YWCA Canada apologizes for its involvement in residential schools and Indian hospitals

YWCA Canada has issued an apology to Indigenous communities for its involvement in programs offered at residential schools and Indian hospitals supporting colonial ideologies and promoting policies of assimilation.

"As we have embarked on a journey towards meaningful reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples, YWCA Canada is taking ownership of the harms caused as part of our legacy as a historically colonial institution with faith-based origins that were used to assimilate Indigenous communities," Aline Nizigama, chief executive officer of YWCA Canada, said in a news release last week.

In 2019, the organization commissioned research on its role in residential schools and Indian hospitals, and published a summary report last week.

It found the YWCA played a role in helping create domestic science courses for girls at residential schools, that taught them things like sewing, cooking and cleaning to follow "correct living."

The YWCA also provided etiquette lessons and job training to patients at "Indian hospitals" in the 1950s, and collaborated with other organizations to introduce them to life in non-Indigenous communities, to discourage patients from returning home.

The YWCA also created social clubs and recreational activities for urban Indigenous youth "operating based on its belief that Indigenous youth were unable to use their free time productively" and worked with day schools to provide "appropriate" leisure activities. 

The report says, "It is clear that YWCA played a role in supporting colonial ideologies and promoting policies of assimilation, and we must confront this difficult aspect of our history."

Jessica Gordon, YWCA's national director of Indigenous relations and reconciliation, is from Pasqua First Nation in Saskatchewan and lives in Regina.

Gordon is developing a reconciliation action plan to ensure there's no further harm to Indigenous people and she said one of the priorities is building relationships with Indigenous communities.

"I believe it is important to take any steps toward reconciliation as well as put the truth out there on what the YWCA had done to participate in the harms of Indigenous folks," she said.

Gordon said YWCA Canada plans on doing engagement sessions with communities to develop procurement strategies and recruitment and retention policies. 

"I do know that there is a lot more research that we could do going further, as well as engaging with Indigenous communities to see what they would like to see as reparations coming about from this apology," said Gordon.

Gordon attended White Calf Collegiate, previously the Lebret Indian Residential School, and so did her siblings and grandparents.

"I think it's important for organizations to understand cultural capacity and listen to the voices of Indigenous folks and their perspectives, their experiences and their lived experiences and knowledge going forward."

YWCA has also committed to a moratorium on archive destruction, the creation of an equity, reconciliation, and antiracism department, and to offer cultural support to Indigenous staff, volunteers, and community members impacted by the organization's work. 

Response from George Gordon First Nation

In a statement Monday, George Gordon First Nation Chief Shawn Longman said the First Nations community is thankful for an apology from YWCA Canada. 

He said it helps show how many institutions held the belief that Indigenous people were incapable of caring for themselves, as Indigenous women already knew how to do everything the YWCA claimed they needed to be educated about, like parenting, sewing, cooking, and basic cleanliness.

"This ideology opened the door for racism, discrimination and has been used by the government to justify their actions and policies which ignore our treaty, inherent and human rights," said Longman in the statement. 

"I always take the position that we, especially our women, know how to properly care for their families."

The statement said Canada has a long way to go and even though the apology is late, at least the wrongs are being made public. 

"Now we need to work together to pull First Nations out of this Canadian-made narrative and teach the true history of Canada and their continual assault on the character and rights of First Nations people," said Longman in the statement.