ALL CHILDREN MATTER

“When the school is on the reserve, the child lives with its parents, who are savages. … He is simply a
savage who can read and write,” he said, as quoted in the record of debates in the House of Commons.
“Indian children should be withdrawn as much as possible from the parental influence, and the only way
to do that would be to put them in central training industrial schools, where they will acquire the habits
and modes of thought of white men.”

John A. McDonald
Canada’s first prime minister – 1883

Over 150,000 children were taken from Indigenous Peoples. Over 4,000 died due to malnutrition,
disease and abuse. Remains of hundreds of children were found in mass graves across Canada.