CJ at residential schools

[Henry Kammler]

In J.R. Miller's "Shingwauk's Vision" (p.200) I found an interesting reference
to CJ from 1902. The rules adopted by the Presbyterian (United Church) Ahousat
School included
"It is an offense to speak either Chinook or Siwash."

Ahousat Indian Residential School was established in 1893 on Flores Island (at
the same time as the notorious Alberni IRS in Alberni) and existed until 1939
when it burnt down.
The "offense" of speaking a native tongue was severely punished at all
Protestant residential schools in BC (which included strapping, having the
offender's mouth washed with soap, refusal of meals, locking the offender into
a closet, depriving them of their holidays by keeping them at the school
during the summer etc.). Roman Catholic schools, such as Kakawis (Christie)
residential school had caught up with these assimilatory practices by 1920,
when Indian schooling became compulsory and was reinforced by the RMP. [This
is not in total concord with the practice elsewhere: at some schools in the
Yukon Territory and in the northern Prairie Provinces the use of Inuktitut,
Cree or Chipewyan was to a certain extent tolerated.]

What is interesting here, is that CJ fell victim to the same "civilisatory"
ideology as *ordinary* native languages (Nuuchahnulh in the above case).
Still, as we can infer from the quotation, there existed a clear distinction
between CJ and "Siwash", probably related to the perceived degree of
"savage-ness" of  these languages. It had probably not slipped from the
missionaries' attention that CJ was used in proselytising efforts elsewhere.

Henry