CANADA
CBC News
By Liam Britten, CBC News Posted: Apr 01, 2016
In 1907, Peter Bryce wrote a report documenting the inhuman and unsanitary conditions of residential schools.
On Friday, a short documentary was released about his vocal criticism of the residential school system from his great-grandson, Victoria filmmaker Andy Bryce.
Finding Heart tells the story of how Peter Bryce, as a medical inspector for the Department of Indian Affairs, made a direct link between the conditions in residential schools and a deadly tuberculosis epidemic in First Nations children just after the turn of the century.
“About 24 per cent of all students in residential schools were suffering from tuberculosis or had died from tuberculosis,” Andy Bryce told All Points West guest host Khalil Akhtar.
“In one school, which was File Hills in Saskatchewan, the rate was about 75 per cent.”
Peter Bryce’s report was leaked to the media, but didn’t get much attention, Andy Bryce said, and none of the report’s recommendations were immediately implemented.
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