Tonight we are on our fifth storm that was not, all Winter we had alerts for disruptive snow storms etc. One after the other did not materialize, because of the position of the Island Province winds have a great impact on the trajectory of storms, what is coming at you one moment suddenly moves into another direction and misses us completely. I am not complaining but here the impact is serious, often because many small communities are isolated and some roads are not paved, schools will close for the day, in some cases government services will also be shut early. If the storm does not come or is 12 hours late and passes over us in the dead of night, it causes a lot of disruption in daily lives. Today the storm did not materialize and is 6 hours late, giving us light snow which melts on contact.
I was at the Art Gallery of the Confederation Centre this week and spoke with the Director about the Summer Exhibit and my availability as guide. I am very much looking forward to the new Summer show. It will be on the Canada 150, though the celebration of 2017 are over, this travelling exhibit criss-crossed Canada and is now coming here in a few weeks. The main artist is well known, Kent Monkman, a Cree native whose reputation is well established. His large canvasses will be accompanied and displayed with art pieces from the Glenbow Museum as reference to his own interpretation to the history of the last 150 years in Canada.
One piece is entitled the Scream and refers to the policy of the National Government to kidnap native children from their parents in order to civilize them in the notorious Residential Schools.
The Scream, Kent Monkman.
I know that this exhibit will be very controversial and many may not like it at all. A difficult topic on the abuse of the authorities against natives in Canada. As a guide I am not tasked with explaining national history nor taking sides or defending the actions of the national government at the time but to present the point of view of the artist, letting the public decide for themselves about the art work on show.
In the 19th century, the Canadian government believed it was responsible for educating and caring for aboriginal people in Canada. It thought their best chance for success was to learn English and adopt Christianity and Canadian customs. Ideally, they would pass their adopted lifestyle on to their children, and native traditions would diminish, or be completely abolished in a few generations.
The Canadian government developed a policy called “aggressive assimilation” to be taught at church-run, government-funded industrial schools, later called residential schools. The government felt children were easier to mold than adults, and the concept of a boarding school was the best way to prepare them for life in mainstream society.
Residential schools were federally run, under the Department of Indian Affairs. Attendance was mandatory for children in the many communities that didn’t have day schools. Agents were employed by the government to ensure all native children attended school.
The last school closed in 1996, there were 80 such schools in Canada operated by Churches both Protestant and Catholic. Some 150,000 children passed through the system in 110 years with devastating effects.
Larry Muffin At Home 
That is a powerful disturbing painting. If this was USA there would be Trump protestors over it. I am fascinated to hear how it is received.
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this is only one of several paintings by Monkman and others have a mocking tone of the white man view of history with homo-erotic theme superimposed.
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It has been touring in Canada, overall I would say the public has acknowledged that a terrible wrong was made to natives or First Nations as we call them. Of course some people reject the notion entirely.
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Glad your winter hasn’t been too bad. We had snow here in Virginia last night. It was of no consequence, but it is April! I agree with Urspo, the painting is disturbing.
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That is the point of Monkman’s paintings to disturb our comfort zone.
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It’s enough to give you the hee-bee-geebies.
Hope you dodge the storm.
JP
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What a powerful and exceptional painting. Heartbreaking.
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tous les tableaux de Monkman dérangent beaucoup et voilà sont but. On verra cet été comment le public va réagir.
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This is only one of his works, Monkman is a prolific artists and popular. Just google him to see his works. He is also on You Tube where he speaks of the idea behind his works.
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The United States had similar policies from the late 1800s up to 1950. I’ve seen documentaries that report that native American children were removed from their families, put into foster homes and boarding schools, and punished if they spoke their tribal language. Now there’s an effort among elders in many tribes to pass on their languages to young people, to preserve their culture. In many cases it’s too late.
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In Canada the Government has already spent about $1.8 billion dollars in compensation to 105,000 natives, the government is also taken steps to correct the mistakes and teaching programs have introduce lesson plans to educate kids. The media in Canada has also made much about this story largely ignored until 1996.
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Le tableau est dérangeant au max; je n’ai pas été capable de le regarder en détail. Neige: une tempête, c’est souvent l’emmerde, mais n’avez-vous pas besoin de l’eau ainsi apportée?
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As Fritzdenis said above in the comments, the US did the same thing to Native Americans. My family on my mother’s father’s side is from the Cherokee Nation. My mother, myself, and my daughters are all members of the tribe. The atrocities of the English on native tribes have been well documented, but also largely ignored by historians and not taught in schools. I wonder who thought this idea was good first…US or Canada? Did one nation follow the others ideas?
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In Canada schools now teach about the residential schools, so awareness is rising fast. The idea of having such schools in Canada was largely a British idea back in 1870 British evangelical christians who had a large influence on politicians in Britain and Canada, it was seen as part of the civilizing mission of the British Empire. The USA at that time was coming out of the Civil War and was not in a position to influence Canada.
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Sounds like a fascinating exhibit. I had no idea such things happened in Canada as the schools I attended didn’t offer any Canadian history classes. Thanks for a great post. I’ll have to google Monkman
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Canadian school did not teach about the Residential schools for native children until 5 yrs ago. Things are very different now.
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What a history! Aside from that, I am especially taken back by the aerial or birds-eye photo of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. Halifax, Nova Scotia was my home for three years as I had a military (U.S. Navy) assignment there 1995 to 1998. Living and working in Halifax made it one of my favorite duty stations! I have every intention to someday travel back. I hope to take my 22 year-old son who was born in Halifax in 1996 and who, to this day, is proud of his dual citizenship!
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