Settler Stalling: Integrated Schooling and the "Native Conferences" of the Royal Commission on Family and Children's Law in British Columbia

Abstract

In this article, we examine Indigenous responses to educational integration in British Columbia through the 1974 “Native Conferences” held by the Royal Commission on Family and Children’s Law. In the 1950s, Canadian policy on Indigenous education shifted from segregation to integration and by the late 1960s organizations such as Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs and the Native Indian Brotherhood rejected both approaches, demanding Indigenous control over schooling. The royal commission, chaired by Justice Thomas Berger, provided Indigenous communities across BC a platform to articulate how public schooling harmed their youth and families. Although the commission’s findings have received scant attention from historians of education, its consultations with Indigenous people through Native Conferences held in the spring and summer of 1974 reveal valuable insights into Indigenous demands for better educational support. These demands aligned with those made by the Native Indian Brotherhood in Indian Control of Indian Education, yet colonial governments largely ignored them for decades. We introduce the concept of “settler stalling” to describe colonial governance that promises reform while deferring meaningful, Indigenous-defined change. Though integration promised equality following the 1951 Indian Act amendments, it failed to address colonial structures, curriculum, and racism within schools, points clearly articulated by Indigenous participants of the conferences.