Essay On Residential Education System

In the 1800’s the Canadian government became responsible for the education of First Nation children because of various treaties and other laws. Because of this the education of Status Indians (Metis and Inuit were put into the system later) fell under the jurisdiction of the Canadian Federal Government. During 1830’s-1900’s the Canadian government and various Christian churches created the Indian Residential School System (IRS). The IRS was a compulsory education system created to assimilate First Nation, eventually Metis and Inuit children through means similar to the Colonial English and the Prussian compulsory education systems. These children were subject to the wrongs created by the IRS such as widespread physical, emotional and spiritual abuse; bullying between students; aggressive assimilation into Euro-Canadian culture and sub-standard living conditions causing
Some of the children, due to the poor living refused to co-operate with teachers, tried to sabotage the kitchen, classrooms and in some cases flee or burn down the school. The parents also tried to protest and tell political leaders that the Residential Schools were morally wrong and should be abolished. The protests by the First Nations and the incidents caused by the students helped secure a policy in 1969 that made the Residential School system no longer controlled by the Christian churches but instead by the Department of Indian Affairs. The Catholic church protested this believing that a segregated education system is the only way to teach an indigenous populous such as the First Nations. Some of the First Nations also protested believing that they should take control of the Residential Schools themselves. By 1986 most schools had closed or had been turned over to the First Nations and in 1998 the last residential school shut