Residential Schools Essay

Residential Schools were a product of the Canadian government to provide cultural genocide of the indigenous community with the intended effect of separation from their land, their culture, and their identity as Aboriginal Peoples. These schools were in effect from the 1870s until the last one closed in 1996, with over 150,000 First Nations, Inuit and Métis children who were forced to attend. Children, from as young as 4 years old, were taken from their homes and sent away to schools run by Christian Churches, to “kill the Indian in the child” said Duncan Campbell Scott, Head of Indian Affairs, in the early 1920s. According to the late 1800s Canadian Government, the use of Residential Schools was to “educate and convert Aboriginal children and youth and to integrate them into Canadian society” but instead, produced a colossal amount of disrupted lives and communities, causing long-term problems among Aboriginal Peoples. Copious amounts of these problems were caused when children were abused sexually, emotionally and physically by Priests and Nuns, for merely speaking their native language, crying, expressing their feelings or even voicing a hint of their culture. Many of them were deprived of food, exposed to unsanitary and overcrowded conditions, and at least 6,000 children died due to violence, suicide, malnourishment, disease and exposure to extreme weather.
They experience unfathomable impacts on relationships, parenting, health, mental health, and coping skills. The feelings of grief, anger, shame and sadness that survivors acquired during Residential schools were often transmitted through generations to their children, who were frequently unaware of their parents journey in Residential