Woods, Eric Taylor
(2012)
The anglican church of Canada and the Indian residential
schools: a meaning-centred analysis of the long road to
apology.
PhD thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science.
Abstract
The Canadian residential school system, which operated from the 1880s until the 1970s, was a
church-state enterprise designed to assimilate Aboriginal children into Euro-Canadian culture
and was characterized by poor sanitation and widespread abuse. Recently, it has been the
object of the most significant and most successful struggle for redress in Canadian history.
However, for most of its long history, the many failings of the residential school system went
unacknowledged by the organizations formerly involved in its operation. In this thesis, I seek to
explain why. In doing so, I provide a framework for further study on the residential schools and
on comparable cases.
To resolve my question, I conduct a comparative historical analysis of the Anglican Church of
Canada, which was formerly an important partner in the operation of the residential schools.
My data is drawn from a wide range of archival material. My analysis is framed by a meaningcentred approach to social behaviour referred to as the Strong Program. In sum, I argue that the
initial meaning of the school system as a sacred enterprise hindered acknowledgement of its
failings. For the church to acknowledge the failings of the residential schools, such a meaning
needed to be replaced with a new meaning emphasizing the tragic consequences of the school
system. This could only occur once the balance of social power had shifted away from the
defenders of the sacred meaning and towards its detractors.
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