Eight years in the making, Jackson Pind’s Students by Day: Colonialism and Resistance at Curve Lake Indian Day School emerges from deep collaboration with survivors. A settler- Anishinaabe historian, Pind is an assistant professor of Indigenous methodologies at Trent University in Peterborough, Ont. In this conversation with Julie McGonegal, he explores the day school system, the resilience of survivors and how churches might foster reconciliation through data sovereignty.

Julie McGonegal: How did Indian day schools work?

Δ

Jackson Pind: Day schools operated much like residential schools. The United Church ran at least 95, and the Roman Catholic Church over 325 nationwide. Teachers were employed by the church and reimbursed by the federal government. The key difference was that children returned home each night, as schools were on reserves. Yet the purpose remained the same: assimilation through forced English-language instruction and Christian teachings. Unfortunately, a lot of abuse took place.

JM: How did the Curve Lake day school come about?

JP: By the 1860s, a missionary company established what you could call a day school, focused on Christian teachings and English. In the late 1890s, the company folded its Canadian missions. This left a gap that the Methodist Missionary Society filled around 1899. It firmly established the day school and started mandating education through the Indian Act. By 1923, 40 to 50 students attended daily. The United Church operated the school from 1926 until 1978, when it returned to Curve Lake........

© Broadview Magazine