Introduction
The accusation of genocide is one of the terrible political accusations against humanity. Genocidal politics is the use of a set of deliberately cruel acts aimed at the elimination of a certain human group based on the denial of respect for the rights of representatives of this group to a decent standard of living and, ultimately, to life. Cultural genocide is one of the most painful topics in Canada, mainly in connection with the activities of closed boarding schools – the primary tool for the cultural assimilation of Aboriginal people. Canada’s assimilation policy included educating indigenous children in closed schools, forcing Christianization of students, a ban on the use of native languages, and adherence to their traditions and norms of life. In Indian Horse, Richard Wagamese’s main character is one of the children who is forcibly taken to the local St. Jerome’s School, where he faces the brutality of the cultural genocide in Canada.
Origins of the Concept of Genocide
The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, adopted by resolution 260 (III) of the UN General Assembly on December 9, 1948, defines genocide. It is “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, any national, ethnic, racial or religious group including forcibly transferring children from one human group to another” (United Nations Office para. 4). While there is a clear definition legally enforceable, there is still debate about how it should be used to evaluate specific actions.
Over time, these disputes not only fade away but also gain relevance. At the same time, attempts are made to interpret the definition in favor of political propaganda. Cultural genocide has attracted particular interest in recent years. Unlike the common understanding of genocide, this implies destroying a group’s identity, whether ethnic, racial, or religious. Cultural genocide does not necessarily involve physical destruction.
The concept of cultural genocide was born in the same period when the Polish lawyer of Jewish origin, Rafael Lemkin, proposed the term ‘genocide’ itself. In his book Axis Rule in Occupied Europe, the author stated that genocide is not limited to physically destroying people but can also have a cultural dimension (United Nations Office para. 1). Altman emphasizes that Lemkin has a clear idea that it is possible to destroy a group without physically destroying it (339). In particular, it is about a ban on using one’s language or other cultural expressions.
Cultural Genocide in Canada
The Aboriginal assimilation boarding school system was introduced in Canada in the 1880s. Canada borrowed the pedagogical ideas that formed the basis of this system from the United States, where certain experience in this field had already been accumulated by that time (McGregor 12). It was based on the idea that the educational process within the framework of Aboriginal culture cannot prepare children for life and teach them anything (McGregor 12).
The locals’ traditional economic structure and way of life were regarded as backward; the need to familiarize indigenous peoples with the ‘higher’ European culture and standards of life was emphasized (Amir 106). Church organizations managed schools, and funding came from the federal budget (Amir 112). Education in boarding schools was compulsory and, according to the authorities’ decision, had to be carried out in isolation from children’s families and tribes. Cut off from the usual cultural environment, the younger generation was rapidly losing its ethnic self-awareness.
Canada’s Assimilation Policy in “Indian Horse”
Richard Wagamese’s novel Indian Horse depicts a story of cultural genocide in Canada by indigenous peoples. The work focuses on Saul’s traumatic experience at a boarding school where the protagonist and many other Native American children were forcibly placed to assimilate them into Canadian culture. The background of entire nations represented in the person of Saul makes it possible to understand how forced assimilation distorts consciousness. It almost always leads to the destruction of a person in the future. The novel allows one to look at history from the victim’s side and experience the thoughts and feelings of those who were part of the forced assimilation programs and what suffering this led to.
Wagamese begins his work by talking about the forced adoption of First Nations children into Canadian families, describing the experience of Saul’s parents. At that time, the native population was forcibly sent to boarding schools to educate new generations according to Canadian customs and ‘standards.’ Saul first encounters the phenomenon of forced assimilation through his sister Rachel, who was 6 years old when she was taken from her family against her will. After a few years, the child becomes the one who is taken away from the family (Wagamese and Pulling 8).
The scene is saturated with heartache for their loved ones, especially for Saul’s grandmother Naomi, who was dying, and Saul was taken from her hands. Naomi symbolizes Saul’s native beginning: “I reached out to her, screaming in a mixture of Ojibway and English…But instead I was swept away…and set free on a strange new river” (Wagamese and Pulling 26). This scene is especially significant regarding trauma, as her death symbolizes the loss of the native culture.
The loss of some Indigenous languages was one of the tragic consequences of forced assimilation as a result of cultural genocide in Canada. According to official figures, most surviving languages are now endangered, with only 17% of Aboriginal people claiming to speak an indigenous language (Khawaja 3). Mostly, these are elderly people living within the reservations. As a result, many oral folk arts, such as works of folklore and epics, disappeared.
Showing cultural genocide from the perspective of a young child, Wagamese emotionally shows the horror and chaos that have become the norm for forced assimilation. In the boarding school itself, the protagonist was in a state of despair; he was surrounded by fear and agony: “We lived under constant threat. If it wasn’t the direct physical threat of beatings, the Iron Sister or vanishing, it was the dire threat if purgatory, hell…” (Wagamese and Pulling 46). The author also shows the suffering of the parents of Saul and Rachel, who developed alcoholism due to the kidnapping of their children, which was a great grief for them. In this way, Wagamese depicts events that happened very often and how confusing and disorienting these events were for the children and their parents.
Conclusion
During the cultural genocide in Canada, the authorities offered many justifications for their policies. They argued that all actions aimed to develop the good of indigenous Canadians. Describing the consequences of this policy from the child’s point of view, Wagamese destroys the government’s claims and represents the policy as it really was. Through the novel, the reader can understand that the assimilation policy was actually a massive kidnapping scheme that led to the destruction of families and also developed trauma among the Native Canadians.
Works Cited
Altman, Jon. “Raphael Lemkin in Remote Australia: The Logic of Cultural Genocide and Homelands.” Oceania, vol. 88, no. 3, 2018, pp. 336–359. Web.
Amir, Ruth. “Cultural Genocide in Canada? It Did Happen Here.” Aboriginal Policy Studies, vol. 7, no. 1, 2018. Web.
Khawaja, Masud. “Consequences and Remedies of Indigenous Language Loss in Canada.” Societies, vol. 11, no. 3, 2021, p. 89. Web.
McGregor, Deborah. “Mino-Mnaamodzawin.” Environment and Society, vol. 9, no. 1, 2018, pp. 7–24. Web.
“United Nations Office on Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect.” United Nations. Web.
Wagamese, Richard. Indian Horse. Edited by Barbara Pulling, Douglas & McIntyre, 2013.