Preview

Residential Schools, a Legacy of Shame

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
2817 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Residential Schools, a Legacy of Shame
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. This general idea has carried through-out the history of our supposedly great country; Canada. This essay will examine the residential school system in depth. It will then relate the Canadian Government 's actions in response to residential schools, good and bad. From the late nineteenth century until well into the twentieth century, the Government of Canada worked vigorously to enforce their legislative "war against Indianness". The Canadian Government passed the Indian act in 1876, which defined federal administration of the native population and their lands. The government cited many outlandish and down right confusing reasons for the reserves while trying to mask the real reason, to totally destroy the Indian population. Legislators on both sides of the borders believed that assimilation was the answer to the ever daunting "Indian problem". It was assumed that natives would just give in and end their primitive ways. The Indian Act abolished the traditional government styles and enacted a system of local "band councils". Hereditary and consensually chosen chiefs were removed, and matrilineality was officially abolished. The purpose of the band councils was to grant native people a limited degree of self-government that was enshrined in legislation. They were used to appease the people and to provide a smoke screen. Duncan Campbell Scott was the minister of Indian Affairs and the man responsible for creating the reserve system and the residential school system. He stated that the reserves were primarily for the protection of the Indians, but would lead to the destruction of their "Indianness". An example of an Aboriginal self-government practice that was taken away by the Indian Act comes from the novel, In The


Bibliography: http://www.ahf.ca.php Funded Projects. Feds ask residential-school survivor to return compensation Sep 16 2004 accessed from http://winnipeg.cbc.ca Fleet, Cameron (1997). First Nations-First Hand Toronto, Ontario: Prospero Books. Gathering Strength: Canada 's Aboriginal Action Plan (Indian and Northern Affairs Canada official document) accessed from http://www.ainc- inac.gc.ca/gs/index_e.html. http://www.irsss.ca/ahfsupport.html Mercredi, Ovide and Turpel, Mary Ellen (1993). In The Rapids: Navigating the future of First Nations Toronto: Penguin Books Canada. National Archives of Canada: volume 6040, File 1007 part 1, Report of the following institutions under the management of the Home Board of Mission for the United Church of Canada, 31 March, 1927 retrieved from http://www.collectionscanada.ca/index-e.html National Archives of Canada: Volume 6039, File 160-7, Frank Oliver to Joint Church Delegation, 21 March 1908, retrieved from http://www.collectionscanada.ca/index-e.html Report of the Royal Commission On Aboriginal People (Indian and Northern Affairs Canada official document) accessed from http://www.ainc-inac.gc.ca/ e.html. Steckley, John L. and Cummins, Bryan D. (2001). Full Circle: Canada 's First Nations Toronto: Pearson Education Canada Inc.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Eventually, during the late 18th and 19th century, the Indian act was passed and the government started portraying a major role in the administration and development of these schools. Children were forcibly removed from their homes and brought to these schools where they were bound to learn Christianity, English, cooking and other needed skill to integrate into society and the industrial field. Even though they were able to learn some beneficial skills, many suffered from physical and sexual abuse as well as complete assimilation and cultural loss. To this extent, the government was benefited through this system since they had found a logical and functional solution to solve the “Indian problem” which was a worry they challenged since their arrival during the colonization period. To a massive extent, the government was successful in imposing Eurocentric views towards the FNMI people and their attempts at cultural assimilation. However, during the late 19th century, the last federally run residential school closed. Eventually, the government acknowledged Aboriginals in Canada and a reconciliation statement was created in…

    • 804 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Best Essays

    Francis, R. Douglas, Richard Jones and Donald B. Smith. Origins: Canadian History to Confederation. Toronto: Nelson Education, 2009.…

    • 2423 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Good Essays

    Shipton, Rosemary. Canada Through the Decades: The 1960’s. N.p.: Weigl Educational Publishers Limited, 2000. Print.…

    • 824 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Attempts to assimilate the Native Americans socially into the American way of life included the Reservation policy. 133,417 Natives were forced to move on to reservations where it was forbidden to practice religion and destroyed their original tribal structures. They experienced hardship, disease and hunger. Tribes were often split apart and families torn. The reservations that the Native Americans were forced onto physically segregated them from the rest of the population and therefore it seems difficult to witness how the government tried to incorporate them into society and part of a ‘melting pot’. In 1924, The Indian Citizenship Act gave the Native Americans citizenship and supposedly the right to vote, although not all states recognised these rights. This act was not due to the demands of the Indians, they were granted the vote whether they wanted it or not. In terms of their rights, it was progress albeit unnecessary progress as they didn’t need it, nor did they need to be part of America. The Indian Citizenship Act of 1924 was created in order to assimilate them, not to empower them. Other social attempts by the American Government to assimilate the Native Americans was through job opportunities. Through the 1960’s,…

    • 1205 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the nineteenth century, United States focused all its attention on the West. The Americans justified their expansion westward as a “God-given” right called Manifest destiny. This belief dictated the U.S Policy. Following the Civil War, the federal government pushed the Indians off their lands to areas reserved for them called reservations. In addition to changing their homes, the Native Americans were forced to change their lifestyle and traditional ways while living in the reservation.…

    • 495 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In conclusion, the Indian Removal Act was a law passed by the supreme court stating natives tribes must be removed east of the Mississippi river and relocated to the west; in difference, this law wasn't justified considering laws were being disobeyed, natives weren't treated fairly and was disrespected, finally, this event led to population decrease and eventually,…

    • 511 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The treaty in 1866was the cause of the abolishment of the slavery in the Indian territories and the adoption of slaves. The Indian Reorganization Act of June 18, 1934 gave native Indians certain rights, which include the reversal of the Dawes Act’s privatization of the common holdings of the American Indians and a return to local self-government on a tribal basis. This act also gave the native Indians the right to manage their own land and this included provisions that were intended to create a sound economic foundation for the inhabitants of Indian…

    • 693 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Essay Paper

    • 1079 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Cited: Miller, Jim. "Which 'Native ' History? By Whom? For Whom." Canadian Issues. Fall 2008 33-35.…

    • 1079 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Bureau of Indian Affairs

    • 314 Words
    • 2 Pages

    As early as the 1840s, highly placed officials had outlined a plan to subdue the intensifying rivalry over natural resources and land. Under the terms of their proposal, individual tribes would agree to live within clearly defined zones – reservations. In exchange, the Bureau of Indian Affairs would provide guidance, while U.S. military forces ensured protection. By the end of the 1850s, eight western reservations had been established where Indian peoples were induced to speak English, take up farming, and convert to Christianity.…

    • 314 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    When the United States Constitution was drafted in 1787, it affected the Indian decision making ability by enacting the Indian Commerce Clause. Another big hindrance in tribal sovereignty was when Congress passed the Dawes Act. The Dawes Act allows Congress to split up Indian land for individual ownership by an Indian up to 160 acres and allowing surplus lands to be sold to the American public. This of course benefited Americans and hurt the growth of Indian sovereignty. After a long fight in 1934, the Reorganization Act passed and allowed Indian tribes to establish their own self ruled governments. This Act is still the basic Act that governs Indian reservations today. The Act was put into place to help the Indians economically become equal to whites and give greater responsibility to the tribes and not to specific…

    • 853 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    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,…

    • 1368 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    “Under commissioner of Indian Affairs John Collier, the administration launched an ‘Indian New Deal.’ Collier ended the policy of forced assimilation and allowed Indians unprecedented cultural autonomy. He replaced boarding schools meant to eradicate the tribal heritage of Indian children with schools on reservations, and dramatically increased spending on Indian health” (Foner 837). Scholars may argue that the Native Americans did not gain their independence nor their will to live on rich land, on the other hand, Indians were able to preserve their culture and traditions without force. With new and improved schools on the reservation, Native American were able to expand their education by learning new things rather than being forced to abandon their values and traditions.…

    • 1071 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Canadian History

    • 320 Words
    • 2 Pages

    * Define Indian act : relationship with federal government ( placed under their guardianship) Reserves were created and more.…

    • 320 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Indian Act is a list of rules and regulations that the Aboriginal people were expected to uphold. The statutes took away the First Nations peoples identity by dictating how they could lose their status and who owned property rights to their land. The Indian Act states that “any Indian woman marrying any other than an Indian or a non-treaty Indian shall cease to be an Indian in any respect within the meaning of this act” (p1, sec 3c, Indian act). This rule took away a women’s identity if she loved someone who was not the same nationality as she was. She could go from being Indian to non-Indian in an instant.…

    • 2642 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In 1972, AIM presented claims before the President of the United States. The claims were presented by the Native Nation representatives who wanted to bring equality among the people of America (Wittstock & Salinas, p. 2). Through AIM, the Indian people have successfully enjoyed their sovereign rights of being free citizens. In 1964, the government pursued a policy that allowed relocation of Indians to the city. The BIA officers offered the Indians who were seeking brighter future in cities tickets and job seeking assistance (Warrior & Smith, leap of faith, p. 5). Although AIM lacks solid connections to reservations, the movement continues to play a major role in fighting for the Indians in America. The Federal Policy is a government policy aimed to assimilate the Indians into the American society. The Policy was enshrined by the Dawes Act which decreed that Indian land be divided into plots which were to be allocated to the Native…

    • 478 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays