Lessons in Legitimacy: Colonialism, Capitalism, and the Rise of State Schooling in British Columbia

348 Pages·2022·9.287 MB·English

by  Sean Carleton

LESSONS IN LEGITIMACY

© UBC Press 2022
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without prior written permission of
the publisher.
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Title: Lessons in legitimacy : colonialism, capitalism, and the rise of state schooling
in British Columbia / Sean Carleton.
Names: Carleton, Sean, author.
Description: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifers: Canadiana (print) 20220280479 | Canadiana (ebook) 20220281262 |
ISBN 9780774868075 (hardcover) | ISBN 9780774868099 (PDF) |
ISBN 9780774868105 (EPUB)
Subjects: LCSH: Education—British Columbia—History. | LCSH: Education and state—
British Columbia—History. | LCSH: Education—Social aspects—British Columbia—
History. | LCSH: Public schools—British Columbia—History. | LCSH: Church and
education—British Columbia—History. | LCSH: Indigenous peoples—Education—
British Columbia—History. | CSH: Indigenous peoples—British Columbia—
Residential schools—History.
Classifcation: LCC LA418.B7 C37 2022 | DDC 370.9711—dc23
UBC Press gratefully acknowledges the fnancial support for our publishing program of
the Government of Canada (through the Canada Book Fund), the Canada Council for the
Arts, and the British Columbia Arts Council.
This book has been published with the help of a grant from the Canadian Federation for the
Humanities and Social Sciences, through the Awards to Scholarly Publications Program,
using funds provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
Set in AkzidenzGrotesk and Fournier by Artegraphica Design Co.
Copy editor: Deborah Kerr
Proofreader: Carmen Tiampo
Indexer: Emily LeGrand
Cover Image: Image B-00342, South Fort George School, courtesy of the Royal

BC Museum
Cover designer: Alexa Love

UBC Press
The University of British Columbia
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Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z2
www.ubcpress.ca
Contents
List of Illustrations vii
List of Abbreviations ix
Preface x
Acknowledgments xiii
Maps xvi
Introduction 3
Part 1: Colonial Origins, 1849–71
1 Creating Common Schools 21
2 Settler Anxiety and Missionary Schooling 48
Part 2: Ruling by Schooling, 1871–1900
3 Public Schools for the People 81

4 Inventing Indian Education 110

Part 3: Reform and Resistance, 1900–30

5 Reforming Public Schools 145

6 Revising and Resisting Indian Education 178
Conclusion 207
vi Contents
Appendix 1: Growth of Public Schools 213
Appendix 2: Growth of Indian Education 214
Appendix 3: Indian Day Schools, 1930 215
Appendix 4: Indian Residential Schools, 1930 217
Notes 218
Bibliography 283
Index 308
Illustrations
Maps
0.1 Indigenous Peoples in British Columbia xvi
0.2 Regions of British Columbia xvii
0.3 Indian Day Schools and Indian Residential Schools
in British Columbia xviii
Figures
1.1 Fort Victoria, c. 1860 24
1.2 Colonial Administration Buildings, Victoria, c. 1860s 26
1.3 Craigfower School, c. 1850s 29
1.4 Reverend Edward Cridge, c. 1870s 31
2.1 A mission school in Quw’utsun territory, c. 1860s 50
2.2 Governor James Douglas, c. 1860s 54
2.3 Reverend J.B. Good and his school, c. 1860s 73
3.1 Superintendent John Jessop, c. 1870s 85
3.2 The Cache Creek Provincial Boarding School, c. 1870s 87

3.3 Hastings Sawmill School, c. 1886 96

3.4 Port Alberni School, c. 1887 96
3.5 Bamfeld School, c. 1895 97

3.6 Hazelton School, c. 1899 97
3.7 Sooke schoolchildren, c. 1880s 98

3.8 Sooke schoolchildren and teacher, c. 1890s 99
3.9 Children going to school, c. 1890s 102
4.1 Metlakatla, c. 1880s 112
vii
viii Illustrations
4.2 Port Essington Indian Day School, c. 1890 125
4.3 Alberni Indian Boarding School, c. 1896 126
4.4 St. Mary’s Indian Boarding School, c. 1880s 132
4.5 Kuper Island Indian Industrial School band, c. 1900 135
4.6 Port Simpson students with Thomas Crosby, c. 1890s 139
5.1 Sidney schoolchildren, c. 1910s 150
5.2 Ella Gladstone, c. 1925 154
5.3 South Fort George School, c. 1911 155
5.4 Capilano School, c. 1920s 156
5.5 Capilano School, c. 1920s 156
5.6 Technical class, c. 1910s 160
5.7 Sewing class at King Edward High School, c. 1918 162
5.8 Victoria High School under construction, c. 1912 165
5.9 Cadets at Boys’ Central School, c. 1918 171
5.10 Woodpecker School, c. 1925 174
6.1 Ucluelet Indian Day School, c. 1900s 185
6.2 Songhees Indian Day School, c. 1910s 186
6.3 Williams Lake Indian Residential School, c. 1920s 193
6.4 Kootenay Indian Residential School, c. 1920s 197
6.5 Alert Bay Indian Residential School, c. 1930 202
6.6 Sechelt Indian Residential School, c. 1920s 204
Abbreviations
ARSP Annual Report of the Public Schools
BCA British Columbia Archives
BCPP British Columbia Provincial Police
BCTF British Columbia Teachers’ Federation
CMS Church Missionary Society
CO Colonial Ofce, United Kingdom
DIA Department of Indian Afairs
HBC Hudson’s Bay Company
IDS Indian Day School
IRS Indian Residential School
LAC Library and Archives Canada
MONOVA Museum and Archives of North Vancouver
NA National Archives, United Kingdom
NCTR National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation
NWMP North West Mounted Police

OMI Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate

RCMP Royal Canadian Mounted Police

SPG Society for the Propagation of the Gospel

TRC Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada

ix
Preface
I have spent much of my life learning, and subsequently trying to un-
learn, colonial legitimacy. As such, I would like to preface this study by
positioning myself and acknowledging how this struggle with legitimacy
has shaped my life and the making of this book.
I am a settler Canadian. My ancestors’ roots are in Ireland and Eng-
land, and my working-class family came to what is today known as Can-
ada in the early 1900s, settling frst on the Prairies and then moving to the
west coast. I was born in Vancouver, British Columbia. I grew up in Lynn
Valley, North Vancouver, on the ancestral and unceded territory of the
Coast Salish, specifcally the Sḵwx̱ wú7mesh, səĺílwətaɬ, and xʷməθkʷəy̓ əm
Nations. North Vancouver is a segregated urban environment. There
are three Indian reserves on the North Shore, but I had few interactions
with Indigenous Peoples growing up, aside from playing hockey with
a Sḵwx̱ wú7mesh teammate who sometimes talked about his life on the
reserve and the racism he experienced at a local public school. But
overall, I was ignorant about enduring Coast Salish culture and lifeways.
I learned very little about Indigenous Peoples at the public schools I
attended.
I knew nothing, for example, about the famous North Shore Indians

lacrosse team or about the persistent activism of Coast Salish leaders
fghting for land and rights, from Joe Capilano, Andrew Paull, and Simon
Baker to Chief Dan George, Mazie Baker, and Ta’ah Amy George. My
family lived near where the Squamish Indian Residential School oper-

ated between the 1890s and 1950s, and I passed by that site many times
without knowing about the school’s history and ongoing legacy. I under-
stood nothing about how settler capitalism, more broadly, created my
x