UNAMA'KI COLLEGE-RESIDENTIAL SCHOOL RESEARCH PROJECT

UNAMA'KI COLLEGE. On Monday I had my first with Stephen Augustine, the director of the course I am taking this summer. We talked, in an introductory way, the topics we will be covering regarding the Residential Schools.

I could confirm some of the thoughts I had while I read Out of the Depths of Isabelle Knockwood and The Survivors Speak of The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. Even though it is a not known situation for us, this does not exempt that the kids that had to go through those schools were abused -emotionally and psychologically, physically and sexually. Therefore, that this is a topic that has to be talked about, and that has to be taught in the schools, not only in Canada, but also in Europe. We must not forget it was the European culture that the government and the Catholic Church, following instructions of the British and French Crowns, wanted the kids to assimilate into, who felt they were powerful enough to determine that Indigenous culture was inferior, and that the Europeans were the ones who occupied their lands.

Memorial at the Wagmatcook First Nation. Unama’ki. Photo © Ondartxo Arbilla.

IONA / BAILE NAN GÀIDHEAL / HIGHLAND VILLAGE

On July 16th we visited the Highland Village in Iona, a place in which the presence of Scottish people in Cape Breton Island and the rest of Nova Scotia in represented. It is a very interesting comparison with the Fortress, because instead of focusing in just one period in time, the history of the Scottish from their arrival in the 18th century to 1920, when the presence of Gaelic starts to decreased, is portrayed.

Highland Village. Photo © Marta Vazquez.