down” : A quote from Aggie George recalling of her experience in the Lejac Indian Residential School (Legacy of Hope Foundation, 2001). In the 1880s all the way to the 1990’s roughly 150,000 aboriginal children where removed from their communities and homes to attend the residential school system set up by the government and operated by the Christian churches (Government of Canada, 2015). The purpose of these residential schools was to isolate Aboriginal children from their families and assimilate them…

RESIDENTIAL SCHOOL SYSTEM 3. In reflecting on the Residential School System in Canada, discuss why Elders teachings and courses in Indigenous studies are important today. Between 1875 and 1996, First Nations children were forced to attended residential schools to be systematically assimilated into an English-Christian society through abuse, segregation, and racism. Residential schools were created by the Canadian government to transition First Nations children into a newly colonized Canada, but…

First Nation children were forced to attend Indian residential schools dating back to the 1870’s and spanned many decades with the final school closing in 1996. These educational institutions were government funded and church run by Roman Catholic, Presbyterian, United and Anglican denominations (Truth and Reconciliation Commission, n.d.). There were 139 schools where more than 150 000 First Nations children attended. The children of these schools were mentally, physically, emotionally and sexually…

The Indian Act of 1876 and many of its amending statutes contained sections that were discriminatory towards Canadian Native Indians, and that legalized suppression of Indian customs and traditions. In this paper, I will examine how one section of the Act, the one relating to residential schools, contributed to the genocide of Indian culture. Ever since the first Europeans set foot on Canadian soil in the 15th century, they have thought their culture and way of life was superior to that of the Native…

‘I want to get rid of the Indian problem. That is my whole point. Our objective is to continue until there is not a single Indian in Canada that has not been absorbed into the body politic and there is no Indian question’ (Scott in Grant, 1996: 273). Canada is a vast territory widely recognised for the cultural and geographical diversity in nature. This alone poses a distinct challenge to understanding a unified conception of Aboriginal Geographies of Canada - particularly for understanding…

Canadian Indian Residential Schools: Truth Be Told Katy McNabb HIS755 - Material Cultures of North America October 30th, 2014 The history of Canadian Indian Residential schools has attracted a considerable amount of attention in Canada in recent years. Most people do not want to revisit the pain and suffering that countless Aboriginal peoples endured, and the loss of such beautiful cultures. Since the introduction of the Canadian Indian Residential school system in 1857, through…

The Indian residential school system was brought upon by the Canadian government with the Christian churches running them. The schools were an attempt to eradicate Indigenous culture and to coerce the Indigenous children into assimilating with white European culture under the assumption that the European lifestyle was superior to the ‘savages’ that were aboriginals. (Jacobs) The principle of the Gordon’s reserve school even stated that “change the philosophy of the Indian child. In other words since…

than 100,000 aboriginal children attended residential schools in Canada. At a majority of these government operated schools there were reports of emotional, physical, sexual and spiritual abuse along with punishment for cultural activities. Residential schools were implemented to liberate aboriginal people from their savage ways in order for them to survive in the modernizing society.1 To a majority of the current Canadian population, impacts of residential schooling are a part of a distant past, disassociated…

150,000 First Nations children between the age of 4-16 attended the Indian Residential schools (Anishinabek Nation). These children were abused physically, sexually, emotionally and were banned from speaking their native language. Residential schools formed strained relationships in Canada today because they tried to put an end to the Indigenous culture, they made indigenous children feel ashamed of their culture and most Canadians have ended up with one-sided version of history. For a very long period…

As previously stated, the main goal of the residential school system was to assimilate aboriginal children and was thought to make them more functional in Canadian society. Children ranging from 4-16 were taken from their homes and families and re-homed in institutions with the goal of assimilation in mind (Nagy, 2012). These institutions were often incredibly harmful to the students because they were not well kept or staffed, and were severely underfunded. These issues resulted in malnutrition…