Indian Day School Survivors

Counselling and crisis support is available to Day School Survivors 24 hours a day, 7 days a week through the Hope for Wellness Hotline at 1-855-242-3310 or online at www.hopeforwellness.ca. Counselling is available in English, French, Cree, Ojibway and Inuktitut, on request.

Indian Day Schools

The Canadian government and the Roman Catholic, Anglican, United, and Presbyterian churches operated nearly 700 Indian Day Schools across Canada, with more than 100 operating in Manitoba. Indian Day Schools operated for over a century, from the 1860s to 1990s. The purpose of the day schools was to assimilate First Nation children and erase language and culture. Children who attended the schools endured verbal, physical, and sexual abuse.

The schools were built within or near First Nations and other Indigenous communities. The intent and child-targeted assimilation policies of Indian Day Schools were the same as the Residential School system. The main difference was that children returned home each day. Funding for these schools was usually provided by the federal government to religious orders who operated the schools, however there were also provincial and territorial run day schools.

Indian Day Schools were infamously underfunded, poorly staffed and did not meet the same educational standards as provincially funded public schools.

SCO Pathways to Healing Program

In September 2022, SCO launched the Pathways to Healing Program to support healing for those dealing with ongoing traumas associated with Indian Residential Schools, Indian Day Schools, the Sixties Scoop and child welfare system, and the issue of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and gender diverse people.

Our liaisons are ready to assist and advocate for survivors and families interacting with various colonial systems, and to help in the coordination of gatherings while providing emotional support for Survivors and their families.

Contact pathwayshealing@scoinc.mb.ca or call 204-946-1869 or toll-free 1-866-876-9701 during regular office hours.

Indian Day School Map

An estimated 200,000 Indigenous children were forced to attend Indian Day Schools that operated on First Nations all across what is now known as Canada.

Map of Indian Day Schools

To view this interactive map, visit https://www.indiandayschools.org/

Common Terms Associated with Indian Day Schools (Adapted from https://shewalksabout.com/day-school/)

Mission Schools: Schools operated by the churches prior to the development of formal Indian Day Schools. These institutions would often be seasonal in nature and were not officially administered by the federal government in most cases.

Indian Day School Students or Survivors: Children who were forced to attend an Indian Day School within their First Nation, community or close by and who returned home each day.

Day Scholars: Children who attended residential schools for the day only, returning home each evening.

Child-Targeted Assimilation: Refers to the institutions where children were and continue to be subject to multiple methods of oppression, assimilation, and discrimination in the form of colonial government policies and practices such as residential schools, day schools, the Sixties Scoop and the Child Welfare System.

For more information on day schools, visit:

https://www.mcgill.ca/indigenous/learning-about-indian-day-schools

https://irshdc.ubc.ca/learn/indian-day-schools/

https://www.indiandayschools.org/

https://www.indigenouswatchdog.org/actions-commitments/stakeholder/indian-day-schools/call-to-action-29/

https://shewalksabout.com/day-school/