`` Blood Memory `` By Bev Sellars

Theodore Fontaine is one of the thousands of young aboriginal peoples who were subjected through the early Canadian system of the Indian residential schools, was physically tortured. Originally speaking Ojibwe, Theodore relates the encounters of a young man deprived of his culture and parents, who were taken away from him at the age of seven, during which he would no longer be free to choose what to say, how to say it, with whom to live and even what culture to embrace. Theodore would then spend the next twelve years undoing what had been done to him since birth, and the rest of his life attempting a reversal of his elementary education culture shock, traumatization, and indoctrination of ethnicity and Canadian supremacy. Out of these experiences, he wrote the “Broken Circle: The Dark Legacy of Indian Residential Schools-A Memoir” and in this review, I considered the Heritage House Publishing Company Ltd publication.

Our society was fearful of the First Nations, because their culture and beliefs were different from ours. As a result, we penalized them for that and forced innocent children to leave their traditional culture behind and force them into our society. Lyna and Glen’s perspective was about hardship, emotional, psychological and physical trauma. They wanted our society to see and understand what that experience did to their humanity. Throughout the documentary, they focused on the victims, which were the children, resulting in personal biases about the experiences of the residential schools. Through talks in class and readings from the text, they both expressed how inequality has festered through the years in different ways for minority groups, such as the First Nations. From what our society has done, we created “so much mental and emotional suffering” (Pickett, K and Wilkinson, R), as a result from creating these residential schools and forcing assimilation upon the First Nation Children.

Furthermore, Downey’s apt use of pathos, or emotional appeals, draws readers in and triggers an emotional response in them, keeping them engaged for the duration of the essay. To expand, he uses blunt phrases like, “permanent loss” (445) and “distant, angry aliens, lacking emotional bonds” (446) to create a severe impact on readers. Also, stirring examples of “descent into alcohol, drugs, and prostitution” (445) and “children committing suicide” (446) illustrate for readers the acute level of damage and suffering that Aboriginal victims experienced. Downey’s use of evocative and graphic imagery in his recounts of “residential schools” (446) and the physical, “emotional and sexual abuse” (447) that specific victims endured elucidates the turmoil and anguish felt by victims of the ‘Sixties Scoop’ in general. As such, this technique fully immerses readers in his essay. Downey creates both a sense of compassion and guilt in his readers through his mention of children who were “enslaved,

Alcohol became a common outlet to ease the pain brought by memories of abuse at school for Martha and many other former students. Part Two brings attention to the difficulties that come with Natives attempting to live in the city of Toronto during discriminative times. Not only does Part Two evaluate Martha’s life in Toronto but also her son, Spider. As an adopted child with fetal alcohol syndrome, Spider’s story and perspective illustrates the mental and physical problems experienced by the children of former residential school students. Part Three informs the reader of the lasting problems of the residential schools on the children that were brought up by residential school survivors in a First Nations community. The novel deals with the issue of suicide with the First Nation children and the reluctant help of the church to resolve ongoing issues despite the closing of the residential schools. Bartleman section’s Marta’s life into three parts as a method of discussing the events that take place over many years. This allows the reader to have a clearer understanding of the school’s impact on not just on an individual, but the Canadian community.

In his play Where the Blood Mixes, Kevin Loring casts light on the rippling effects of the trauma caused by residential schools on generations of Indigenous peoples in the twenty first century. Loring's play, which is set in the twenty first century, illuminates the present-day legacy of residential schools and residential school survivors. Loring strives not to minimize the experiences of residential school survivors, but to reconstruct how residential school survivors are viewed and represented. Loring achieves this task through his depiction of characters that are sad but loving and funny people with hobbies, people who are not consumed with and defined by their residential school experiences but continue to feel its painful

The Native Canadian culture revolves around the art of storytelling, and this natural gift is heredity. In Story of Starvation, by Marion Tuu’luq, she tells a tale of her childhood where she and her people go on a journey to find food. They are driven to the brink of starvation due to their lack of technology, and their practice of hunting for their own meals. Tuu’luq’s intense story shows the significance of the Native Canadian way of life, and the tough childhoods that many of them had to endure. Tuu’luq says in her story, “I am going to recount a story that I am sure I have told over and over again in the past” (Pg. 86). This repetition of the story shows the cultural impact of storytelling in the Aborigine community. This story truly does control Tuu’luq’s life, because she retells it in order to remember all that she had to face within her childhood in order to survive. The story is both a source of entertainment, and a source of historical prevalence in Tuu’luq’s life. Although, it was a horrid experience, she learns to cope with it and tell it in a way where the listener takes away the importance of remembering Native Canadian

During the 19th century the Canadian government established residential schools under the claim that Aboriginal culture is hindering them from becoming functional members of society. It was stated that the children will have a better chance of success once they have been Christianised and assimilated into the mainstream Canadian culture. (CBC, 2014) In the film Education as We See It, some Aboriginals were interviewed about their own experiences in residential schools. When examining the general topic of the film, conflict theory is the best paradigm that will assist in understanding the social implications of residential schools. The film can also be illustrated by many sociological concepts such as agents of socialization, class

Residential School’s were introduced back in the 1870’s, they were made to change the way native children spoke their languages and how they viewed their cultures. The residential school system in Canada was operated by the government, where the native children were aggressively forced away from their loved ones to participate in these schools (1000 Conversations). The government had a concept, where they can modernize the native children, aged of three to eighteen and extinguish the aboriginal culture. In the twentieth century the Canadian Public School’s had arrived and had improved treatments than residential schools. In Contrast, the treatments within these schools were both different, whereas Canadian public school students had more freedom than residential school students because children were taken away from their families. However, the treatment in these schools were different and some what similar. Even though Residential schools and Canadian Public schools were similar in some form, there were numerous amounts of differences in how the children were taught, how they were treated and how their living conditions were like throughout these schools.

To expand on the intricacy of the speaker’s life, symbolism is applied to showcase the oppression her ancestors etched on her quilt were facing for their “burnt umber pride” and “ochre gentleness” (39-40). Once again, the theme of absence is introduced as there is a sense of separation among the Native American culture as their innocent souls are forced onto reservations and taken away from their families. This prolonged cruelty and unjust treatment can be advocated when the speaker explains how her Meema “must have dreamed about Mama when the dancing was over: a lanky girl trailing after her father through his Oklahoma

This narrative text is based off the film The Sapphires set in Australia in the 1960s. In The Sapphires we see a flashback of Kay’s childhood and how she is part of the Stolen Generation. I will use this storyline as the starting point for my diary entries. The film gave me background knowledge on Stolen Generation and their experiences they faced. However, I need to know extra information so I will do further research about the Stolen Generation, in order to give an accurate description of their experiences. This narrative is targeted towards everyone. It is designed to inform them about the Stolen Generation and how they changed when forcibly moved to an Aborigines White Institution. This piece of text will be written in a diary entry form. I will use informal and conversational language. I will also use descriptive language when describing objects and sceneries throughout the text.

Isabelle Knockwood’s novel Out of The Depths shines a light on Residential Schools in Canada through the first hand accounts of twenty-seven survivors who attended the Shubenacadie Indian Residential School. Although Knockwood’s compilation of accounts are all from students of one residential school, the treatments and experiences echo the sentiments of students and authors over a much greater area. The affects of Residential Schools have had a lasting impact, affecting communities and individual generations later. Knockwood’s novel is very unique because it voices not only the harsh realities we associate with residential schools, but also personal experiences of appreciation for what the school(s) did. It will be interesting to look at

Residential Schools were and still are a significant part of Canada’s history. They have had negative social and psychological effects on survivors and even their families. Grant Severight, Richard Wagamese, and Rita Joe and so many more are incredible authors who share their experiences on Residential Schools from either their or their families’ perspectives.

In the book Monkey Beach by Eden Robinson, the main character, Lisamarie, has to go through a series of traumatic events. However, these events play a crucial role in understanding the message of the novel. First Nations communities are still struggling with the aftermath of residential schools. This has led to a loss of culture. Lisamarie faces the death of many family members, and sexual assault which help her get in touch with her supernatural side. However, because she has grown up in a Haisla family that doesn’t practice a lot of its culture, she doesn’t know how to accept that part of herself. Several members of Lisamarie’s family attended residential schools which forces her to face intergenerational trauma. The author uses traumatic events that revolve around first nations communities to make the reader aware of the struggles that still affect first nation cultures.

Historical trauma is a concept that refers to the wounding of generations due to traumatic experiences such as boarding schools, forced displacement, and genocide. Responses to this distress manifest in a number of social issues. For example, alcoholism and substance abuse could be recognized as attempts to numb unresolved grief. Other manifestations of emotional responses to this trauma include abuse, depression, domestic violence, and suicide. A framework for understanding the effects of historical trauma on communities is provided by Evans-Campbell (2008) in her article, “Historical Trauma in American Indian and Native American Communities”. These three levels include individual-level impacts, family-level impacts, and community-level impacts.

Charlie Angus was elected as a Member of Parliament in 2004, a role which took him to the Forgotten Children of Attawapiskat. It was his experiences prompted him to write his book, Children of the Broken Treaty: Canada’s Lost Promise and one Girl’s Dream, which tells the story of Indigenous persons of Canada’s struggles, including treaty rights, residential schools, as well as the fight for education and safe housing. The book provides a challenge to many common assumptions, and it also explores many themes which are used to explain the events which have shaped Canadian culture and policies. Angus begins his book by touching on some of the original treaties signed between the first Canadian government and the members of the bands that are indigenous to the land. One of these was Treaty 9, which promised education for Indigenous children. The book then developed into the foundation of residential schools, and the horrors that are endured there. In addition to the horrendous amounts of verbal, physical and sexual abuse which took place in these schools, the students who attended these institutions faced the mass genocide of their culture, as the unspoken purpose of these schools was “to kill the Indian in the child” (Angus, 2015, p. 14). The beginning of the book, while very dark, provides an honest introduction to some of the themes that can be spotted throughout the book, and history itself. The three themes that primarily stood out to me as a reader were: cultural