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NORTHWEST TERRITORIES
The RCMP was actively involved in tracking down and returning students to residential schools between the 1880s and 1990s, according to a recently released report.

Residential school students build a pyramid (unknown date) - photo courtesy of the Roman Catholic Diocese

The Role of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police During the Indian Residential School System, compiled by Marcel-Eugene LeBeuf on behalf of the RCMP, concluded that in most cases officers did so at the request of school principals, school staff and government officials.

"Health, safety and good care for the children appear to have been greater incentives for looking for truant children beyond the fact that officers were truant officers duty bound to find them," the report read.

The RCMP has had detachments in the Western Arctic for approximately 46 years but, according to the report, officers were involved in tracking down students much earlier.

In September of 1954, a patrol was made to Fort Providence and Fort Simpson to check up on families who failed to send their children to residential school, and in 1956 officers returned two children to school in Aklavik

In many cases, just the threat of police action was used by government and church officials to gain compliance.

Attendance matters represented about 75 per cent of school-related cases conducted by the RCMP.

The remainder included fining parents who didn't send their children to school, fire investigations and two cases of child abuse.

"The Indian Residential School system was established as an independent, closed system, which was generally not open to outsiders such as the police," the report read.

LeBeuf's report drew from historical files supplied by the Department of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development, the RCMP, religious organizations and from interviews conducted with former students.

Thirty-seven of the interviewees came from NWT schools, including 13 who attended Stringer Hall in Inuvik.

The majority of those interviewed said they never talked about residential school abuse with their parents, teachers or the police because of a lack of trust.

"Many interviewees said they learned to fear and not trust the RCMP over the years. The police were not perceived as a source of help but rather as an authority figure," the report read.

The report noted that principals, school staff, government workers, relatives and other members of the community were also involved in tracking down and returning students to school.

"There is no doubt that the role of the police in the Indian Residential School system and society in general evolved over the years," the report read.

"It appears the RCMP played a secondary role in supporting certain elements of the school system, but, until recently, rarely initiated police action."

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