What I would have asked Father Maynard (AN EXPOSITORY ESSAY)

What I will ask Father Maynard
By Odin Callahan Swidzinski

            Many survivors of the Residential School system testify that the system has destroyed their culture, and in turn, their identity. However, we wonder whether the system had good intentions, but in the long term was marked with corruption, leading to the mistreatment of the First Nations. We also believe that they could possibly be over-exaggerating the mistreatment, so that they could have an excuse to preserve their own culture. However, some of the mistreatment could be at one residential school, which is called Kuiper Island Residential School, located off the coast of Victoria Island. They had plenty of students and staff, and even a headmaster who was later indicted with sexual abuse against the Residential School students. Thus, what I am going to discuss is the questions I would ask Father Maynard.

            I would ask Father Maynard what was his opinion on the Residential Schools. For him, he would respond, that he believed the Residential Schools helped the First Nations become a “civilized” ethnic group, instead of what they try to damage everything the Europeans have known. He would’ve said that we taught them how to farm, to work at a job, and to instil traditional European values onto the Aboriginals. Thus, another thing he could’ve said that we taught them English, mathematics, how to read English, and European science, because he felt the European model was much superior to the Aboriginal model. However, he would’ve also cited that in the long term, they helped the Aboriginals become a contributor to society.

            Another thing I would’ve asked him was why he was so determined for the First Nations to adopt European values when they could exchange ideas, just like how they did it with Hudson’s Bay Company. He may reply that at the time, the Europeans believed that they were superior to the First Nations, and because of that opinion, many believed that dominant opinion about the First Nations. Even in the 1950s and 1960s, he was enforcing the Federal Government’s orders to maintain the European values instead of the First Nation culture that used to dominate the Dominion of Canada. To quote A.O. Neville, “he would’ve attempted to protect the Aboriginal peoples from themselves.”  Thus, that was why we wanted to “civilize” the Indians. We did not treat them like how Rome treated trade to China in the past. At the time, we treated them like what they were at the time. Therefore, we did not want any Aboriginals to follow their values, but instead to follow a new culture, the European culture.

            Finally, I would’ve asked Father Maynard whether he regrets the actions of what he did when he was the headmaster of Kuiper Island Residential School. He could have responded that he admitted to his share of the atrocities that were committed in the Residential School System, from beatings to sexual abuse, and even taking First Nation children away to head to the Residential School. However, at the time, it was the orders of the Dominion of Canada for him to take the children away and make them attend the Residential School in Kuiper Island. It may have been wrong, but he may have wanted, like many others, to civilize the First Nations in Vancouver Island, to try to make them more European, to adopt a new identity that is European. He may have regretted the long term results and the damage that has impacted the First Nations ethnic groups in Vancouver Island. Thus, I would’ve summed up that he regrets for doing his part in the Residential Schools, but that at the time, he was following orders from the Dominion of Canada.

            The topic I had discussed was what I would’ve asked Father Maynard. I would have asked him what his opinion on the Residential School system was, and he could’ve replied that it had good intentions but due to corruption, it went downhill. I could’ve asked him why Europeans were so determined to eradicate the First Nations identity from the Dominion of Canada, and he may have replied that it was to “civilize” the First Nations and adopt a European identity. Finally, I would ask whether he regrets his role for the actions during the Residential School system, and he could have regretted what he had done for the First Nations in Canada, but that it was due to orders from the Government. To conclude this essay, I leave you with one question. Was the Residential Schools had good intentions or was bad all along? The choice is yours to make.