A WHITE PLOY SAYS CHIEF

Integration Plans Hit

   Federal government plans to integrate Indians within the white school system is really an attempt at assimilation, Tsartlip Chief Philip Paul said here Saturday.

   Speaking to a South Vancouver Island Tribal Federation conference, Paul said the reason federal Indian schools had failed was that they had white curriculums.

   What is needed is programs to make Indian people feel they are worthwhile, to enable them to make their own contributions to society, and to let them determine how much they wish to remain Indian.

   Paul predicted Indians would get control of their education, as they did in the United States.

   Right now, there is a 95 per cent dropout rate among Indian students, he said.

   “As soon as a young Indian child enters school, the struggle begins between his own Indian value system and that of the white middle class value system.

   “In order to succeed in this educational system, the Indian must leave all he believes in and his entire culture behind.”

   Paul urged that the courses being taught at the Adult Institute in Victoria be made available throughout the province.

   “There is no reason why these courses in Indian history, culture and law shouldn’t be put into all the schools.”

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