CANADIAN INDIANS

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 135, 5 December 1930, Page 9

CANADIAN INDIANS

iWOKK OE, EDUCATION

RECENT ADVANCEMENT

(From "The Post's" Representative.) , VANCOUVEK, 29th October. Great advancement has been made in Canada, particularly of late years, in providing our Indian population with a high standard of educational and vocational training. Through the aid of increased appropriation by Parliament during that time, the Department 'of Indian Affairs has been enabled to enlarge existing buildings, and construct more modern and fireproof schools, whilst higher salaries and grants have attracted better qualified teachers and instructors. There are now 78 residential schools and 272 day schools, making a total of 350 centres of Indian educational activity. The total number of pupils is now 15,743, the average attendance being 11,579, constituting an increase during the past ten years of 28 per cent, in enrolment, and 48 per cent, in attendance, ample evidence -of the sue"" 'j the work in preparing Indian children, to become independent and »l . w,, ■ porting citizens of the Dominion. The residential schools are conducted by the Angican, Borrian Catholic, Presbyterian, and United Churches, and high tribute must be paid to the zeal and self-sacrifice- of those engaged in the work. The Departmen. has had the close co-operation of religious denominations in the education of the Indians, and this well-established' policy has demonstrated beyond ail question of doubt the effectiveness of the system^ The recent opening of the modern residential school at Brandon, Manitoba, adds another unit to the fine system of Indian educational institutions throughout the Dominion. ,It will be administered by the United Church of Canada. This school, which replaces the residential school built on the same site in 1894, is one of the finest of its kind in Canada. Built of tapestry brick with Manitoba limestone, and terrazo floors, it is fireproof throughout. Some idea of the .accommodation afforded may be gleaned from the fact that it has a fine large assembly hall, four' dormitories, four classrooms, a large study room, recreation rooms for both girls and boys, sewing-room, suiiroom, hospital ward with nurses' quarters, also a laundry fitted with the most modern hygienic appliances. Adjacent to the school are a number of first-class farm buildings, one of which, the cow-barn, is one of the finest in Manitoba. There are also four residences for the use of the principal and married members of the staff.