Introduction: Reflections on health and the body at Canadian Indian residential schools

The overall theme of this journal arose some time ago from conversations between many of the contributors about the term 'health' and the different ways researchers have applied it to our understanding of the Indian residential school system in Canada. The more we discussed how the term had been applied, and mulled over the possible implications of those applications, the more we recognised the importance of exploring the boundaries of the term, going beyond its traditional usage referring to hospitalisation and medical treatment. As this special issue demonstrates, health, when used in the context of Canada's Indian residential schools, is linked directly to physical education programming, food and malnutrition, language and intergenerational trauma, extra-curricular programming, military preparedness, and cultural identity. Although this collection represents a small sample of the work being carried out by researchers in Canada, we hope it opens up the possibilities for research and understanding regarding health-related matters stemming from the residential school system.

All of the contributors to this special issue are also politically engaged in one way or another in their various fields. As such, we paid close attention to the final reports of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission–a federally mandated body that was responsible for collecting and documenting the history of the Indian residential school system from the perspective of the students. Although the six-year investigation ended in 2015, research into the health aspects of the system continues as Indigenous people and Canadians wrestle with complex matters tied to health. All of the articles in this collection refer to some extent to the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Ian Mosby and Tracey Galloway's article, '"The abiding condition was hunger": assessing the long-term biological and health effects of malnutrition and hunger in Canada's residential schools', explores the present-day effects of historical malnutrition on Indigenous people and Indigenous communities. Citing malnutrition studies from around the world, the authors argue that many of the health problems that Indigenous people in Canada face can be traced to the residential schools. It is a groundbreaking study in that it links food deprivation, and the lack of access to healthy foods, to biological and psychological development, thus challenging typical interventions that aim to address health-related issues, such as obesity prevention and diabetes, among Indigenous people. Their use of evidence also highlights the need for researchers to find parallel examples from history and other parts of the world to understand the implications of the Indian residential school system in Canada better.

In 'Archival photographs in perspective: Indian residential school images of health', historian and archivist Krista McCracken explores the photographic evidence of sports and recreation at Spanish Indian Residential School in Spanish, Ontario. Spanish was one of the schools that had a very active sports program, as noted by former student and author Basil Johnston in his book, Indian School Days. She delves into the Father Morice Fonds, held at the Shingwauk Centre at Algoma University in Sault Ste Marie, Ontario, to examine photos of sport and recreation at Spanish. Her paper focuses on representations of sport and recreation at that institution and investigates what those representations say about colonialism and health, as well as the practice of archiving and its role in helping Indigenous people reclaim their past through explorations of sport and recreation photographs.

Lorena Sekwan Fontaine's article, 'Redress for linguicide: residential schools and assimilation in Canada', discusses the effects and lack of governmental recognition of the loss of Indigenous languages due to the residential school system. She explores language loss from an Indigenous perspective, mapping how the school system made it their policy to rid Canada of Indigenous languages and how this loss affects the health of contemporary Indigenous families and communities, especially when it comes to the transfer of traditional knowledge, concepts, and ideas. Although the Canadian government at present offers funding for language revitalization programmes, this funding is not granted on a permanent basis. What is more troubling is the government's lack of understanding and acknowledgment of the effects the loss...