Essay On North American Colonialism

Colonialism played a large role in shaping North America. One significant outcome of colonialism in North American was the residential school system. Residential schools were a tool of Eurocentric colonialism to forcefully assimilate Aboriginals into white Canada. This system was mainly created to indoctrinate Aboriginals (savages) into the white European society (civilized). Therefore, I argue that the residential schools were the setting in which the concept of the civilized/ savage dichotomy was the most visible.
As learned earlier in the course, colonialism has two distinct forms. Colonialism is commonly characterised as the process in which one nation, incorporates war, and other forceful means to try to obtain land, resources, and even
I didn’t understand then about sexual abuse. I wasn’t explained to us by our parents or our Elders, or these people that operated the schools. But I knew there was something wrong.”
“One of the things that stands out for me is I was constantly being punished. I was being either whipped or made to wash the toilets because I physically attacked supervisors who beat the children, for instance, with radiator brushes.” The impacts of sexual, mental, and physical abuse endured at residential schools continue to affect generations of survivors, their families, and communities today. Even though most residential schools have been closed for several decades now, their damaging effects continue to circulate throughout Aboriginal communities across Canada.
Survivors of these residential schools have been speaking about the abuse they encountered while there. These survivors share their most personal and often painful accounts of their experiences at the residential schools. We have become more educated about the struggles that residential school students faced, but no matter how educated we get we can never truly understand the pain that was placed on