benjamin is sound, and I have made note of several more resources to add to my to-read list.
I really cannot articulate how I felt about reading this work. It was a tough read, and it made me incrediably angry. It should be a mandatory reading requirement, along with Isabelle Knockwood's work. The history of the residential school system, and its lingering impact is something that very few Canadians know about, and those who have some brief idea, refuse to learn more. This is not going to go away, no matter how hard Canadians try to bury everything bad that's happened within our history. This text will make you angry, upset, and uncomfortable. It's supposed to. It needs to be read.The only way we can progress is if we learn from the past.
I grew up 10 minutes down the road from the site of the former school. I was educated early on about how horrific the school really was, though it had long since shut its doors, yet, this work by Chris Benjamin discussed many issues, facts, and events I was unfamiliar with. Another notch in Nova Scotia's belt for government mandated abuse in the name of education. It does seem like we have a history of this, as in addition to Shubie, we had the Home for Coloured Children and the Shelburne Boys School.
The research by Benjamin is sound, and I have made note of several more resources to add to my to-read list.
I really cannot articulate how I felt about reading this work. It was a tough read, and it made me incrediably angry. It should be a mandatory reading requirement, along with Isabelle Knockwood's work. The history of the residential school system, and its lingering impact is something that very few Canadians know about, and those who have some brief idea, refuse to learn more. This is not going to go away, no matter how hard Canadians try to bury everything bad that's happened within our history. This text will make you angry, upset, and uncomfortable. It's supposed to. It needs to be read.The only way we can progress is if we learn from the past.
relf's review
5.0
This carefully-researched history of one residential school in Nova Scotia provides a window on the abuse and cultural annihilation that people of European descent visited on indigenous people in North America. Chris Benjamin has written an engrossing and distressing story of a Dickensian system that worked and punished children without providing much at all in the way of education, in the name of "assimilation." This particular school closed in 1967, but the last such school in Canada did not close until 1996. I appreciated the last chapters, which discussed efforts to change the educational system for indigenous Canadians, the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and continuing injustices and challenges. Americans and Canadians alike--especially those of us of European descent--need to know the shameful history of the residential schools and their sad and very present legacy.
miramichireader's review
5.0
Five stars just for the exhaustive research that Mr. Benjamin must have had to do to produce this excellent book. A real eye-opener for those of us not familiar with the subject of the Residential Schools. Full review is here: http://miramichireader.ca/2015/12/two-nimbus-titles-ptsd-residential-schools/
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