Then, I will shift my focus on how the survivor’s lives were after residential schools.
Then, I will shift my focus on how the survivor’s lives were after residential schools.
The First Nation people have a proud and long history that combines rich culture and spiritual traditions. For a century, from the 1880s until 1980s more than 100,000 First Nations children in Canada attended residential schools. The placement of residential schools for the First Nations children has led to serious amount of damage. At the schools, they were banned to practice their beliefs, culture and speak their language. The children suffered from emotional, physical and sexual abuse. Due to these events the First Nations in Canada suffered a significant loss of their culture and traditions, and suffered a negative affect in their future.…
Another form of discrimination that was placed upon the Aboriginal population was the assimilation families and children faced through the integration of residential schools. The idea behind residential schools was to try and “civilize” the Aboriginal nation. Children were taken from their families and were forced into forgetting their language, traditions, hunting and gathering skills, until they were entirely “European”. The discrimination faced by the Aboriginal nation still to this day is well beyond horrific. In her article “The Queen and I: discrimination against women in the Indian Act continues” Lynn Gehl states that “the goal of the Indian Act was one of assimilation and the arduous task of civilizing the savages--a national agenda” (Gehl, 2000). Residential schools, paternity laws, denied access to Indian status and criminalization of Indigenous culture imposed from the government are all examples of how the Aboriginal population has been racialized and discriminated from European settlers and the country of…
Residential schools were seen by the Canadian government as a way to civilize the native population and keep their children from continuing in their native traditions. In 1895 Rev Fr A.M Carion stated in a report from a residential school in Kamloops, British Columbia that the purpose of the residential school is to civilize the Indian and to make them good, useful and law abiding members of society with strict punishments for any wrong doings. 1 Richard Pratt, who founded the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, one of the first of the reservation schools in the United States, preached “you must kill the Indian in him; to save the man”. These ideals were later adopted by the Canadian government. 2 The goal of residential schools was to assimilate Aboriginals into white society through children since they were much more susceptible to influence. This research paper will focus on the residential school system and will argue that the Canadian government and churches committed genocide amongst the indigenous populations in an attempt to eliminate the native culture. It will focus on the history of residential schools in Canada, their intended targets, the health and quality of life of the Aboriginals attending these schools, the sterilization of Aboriginal women, those who succeeded in the school system, and what has changed since the opening of the schools.…
For decades in Canada, officially beginning in 1892, children were taken away from their families and put into schools that would change and take away their views and beliefs, initial knowledge, image, and identity. In the earlier stages, these schools were referred to as Industrial Schools for Indians. Today, we call them Residential Schools with Aboriginal survivors who are able to tell their stories. Aboriginal people suffered while there schools were running. This essay will compare the knowledge in a recent article to primary sources that were written while Industrial Schools were in action. The actions of assimilating Aboriginal people through a strict form of education caused a negative butterfly effect upon the public and Aboriginal population. This act was run by the Canadian government and churches as an act of assimilation through education. The school system performed strict forms of discipline towards the Aboriginal children to civilize them to live through the dominant culture. The method of assimilation was unsuccessful, Aboriginal people…
The First Nations of our land have endured hundreds of years of suffering. Ever since the first significant European contact the indigenous people have been treated as sub-humans; savages with no religion, intelligence, or right to live (Scott, Duncan). This general idea has carried through-out the history of our supposedly great country; Canada. This essay will examine the residential school system. It will then relate the Canadian Government’s actions in response to residential schools, good and bad. Overall, it will focus on the way in which these effects are represented through a literary text.…
However Canada tries to hide a dirty little secret, and that happens to be residential school. Residential schools came to into effect in the early 1870s and the last one was not close until 1996.("The Residential School System."). As mentioned earlier, the charter was no created until 1982, this means Canadians were breaking the first section of the charter, which are the fundamental freedoms ("Rights and Freedoms in Canada."). Residential schools were designed to "kill the Indian in the child"("The Residential School System."). Contrary to what the public believed back in the 1870s, these schools were not always the best for the children, they were taking from their families and force to follow a religion and language that was not their own.("The Residential School System.") Canadian aboriginals were subjected to all kinds of abuse while attending these schools. ("The Residential School System.") Emotional, Psychological, physical and most importantly sexual abuse were found in almost every school.("The Residential School System.") Many Canadians are under the notion that residential schools were designed to teach aboriginal children about catholic religion, this is not the truth.The truth is that residential schools were also underfunded compared to the white schools.("The Residential School System.") and although the children were taught Christianity, the children were groomed to became house maids or farmers.("The Residential School System.") The majority of children who were sent away at the age of 18 only had a fifth-grade education. ("The Residential School System.")this type of Trauma had to be endured by many generations of Canadian aboriginals. The so call " free" education came with a deadly price.In 1907, medical inspector P.H. Bryce reported that 24 percent aboriginal children were dying in residential homes, this number did not counter in the number of death of children…
The official purpose of the residential school system was to integrate aboriginal children of the Aboriginal people in Canada into mainstream society. This was to be done through assimilation. The purpose of these schools has been described as a cultural genocide, or “killing the Indian in the child.”…
When European missionaries began to live amongst aboriginal people, they concluded that the sooner they could separate children from their parents, the sooner they could prepare aboriginal people to live a civilized (i.e. European) lifestyle. Residential schools were established for two reasons: separation of the children from the family and the belief that aboriginal culture was not worth preserving. Most people concluded that aboriginal culture was useless and dying and all human beings would eventually develop and change to be like the 'advanced' European civilization.…
One far-reaching result of the residential school system is the loss of indigenous languages in Canada. A major cause of this loss was the removal of children from their families and language communities. Petten (2007) reported that, having been removed from their families at an early age, children lost the opportunity to continue to develop their mother tongues (p. 22). At the schools, only English or French were used. Furthermore, children were punished and abused for using their indigenous languages. Survivors of residential schools report priests and nuns punching, slapping, verbally abusing (Knockwood, 1992, p. 99), and sticking pins in the tongues (Steckley & Cummins, 2001, p. 193) of very young children for speaking their mother tongues. In the face of this abuse, many children quickly lost the ability to speak their indigenous languages. A long-term result of residential schools is a significant reduction in the numbers of speakers of indigenous languages. According to the 2001 Canada Census, only 24% of people who identified themselves as aboriginal said they could communicate in an aboriginal language…
They were promised that in signing the treaty, they would still be able to continue preserving…
The children who went to residential schools were isolated from their families because they were not allowed to see their families for ten months in a year. The children were forced to practice Christian religion, speak English and learn more about Canadian culture and they were not allowed to talk about their own Indian culture. Abuse was a very serious concern at residential schools. The types of abuse includes physical, sexual and psychological. Today, as many as 12,000 cases of lawsuits against the Canadian government are being made by former students of residential schools.…
There is an affective colonialism on aboriginal women in Canada. The histories of colonization have forced aboriginal women out of their community and family support. The violence of cultural assault or physical brutality of residential schools. It is essential to make efforts towards ending of violence against aboriginal women in Canada. The aboriginal people have grown up in poverty. Many aboriginal women run in to racism and they may shut out of labor markets. Aboriginal women turn to drug trade and sex work to survive. Aboriginal woman in vulnerable positions that over expose them to violence. The residential school experience began with aboriginal children being forcefully removed formed their homes. Often in these schools…
In this article Bombay et.al. writes about the effects of residential schools. Many Native children were forced to attend Indian Residential School (IRS) and suffered trauma, neglect, abuse, and much more. Bombay also looks at the intergenerational patterns and effects.…
During these years, the children have grown a special bond of love with their family. When they are put in a new environment, like that of a residential school, they are bewildered because they deeply miss their family. Finally, residential schools should not be continued because of knowledge. Aboriginal children are accustomed to what they are taught at home. For at least four years, they have used their proper language for everything that they have done, and have learned aspects of life differently that what is taught at residential schools. Learning different facts is very confusing for them and is difficult for them to adapt to. In conclusion, residential schools should not be continued because of common practices, family, and…
These schools lasted from the 1880 up to the end of the 20th century with its primary objective of educating aboriginal children and take the Indian out of the child. This strategy was very damaging as children were separated from their families for extended periods and were prohibited from all cultural aspects of their aboriginal heritage. Children were severely punished for wrong doings and were subjected physical, psychological and sexual abuse. Residential schools damaged aboriginal culture and disrupted families all across Canada. The damaging effect has carried on for several generations and still exists in modern Canadian society. Since the young aboriginals were taken away at a young age, they did not have the nurturing from their families and lacked knowledge and skill on how to raise their own families. The environment of not knowing how to raise a family is very cyclical and continues to have devastating effects in today’s aboriginal communities. The implementation of residential schools was very devastating and was a form of cultural genocide (Hanson, 2011).The Canadian Government has tried resolving the issue by paying a 1.9 billion compensation package to the thousand of aboriginals affect by the Residential School system. Although the compensation budget and a formal apology by the prime minister is a kind gesture for Canada’s realization for the harm its…