ELL: Language policies in North America

[Henry Kammler]

>
>The recent note from a contributor at the University of Frankfurt was what
>the authors of The Circle Game denote as "the Standard Account".
>
>         [It] disposes neatly of all problems associated with Indian
>         Residential Schooling. There is a statement of initial motive,
>         a recognition of responsibility, an exoneration of victims
>         (Aboriginal Peoples), and the expression of a determination
>         to tackle present manifestations of existing, unintentional
>         injuries with all the armamentaria of modern social science.
>         In short, the Standard Account is an act of contrition.
I would be the last to call the injuries "unintentional". Not few of the
schools' personnel were utterly sadistic and all of them believed in the
racist ideological foundations of the school system. BTW, I have no need
for "contrition".

Eric is right in criticizing the "essentially the same" wording (Canada vs.
US) but there's no doubt that Canada's governments looked for inspiration
among their southern neighbors, e.g. when the first "Indian Industrial
Schools" were established and also much later, as in the case of the "White
Paper" proposal in 1969 which was a Canadian blueprint of the US
termination policy.

Victor Golla hinted me to the fact that, like in the UK, church and state
are not kept separate in Canada and thus schools run by the churches were
not against constitutional principles.

Eric again:
 > This being a product of
 > Indigenous intellectuals, any "fact" alleged
 > is presumptively rebutted by
 > the assertion to the contrary by any European,
 > misplaced or otherwise lost.

If Eric means that only those who are personally affected by residential
schooling have valid points to make, I'd rather shut up here. And delete
half of his citations.

Henry

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