Narrative Essay On Residential School

The purpose of Canada 's residential schools was to assimilate First Nation peoples into mainstream Canadian Society, like the Indian Act. The Residential Schools damaged First Nation people because it disconnected the children from their history, language, family, and culture. Residential Schools taught children that their culture wasn 't worth preserving. Some legacies of Residential Schools include alcoholism, poverty, and increased chances of becoming a prostitute or abuser (physical, emotional, sexual, and psychological). Statistics prove that people who have been

Usually, the schools were built in areas where they were far away from the Aboriginal homes, which therefore cut off ties with family and community influences. In these residential schools, children were stripped of their identity of their heritage where they were forbidden to speak their native language and where only English was allowed to be spoken; not allowed to wear their native clothing, this caused children the loss of their belief in their traditions of their native culture due to not being able to put them in practice because they were the “Other” which is considered inferior (rel after 304). The most horrible things of this residential school if the children did speak their native language or did anything native such as rituals they were punished. The Aboriginal children went through a cruel amount of abuses through emotional, physical and sexual which are life threatening to the children, this is considered a scaring and impacted many Aboriginal people with repercussions of the loss of

Indian Residential Schools has been a major contributing factor towards the mistreatment and decreased standard of living for the First Nations people of Canada. Originally founded in the 1840’s and the last to close in 1996 the goal of Residential Schools was to assimilate First Nations people into Canadian society. The assimilation process consisted of the forced attendance (by Canadian law) for every Native, Metis, and Inuit child to attend the “boarding” schools. Residential Schools were ran by Christian, Catholic, and Anglican churches, the schools were also funded by the Canadian government’s Indian Affairs. Treatment students received while attending the schools was unbearable for the young children. After being taken and

In Canadian history, there are a lot of interesting events happened in the past. Some of them are events that are proudly presented such as Battle of Vimy Ridge, Canadian peace keeper and others. On the other hand, there are also a lot of tragedy events that happened in the past. Indian Act is one of an important act which occurred in 1876 and it led to establishment of Indian residential school, and the Indian residential school is a tragedy event that happened in Canada. It was the school that most of First Nation people will never forget. What was the reason? What did the residential school do with those First Nation people?

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.

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 schools were a place where thousands of Indigenous children would go to learn but instead get abused very badly. Residential schools existed about a hundred years ago. These tragic schools were established because European people wanted the Indigenous people of Canada to be assimilated into Euro-Canadian. The European people thought that their civilization was the greatest human achievement. A lot of residential schools opened within Canada’s provinces. Life at residential schools was very cruel because the students got limited time to learn and more time to do exhausting chores. The children also got brutally abused for various things including if they offend the nuns and priests working in the schools. By the time the children had finished attending the residential schools they had almost forgotten everything about their culture and traditions. Residential schools treated children very poorly which caused some long-lasting effects that still impact Indigenous people today.

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.

Residential schools were a normal aspect of Aboriginal people’s lives in the 19th and 20th century. The purpose of a residential school was to convert Aboriginal children to Christianity and to assimilate them into Western culture. They were operated through the Canadian government and the church. Aboriginal children were forcibly taken from their parents and put into a school, full-time. They were mistreated which led to problems that still afflict the Aboriginal population of Canada today. Many Aboriginal people want the Canadian government to recognize the inhumane and heinous acts that have been done and want compensation. The imposition of residential schools has greatly impacted the Aboriginal population which resulted in many repercussions

While there are of coarse similarities between the residential school system and the Canadian pubic school system, there are many major differences. Residential schools 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 "civilize" and Christianize Aboriginal people, whose traditional ways of life were seen as inferior or heathen” (Mccue). They aimed for the children aged of three to eighteen to

The use of residential schools was cruel. First Nation students were treated poorly, they were forced to forget their cultural and about their family. Firstly, First Nation students were treated like human experiments. For example, the students would be starved on purpose just to see how long they will survive without food. Young girls were sexually abused to death and many students, both male, and female, were brutally beaten up. Due to this many students died and there were only a few survivors. Secondly, In residentials schools “Indian” students were forbidden to do anything related to their culture. For example, according to http://indigenousfoundations.arts.ubc.ca/;” some students had needles shoved in

During the time residential schools existed, the Aboriginal population of Canada was forced to endure appalling treatment. Residential school is regarded as a thing of the past by high school history books, but is that really true when the oppression and abuse that occurred in residential schools has had a long-term effect on Aboriginal peoples? Intergenerational effects of residential schools include post-traumatic stress disorder, high rates of addiction, abuse and violence, probable deadly illnesses, and elevated statistics of suicide in Aboriginal communities. A substantial number of authors, historians, and researchers attest to the fact that residential schools have influenced a number of generations of the Aboriginal people of Canada.

Indigenous Residential Schools were experimented in parts of Canada was early as the 1620s but they had very minimal success in accomplishing what they wanted. Missionaries ran the residential school but found it hard to recruit students, keep them at school, and they complained that they could not physically punish the children. The state got involved in the schooling of Indigenous children after Canada became a country in 1867 (Blackburn, 2012, p. 290). Canadian residential schools were also inspired by a similar practice in the USA in the 1880s. Their plan was to assimilate Indigenous children into Euro-Canadian culture. The schools were operated by Christian churches and they thought that by removing Indigenous children from their parents and communities they would be more quickly assimilated (Woods, 2013, p. 173-174). Figure 1

Residential schools in Canada were present for over 100 years and were created by the government to eliminate the Indigenous culture. These schools successfully separated families while creating huge cultural barriers between children and their Native culture (COHA, 2011). These children were forcibly removed from their families and taken to residential schools because Canadians saw Indigenous peoples as “backwards” or “savage” (COHA, 2011). They also believed that they were inferior to Natives and that these schools would help “civilize” aboriginals by replacing their Native traits with Western values (COHA, 2011).

Residential Schools were systems set in place by the Government of Canada and enforced by Christian churches as a way to approach the “issue” of the First Nations. They were used by the government to assimilate the Aboriginal children into European culture. It is significant that Canadians remember this time in history because it's not so far in the past. We see the repercussions to this day. This source shows the perspective of the Government, and supporters of the Government. On the other hand Aboriginal people may disagree, they are still greatly struggling with misfortune due to Residential Schools. The perspective shown in the source should be looked into considering the government's insufficient response to the legacies left behind by Residential Schools. For example we see higher prison rates, more drop outs, and family abuse more than most cultural groups in