Perhaps they didn't know what was going on (and I agree that abuses took place), but the desire for their children to be more European was absolutely there. It is very clearly documented. This is in stark contrast to the claim that such things were forced upon the tribes. It seemed that a shared goal of the Canadian government and tribes was the integration of the natives with the Canadian nation. I don't see how this is deniable. The claim that the government committed 'cultural genocide' honestly falls flat for me.
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.
Asking questions like “did they know why they were signing?” or “was there going to be a war if they refused to sign?” seem entirely reasonable to me
There's also outrage over the nebulous notion of 'pushing Canadian/European values'. I think that's misplaced.
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.)