The Great War Was Not A White Man 's War

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

From the late 1800’s to 1996 more 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 from today’s events, this misconception. Long lasting impacts as a result of residential schooling include minimal education leading to poverty, stigmatization by the non-aboriginal public, abuses of aboriginal rights in areas such as land and the environment and the growing loss of Indigenous cultures in younger generations. With the continuing misconception of the history and lasting impact of residential schools conflict between Indigenous people and the Canadian Government has not ceased, but increased.

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.

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

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

The sociological effects that Aboriginal peoples in Canada face are vast. Residential schools, stripped people of their identity, enforced a cultural genocide, abused (both sexually and physically) children and created an unjust line of intergenerational trauma. Kinship ties, for the majority were lost during the residential school period, sometimes leaving entire communities displaced. The Canadian Government fails to recognize the treatment of Aboriginal peoples during the residential school period and there hasn’t been much done to help those who are affected.

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.

Since Confederation, relations between the Canadian federal government and the native people of Canada have been strained due to the former existence of the Indian Residential School System. Following the passage of the Indian Act, the first residential schools were established across Canada to assimilate indigenous children into Canadian society through the forced adoption of European customs at the expense of their own culture. During its tenure, approximately 150,000 indigenous children were separated from their communities and families, and forcibly enrolled into residential schools where many would be subjected to physical, and psychological abuses. Despite its malicious practices and objective, the residential school system

“Laying there, with someone walking toward you, you can tell what time it is,” he said. “You know what’s going to happen. A fellow doing something to you, fondling you, all hours of the night.” Jacks also remembers a time when two girls tried to escape the school. The school was on a island, so the girls got a boat but they ended up drowning before they could escape. At the school he also recalls the nuns telling him that he was stupid and that he would never be anything. The Canadian government was quite about these allegations of abuse but has paid out $350 million dollars in settlements to victims of sexual assault in residential schools. (Tim Naumetz, The Global Mail) The many cases of sexual assault has been blamed on the Canadian government for not properly screening teachers. Some of the teachers were pedofiles that saw these schools as a gold mine. Though the Canadian government states that they were just trying to modernize the population, some evidence proves otherwise. The main goal of residential schools was to eliminate the savages. The first prime minister of Canada John A. Macdonald spoke on this in the house of commons in 1883. “When the school is on the reserve the child lives with its parents, who are savages, he is surrounded by savages, and though he may learn to read and write his habits and training and mode of thought are Indian, he is simply a savage that can read and write.” This quote

An agreement called Indian Residential Schools Settlement Act is where Native Canadians is taken away from their families and placed in Canadian residential school system during 20th century. That demonstrates the consequences of assimilation in every residential schools. Devaluation of their culture and religion is one of the consequences of imperialism addressed by the policy. Natives are forced to have European culture and leave their own culture to fit in with everybody else; going to a residential school is one of the most common ways of assimilation. Residential Schools in Canada started in 1831, where natives have encountered traumatic, physical and sexual abuse from the schools that were directed by churches. Any communications with

First of all, I think it is crucial for you to know what the Residential School System was. The Residential school system was a system established by the Canadian Government and its Church led partners to bring aboriginal children to a school to prepare them for their future and education. However, the real goal of the Canadian Government was to assimilate them into white society, and to get them to submit to the so called

Residential schools were purposely built farther away from first nation civilizations to reduce contact with the first nations children and their families. Residential schools harmed children by forcing them to leave their homes, not allowing them to use their native languages, and exposing many of them to physical and sexual abuse. The residential schools forced the first nation children to speak only english and french. The residential schools also left a permanent scar on first nations by causing post-traumatic stress Disorder, alcoholism, substance abuse, and even suicide. The parents and families of the first nations children resisted the Residential schools. The families were forced to go into hiding from the government officials rounding up the first nations children. When parents told the government that the schools were abusing their children the government dismissed it as an excuse for their children not to attend the schools when in fact the children were being abused. Children from the ages of 7 to 16 were forced to attend the schools and children of all ages were abused. The first nation children were abused by their very own teachers and administrators. The types of abuse the children faced were physical and sexual assault, malnourishment, and harsh discipline that would never have been allowed in normal schools back then. The schools were overcrowded, had poor sanitation, insufficient heating, and a lack of medical

80 Residential schools were developed and established all across Canada in 1931, and slowly over the years, about 150 000 First Nation students attend the different schools. This happened because many believed that education was one of the biggest factors to assimilation, and so the Canadian Parliament changed the Indian Act requiring all children, ranging the ages of seven to fifteen to go to school . The biggest concerns for the Indigenous at the time was that they had to trek thousands of kilometres from home to the nearest school, unknown of the dangers these parents were sending their children into. At these “academic” schools, English was stressed to speak when interacting with others while native tongue and language was banned , due to the fact, most of these schools were ran by churches. Also because these schools were ran by these churches, Christian religion and ideals were emphasized, while Aboriginal Spirituality and culture was condemned. These poor kids were separated from everything they knew about growing up, and they just threw them into a curriculum and material that is so very different from what they knew and would get penalize from not understanding and would feel like they were an outsider. And they would have to deal with this on the daily. And what made it worse was the fact that many of these teachers were harsh and cruel towards these students, hurting them physically, mentally or sexually, causing trauma they’d never forget in their lives. The