Residential Education In The 1920's

A vast majority of modern societies around the world view Canada as an accepting nation that embraces a variety of different people, and hosts many diverse cultures. For instance, in the 1920’s not all Canadians were free from discrimination, and although most people were embracing this time of prosperity with new inventions and exciting lifestyles, others, such as the Indigenous peoples of Canada, were struggling to avoid the the overbearing push of extreme cultural discrimination. The residential schooling system isolated children from their culture, causing great humiliation and pain. For example, the policy of assimilation was introduced to merge young Indigenous children into the Euro-Canadian culture. The residential schooling system
The purpose of the schooling system was to remove all aspects of the Indigenous race and culture. Unfortunately, students had their hair cut, dressed in uniforms, given new names, and were not able to speak their native language. If any rule was broken, students were harmed physically and sexually. For example, a needle would be shoved into a Native Canadian student’s mouth if they spoke their own language. Students were also beaten and strapped, even tied down to beds, being abused sexually and physically for not obeying a leader's orders. Carole Dawson, an Indigenous Residential school student, states that the worst part was, “[p]robably the abuse. It's not only my own abuse. I saw the abuse of others” (109). Young children witnessed abnormal treatment of others, and they also experienced inhumane behaviour. In addition, escaping was common in Residential schools however, the punishment was severe. Many Indigenous students that attempted to escape Residential schools and succeeded, ended up dying from starvation, frostbite, or hypothermia. In fact, over nine-thousand Indigenous Canadians died from their futile efforts of leaving Residential schools. Celia Haig-Brown quoted a female residential school survivor as saying, “[t]hey said they were going to give me a real short haircut for my punishment” (qtd. In Quinlan et al. 68). Furthermore, Indigenous children were not able to see their own families again, the isolation affects the students emotionally, even to this day. Ingrid Annault states “[t]he worst part, besides the second thing of being there was not having your family, not having anybody to hug you and tell you they loved you” (107). A child's innocence is torn and damaged once they are separated from their family. The closest element Native children had from seeing their family was “a mere wave in a dining room” (Erin Hanson) however,