I have no idea what the tribes knew or did not know. Do you? I am amazed at some people's abilities to read other's minds.
As to the tribal leaders signing the documents. I can understand how the monetary promises given to them by the Canadian government would make them overlook the potential for atrocities yes; such things are well attested to in the history of humanity. But again, I have no idea. You asked me to speculate, so I did.
I don't understand why there is so much outrage today when one expresses that they do not know an unknowable fact.
What atrocities, exactly? You’re begging the question. One of the main atrocities we are talking about is forcing the children to adopt European culture.
If you’re simply saying that some bad things happened at these boarding schools… we’ll, yeah. That’s a known reality in all boarding schools. Doesn’t make it ok. But many many people knew about those sorts of things and cared and also didn’t think the solution was to ban boarding schools. (Others, of course, as in all ages, didn’t care.)
Yeah, the other weird thing about the whole situation is that (1) these things likely happened in other European boarding schools of a similar nature and (2) the physical punishments the students were subject to were par for the course in that era. The forced kidnapping is still wrong, but that doesn't mean we also need to add in other less substantiated claims.
Stories recounting cruel physical and sexual abuse are only a google search away. Of thousands of children being disappeared. Of being woken in the middle of the night to dig graves.
As to the tribal leaders signing the documents. I can understand how the monetary promises given to them by the Canadian government would make them overlook the potential for atrocities yes; such things are well attested to in the history of humanity. But again, I have no idea. You asked me to speculate, so I did.
I don't understand why there is so much outrage today when one expresses that they do not know an unknowable fact.