CANADA
The Globe and Mail
ANDRÉ PICARD
The Globe and Mail
Published Tuesday, Jun. 06, 2017
At St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, just across the street from the Supreme Court of Canada, there is a small display paying tribute to Dr. Peter Henderson Bryce, an underappreciated legend of Canadian public health.
In 1907, when he was chief medical officer for the federal government, Dr. Bryce penned the Report on the Indian Schools of Manitoba and the Northwest Territories, a scathing critique of residential schools.
He found, for example, that one in four students died within a year of enrolment, and the death rate was a staggering 48 per cent after three years.
Almost all the deaths were because of tuberculosis, a disease that spreads readily in schools’ crowded classrooms and dormitories, especially because the children were malnourished and sickly.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.