“Her Majesty Agrees to Maintain Schools for Instruction in Such Reserves . . . Whenever the Indians of the Reserve Shall Desire It”: Cree Involvement in Day Schools in Western Canada, 1870s to 1920s

• In Event: Roundtable Session 3
  In Roundtable Session: Decolonizing Education in Settler Colonial Nation-States

Abstract

Cree representatives and Her Majesty’s Treaty Commissioners agreed to Treaty 6, 1876, which outlined obligations of both partners including the Crown’s commitment to establish schools. Western schooling was to be additional to Cree educational practices and not deter from their way of life (Morris, 1880/1991). The purpose of this research is to identify issues related to the establishment of day schools on selected First Nations in Treaty 6 from mid-1870s to 1920s; and to document the leadership and actions of First Nations communities which sought to have input into and control of on-reserve schools. This research is a multi-discipline approach to educational and community issues within legal, administrative, and social frameworks situated within post colonial discourse.

Author

• Sheila Betty Carr-Stewart, University of Saskatchewan