Letter to the editor: Anglican priest spoke out against residential schools -- to no avail

Notes: "On reading this very sad story of how our Indigenous people were treated ('Residential schools a form of 'cultural genocide', says TRC [Truth and Reconciliation Commission] report', anglicanjournal.com, June 2, 2015), I keep thinking how things could have been different. In 1943, my father, Archdeacon Henry Alderwood, was almost coerced by his bishop to accept the position of superintendent of the Anglican schools. He, of course, had to travel across the land to visit the schools, and he soon realized how wrong the whole concept was. When his office moved to Ottawa in 1946, he began to confront the government officials who were really in charge. One thing he found most distressing was forcing the children to speak English only; most knew no English when they arrived but were expected to know it somehow. The officials would not listen to my dad, or agree to any changes. This broke his heart (he compared those children with his own seven happy youngsters). He died of a heart attack at age 58, missing out on 23 grandchildren to come. He tried his best, but all in vain". [Text of entire article.]

Subjects: Indigenous peoples - Canada - Residential schools; Anglican Church of Canada - Residential schools; Native peoples - Canada - Languages; Alderwood, Henry ("Harry"), 1888-1947