Compare What We Learned by Helen Raptis, Hardcover | Indigo Chapters

Stories of Indigenous children forced to leave their communities to attend residential schools have haunted Canadians in recent years. Yet most Indigenous children in Canada attended “Indian day schools," and later public schools, near their home communities. Although church and government officials often kept detailed administrative records, little is known about the actual experiences of the students. In What We Learned, two generations of Tsimshian students – a group of elders born in the 1930s and 1940s and a group of middle-aged adults born in the 1950s and 1960s – reflect on their traditional Tsimshian education and the formal schooling they received in northwestern British Columbia. Their stories evoke both good and bad memories of their youth, their communities, and their education. Surprisingly, while the older generation experienced physical and verbal abuse at their schools, they were also exposed to, and have retained more of, their Tsimshian traditions and language. The younger generation, by contrast, although not subjected to physical abuse at school, experienced more discrimination, which eroded their connections to Tsimshian culture, language, and values. Their stories offer a starting point for understanding the legacy of day schools on Indigenous lives and communities. Their recollections also invite readers to consider a broader notion of education – one that includes traditional Indigenous views that conceive of learning as a lifelong experience that takes place across multiple contexts. | What We Learned by Helen Raptis, Hardcover | Indigo Chapters