<P> Between 1945 and 1955, the number of day schools run by Indian Affairs expanded from 9,532 to 17,947 . The growth in day schools was accompanied by an amendment to the Indian Act in 1951 that allowed federal officials to establish agreements with provincial and territorial governments and school boards regarding the education of Indigenous students in the public school system . These changes were indicative of the government's shift in policy from assimilation - driven education at residential schools to the integration of Indigenous students into public schools . It was believed that Indigenous children would receive a better education as a result of their transition into the public school system . </P> <P> Despite the shift in policy from educational assimilation to integration, the removal of Indigenous children from their families by state officials continued through much of the 1960s and 70s . The removals were the result of the 1951 addition of Section 88 to the Indian Act, which allowed for the application of provincial laws to Indigenous peoples living on reserves in instances where federal laws were not in place . The change included the monitoring of child welfare . With no requirement for specialized training regarding the traditions or lifestyles of the communities they entered, provincial officials assessed the welfare of Indigenous children based on Euro - Canadian values that, for example, deemed traditional diets of game, fish and berries insufficient and grounds for taking children into custody . This period resulted in the widespread removal of Indigenous children from their traditional communities, first termed the Sixties Scoop by Patrick Johnston, the author of the 1983 report Native Children and the Child Welfare System . Often taken without the consent of their parents or community elders, some children were placed in state - run child welfare facilities, increasingly operated in former residential schools, while others were fostered or placed up for adoption by predominantly non-Indigenous families throughout Canada and the United States . While the Indian and Northern Affairs estimates that 11,132 children were adopted between 1960 and 1990, the actual number may be as high as 20,000 . </P> <P> In 1969, after years of sharing power with churches, the DIA took sole control of the residential school system . The last residential school operated by the Canadian government, Gordon Indian Residential School in Saskatchewan, was closed in 1996 . Residential schools operated in every Canadian province and territory with the exception of New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island . It is estimated that the number of residential schools reached its peak in the early 1930s with 80 schools and more than 17,000 enrolled students . About 150,000 children are believed to have attended a residential school over the course of the system's existence . </P> <P> The parents and families of Indigenous children resisted the residential school system throughout its existence . Children were kept from schools and, in some cases, hidden from government officials tasked with rounding up children on reserves . Parents regularly advocated for increased funding for schools, including the increase of centrally located day schools to improve access to their children, and made repeated requests for improvements to the quality of education, food, and clothing being provided at the schools . Demands for answers in regards to claims of abuse were often dismissed as a ploy by parents seeking to keep their children at home, with government and school officials positioned as those who knew best . </P>

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