Missing Child Project Suicide

Many survivors of these school speak out today with hopes of preventing this kind of torture in the future. The government did eventually realize what they have been doing is wrong but it was too late. The damage has been done. The graduates from the schools did not have any life and did not know how to act in society. They turned to alcoholism, suicide and abuse to their own family as that was the only behaviour they knew. It’s an ongoing cycle of pain. The last school officially ended in 1996 and after that Stephen Harper officially apologized for everything in 2001. Survivors are offered reconciliation session and given many rights to compensate for the impacts of the institutions. Hopefully this will be a new beginning for the relationships between Aboriginals and the government. Though the past cannot be erased, it can be

How many children are believed to have been removed and placed in institutions between 1910 and 1970?

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.

Duncan Campbell Scott, Head of Indian Affairs Canada from 1913-1932, spoke for many when he said, “I want to get rid of the Indian problem. Our object is to continue until there is not a single Indian in Canada who has not been absorbed. They are a weird and waning race… ready to break out at any moment in… dances.” (Quinlan et al#######) Additionally, native children in residential schools were not allowed to refer to their own cultures in any way, especially through language. The only language they were allowed to speak was English, a language that none of them knew. If caught, the children were severely punished. Many children experienced physical, sexual and emotional abuse while in residential school. Brenda Cardinal, an aboriginal who once had to stay in residential school, describes how school affected her, “I became withdrawn, painfully shy, and I just couldn’t communicate with anyone. I couldn’t receive love or show anyone love. I didn’t even love myself.” (qtd in Freeman-Shaw, Haskings-Winner 38) Residential schools had a very negative impact on those who went through the horrible experiences and many of these former students do not have positive stories to share. By the end of the 1920s, there were eighty residential schools in Canada. The forced assimilation of native children had greatly impacted those who went to residential school and will always remain as a dark shadow cast on Canada’s history.

Sometime back in 2012, there was a reported tragedy that struck the elementary school at sandy hook, Connecticut. It is alleged that a man dressed in black walked into the school compound and opened fire disrupting the serene environment of the school. In the incident, after a few minutes, 26 people lay dead, 20 of them being young children aged between 6 to7 years. Among the grownups that perished were the school principal Dawn Hoch Sprung, and the school’s psychologist Mary Sherlock (Parmet, 2013). The killer identified as Adam Lanza a 20-year-old man also died. Found separately was his mother’s body, at a residence in town. It was compared to another incidence that had occurred in 2007, a similar event of shooting at Virginia where 32 people perished. The young were said to have been directed by their teachers into bathrooms and closets at the onset of the shooting. The incident occurred in

Throughout the development of the residential school system, much injustice had been done towards Aboriginal people, who carried these scars through generations. Even today, Aboriginal people experience the highest crime rate and suicide rate, and many possess mental illnesses and stress disorders. It is important for Canadians to learn about the residential school system so similar events can be prevented in the future, awareness of the Aboriginal society

Residential schools messed up people’s lives and their communities, causing long-term problems among Aboriginal people.

Former students have spoken out and recall extensive abuse from the school staff, acts of physical, sexual, emotional, and physiological abuse have been reported. Survivors recall being beaten and strapped. Some had needles poked through their tongues for speaking their native language. Because lots of students grew up without a nurturing family system, they didn't have the proper knowledge to successfully raise their own families. Throughout the time period of residential schools, there was an insanely high death rate among aboriginal students due to unsanitary conditions and inadequate healthcare and food.

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, diseases, abuse, and even death. Children who attended were subject to abuse emotionally, physically, and sexually (Chansonneuve, 2012). Along with these issues, the absence of family, native language, and tradition caused the children to feel

Many will agree that the root of the horrendous conducts stipulated in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Report is an old classical racism; but has this classical racism vanished or just done a cosmetic face lift over time? It would be naïve to think that the report in question had any impact on the basis of racism in Canada. Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada may have opened some eyes, but correspondingly, has not and cannot eradicated the source of racism, so as to stop racist based injustices from reoccurring. The probability of repeating such racism stipulated in TRC report looks feeble in today’s Canada, nonetheless a kind of modern racism which is complicated, hard to penalize, and is multi-dimensional, that has developed in the recent years, and needs to be addressed, exists. As defined contemporary racism is the

Through residential schools acting in the dismantling of traditional indigenous religions, languages, and practices it becomes evident that this is a matter of cultural genocide, not simply an effort to assimilate the indigenous. Furthering this notion is the countless accounts of sexual, physical, psychological, and emotional abuse that went on in these hallowed halls. Although it took over a century for both the government and church to recognize the tremendous amount of suffering induced, attempts at paying back and correcting mistakes made in the past have been undergoing. However, despite many attempts by current or past legal bodies to reconcile, these acts of cultural genocide committed in these residential schools will never be forgotten, and will continue to cast their dark shadow in Canadian

The Report of the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from Their Families 1997 better known as the ‘Bringing Them Home Report’ brought to the fore the policies of separation and assimilation but also denial from several quarters of society specifically the Liberal Prime Minister-

A majority of Canadians, including teachers, have a limited understanding of Aboriginal people, their culture, history and experiences. Instead, they have been informed by dominant discourses (see Schick & St Denis, 2005 as cited in Dion, 2007). Aboriginal learners and their families are often misunderstood and judged. The blame is often placed on them for their failure to achieve in the educational systems (Battiste, 2000; Kulchyski, McCaskill, & Newhouse, 1999 as cited in Hare & Davidson, 2015). The intent of the resource’s use is to bring to light and expose the cruel practices of the entire residential school system and the hardships and the sufferings experienced by the generations of Aboriginal victims taken into this system. This is in order to enlighten and

Residential schools segregated and integrated aboriginal children to “civilize and Christianize” to Euro-Canadian values, then were sent home to teach their families those same values (Chansonneuve, 2005, p. 34). Residential schools had immediate and long-term impacts on Aboriginal children and families. There were three phases of residential schools between the mid 1800s when residential schools were created until 1998 when the government’s response to the recommendations of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples was released (Chansonneuve, 2005). Residential schools had harsh conditions and damaging impacts on the Aboriginal people involved. As a future social worker, I believe acknowledging and having a background on residential schools

However, accordingly to Maldonado, “Having an Indian status does not necessarily mean free universities and no taxes” (lecture, November 15, 2016). The Canadian’s stereotypes about Indigenous people and their “favorable” position in the society is based on the misunderstanding and leads to the discrimination they are still facing nowadays. Although Canada’s bill of rights were created in 1960 and gave people the right for equality, liberty, and freedom of speech and religion, even the fact of existence of Residential Schools makes it obvious that Ingenious people were still harshly discriminated. Those schools, where children were kept away from their families and taught that their culture was evil, that their parents were pagans, that their identity was primitive, existed till 1996 and have been teaching approximately 150,000 First Nation, Inuit and Metis children (lecture, November 15, 2016). Residential School is an example of the discrimination against Aboriginals, trial to diminish the culture, language and family connections of the whole nation. The formation of The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada was an essential step for the Government in order to renew the positive relationships with Indigenous people. This commission worked on revealing the truth about the Residential Schools and informing about it all Canadians. I believe that creating such programs is an important part of history of social policy in Canada as it fosters positive relationships between different groups of