The British Empire: A source for good or evil? February 2014 | Page 15

Comparison between the Canadian and Australian
Aborigines

➢ Doc 3 : stolen Generation children Kahlin Compound, 1921 from Peter
Spillett Collection

● Situation
The Situation of the Aboriginal population in Canada is similar of the situation in
Australia. Indeed, many children (in Australia they were called the “half cast”)
were taken away of their families and sent into special schools to be raised
according to the principles of the British education system between the middle of
19th century to the middle of the 20 th century.
This group of children was called the Stolen Generation in Australia and In
Canada, this proceed was called the Indian Residential schools system. This
children were not treated well. Many of them died of disease or bad treatments.
We considered that more than 50 000 children were removed of their families in
Australia and 150 000 passed through the residential school system, and at

least 4,000 of them died while attending the schools
● Apologies

On 13 February 2008 the then Prime Minister, the Kevin Ru12dd , moved a
motion of Apology to Australia's Indigenous Peoples with specific reference to the
Stolen Generations.
The Prime Minister described it as an occasion for "the nation to turn a new page
in Australia's history by righting the wrongs of the past and so moving forward
with confidence in the future".
The motion honored the Indigenous peoples of this land and reflected in
particular on the mistreatment of those who were Stolen Generations: "For the
pain, suffering and hurt of these Stolen Generations, their descendants and for
their families left behind, we say sorry".
On June 11, 2008, Prime Minister Stephen Harper issued a formal apology, on
behalf of the sitting Cabinet, in front of an audience of Aboriginal delegates, and
in an address that was broadcast nationally on the CBC, for the past
governments' policies of assimilation. The Prime Minister apologized not only for
the known excesses of the residential school system, but for the creation of the
system itself

WEBSITES :
- Speech by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd :
http://www.dfat.gov.au/indigenous/apology-to-stolen-generations/rudd_speech.h
tml
-Speech of Prime Minister Stephen Harper :
http://www.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?DocId=3568890
QUESTIONS :
1. Describe the picture (doc 3).
2. What were the British doing with the aboriginal children ? (doc 3 and text)
3. Why were the apologies so important for the Aborigines ? (text)
4. What are the differences and the similarities of the situation of the
Canadian and the Australian aboriginal population ? (websites and text)

Amélie GOUREAUX & Barthélémy MARTINOT