Native Residential Schools Analysis

From the 1870’s until the last school closed in 1996, at least 150,000 Indigenous children attended residential schools in Canada. More than 130 government mandated schools existed across the country. These schools were church administered, with the express purpose of forcibly removing Indigenous children from their native culture, in an effort to assimilate them into Euro-Canadian culture and thereby “kill the Indian in the child”. Countless families were torn apart as the Canadian government placed

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.

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

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.

This image serves as a reminder of how different Indigenous youth were seen in their traditional ways of life, but also how different the residential school systems forced them to be on a surface level. What the photos do not show is the families that had their children stripped away from them, and the countless children that were forced to leave their families and culture behind. Without background knowledge of this photo as well as context, one might see these ‘before and after’ photos as successful assimilation through residential schools. Thomas Moore Keesick is not a success story; he died as a result of the horrible conditions and treatments faced in the residential school – something the photo does not

The drastic cultural impact of residential schools on First Nations people has been extensive, as it is mentioned in the novel Keepr’n Me by Richard Wagamese. Keeper’s statement in this book, “Only thing they did was create a whole new kinda Indyun. We used to

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.

The schools affected not only the individuals who attended them but also the families that they were torn from and future generations as the effects of these schools are quite complex. Traditions, culture and language are just a few of the things that were stripped away from the people who were forced to attend them. The assault on the Aboriginal identity started as soon as the children arrived at the school. According to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada in their book, “They Came for the Children”, “Once stripped of their clothes, students were roughly bathed. Braided hair which often had spiritual significance was cut” (22). The aim of the Residential schools, which were run by the Roman Catholic missionaries, was to “civilize and Christianize” (10) Aboriginal children and the only way to truly complete this task was to separate the children from their parents, as well as their culture and enforce that only English was spoke, which ultimately resulted in the loss of language for many. In order for children to fully receive a new identity, children were given new names and often assigned a number to help the school keep track of them. On student retells the experience in the book, “They Came for the Children” by explaining, “I was number one hundred and sixteen. I was trying to find myself; I was lost. I felt like I had been placed in a black garbage bag that was sealed. Everything was black, completely black to my eyes and I wondered if I was the only one to feel that way” (23). Children were terrified after being taken away from the parents and brought to these large schools were everything that they have known and grew up learning was slowly taken away one by one. Rosanna Deerchild’s mother attended one of these Residential Schools and it is through conversations with her that Deerchild retells her stories in calling down the

Thousands of First Nations children were kidnapped and imprisoned in residential schools during the 1960s. These children were then forced to renounce anything in relation to their traditional lives, such as their native tongue. These objectives were often achieved in a barbaric and inhumane manner. Richard Wagamese’s “Indian Horse” recounts the fictional story of Saul Indian Horse’s struggle through residential school along with the residual effects on his adult life. Within the novel, Wagamese highlights how one’s traumatic past can have tremendous physical and mental effects, especially in the absence of support.

From 1863 to 1996, many Indigenous child were forced to attend residential schools, where they were separated from their families and culture and experienced neglect, abuse and trauma (Bombay, Matheson, & Anisman, 2011, p.367). This essay will explore the history and purpose of residential schools, how it impacted Indigenous children and families at the time of the events, and how to this day it still affects them. Indigenous Residential Schools impacted the First Peoples of Canada physically, mentally and emotionally which resulted in their loss of identity, culture, spirituality, and traditions in the past and present.

Residential schools were mandatory for all Aboriginal children to attend. These schools “separated children from their families and communities, forcing them to speak English and worship according to European Christian customs while inflicting great physical, emotional and sexual abuse, poor living conditions, lack of adequate medical care and food on them.” (Cooper & Salomons 2010, 34). Cooper & Salomons (2010) argued that the motive of residential schools towards girls was to din male-controlled norms into Aboriginal societies so that women would lose their leadership and voice in the society. The impact of colonialism and residential schools are a large contributor to violence perpetrated against Aboriginal women in Canada today, “…the residual impacts of residential schools are felt by the families of missing and murdered women…”(Cooper & Salomons 2010, 34), even till present date.

There has been lots of controversy about the Indian Residential Schools in Canada and its long term consequences. The Indian Residential Schools long lasting negative effects on the Canadian Identity and Indigenous peoples are still present today. This essay will outline the legal issues, mortality rates and poor conditions. Lasty the lasting effects from the Residential Schools present today in both the survivors, and the new generations. The conflicts between Canada’s Residential Schools and the Canadian Identity is a very problematic issue that Canadians of both Aboriginal descent and mainstream Canadians are trying to amend.

Residential School is where First Nation kids were being stripped off of their identity of being an Ojibway. This is where violence. Abuse and some deaths occurred. Residential School as Saul describes it “St. Jerome’s was hell on earth”(78) Since Saul knows how to speak english,

The book, “Indian School Days” is an autobiography of the author Basil Johnston, an Ojibwe native from Wasauksing First Nation, in Ontario. This piece by Author, “Basil Johnston”, gives the reader more and more evidence of the structural lifestyle of the Spanish Indian residential school. From the very beginning his writing style links the reader to never put down the book, it is full of action and true events that took place during his lifetime. The book starts off with Mr. Johnston as a young child of ten years, skipping school with another student, an act that they didn’t think would get them both shipped off to a residential school. But as fortunes and his unfortunate