The Impact Of Residential Schools On Aboriginal People

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.

“Where are they taking me, mom?! Help!” These were the screams of an Aboriginal child when he was dragged to a car that drove him away from his family. Aboriginal kids were forcefully abducted and placed at poorly built and equipped residential schools. Residential schools are a network of boarding schools for Indigenous peoples. Like a disease, these schools spread so fast on Canadian land. They were every Indigenous child’s nightmare. Kids who attended were traumatized due to the mental, physical, and sexual abuse they suffered. Canadians felt superior to Aboriginals which lead them to use their power excessively to civilize these communities. This issue is considered to be one of the darkest chapters in Canadian history. It has a significant impact on Aboriginal communities. Indians suffered a loss of culture and identity. This issue violates various human rights such as; Freedom of language, freedom of culture and religion, freedom of choice, and the freedom of safety and health. The two groups in this controversy are the aggressors; Canadian government, and it’s churches, and the victims; the aboriginals. The question is, is the Canadian government doing enough to make it up to those who suffered the ill effects of residential schools?

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.

They achieved this by introducing laws, such as the Indian Act, which prohibited the Aboriginals people basic rights, and with the introduction residential school that took away Aboriginal children from their parents and the reserves in order to assimilate the children from a young age with teaching them the Christian values and Euro-Canadian manners. Both the Government of Canada and the Church worked together in order to benefit each other. The residential schools were a church-run school that already had experienced teachers instead to establish new school the government changed them to residential school. This allowed the government to save money and the church was allowed to teach Christianity, due to the residential schools being run

What historical forces have contributed to the situation of Tom and his family, and how do you, as the social worker see yourself implicated in this historical overview.

Residential schools in Canada was the planned assimilation of Aboriginals into European way of life through church run schools. These forging societies have not only been a vital part to the Canadian economy but have also played an important role in protecting Canadian land form American conquest in the 1700’s-1900’s. The residential schooling system revealed the monstrous and shameful acts humans commit when they are power hungry. With the decline of the fur trade industry British colonizer started to see aboriginal peoples as a threat and began introducing treaties and laws to decimate the aboriginal population. Colonizer began implementing land treaties, reserve system but soon realized it was not enough to destroy aboriginal culture. Of the many laws that were passed residential schooling could the most heinous law used to cripple the aboriginals and destroy their culture, and make them second class citizens. This paper argues that euro centric practices reproduces the marginalization and downward social mobility of aboriginal people through the residential schooling system.

In this paper, I will examine the issue of Indian residential schools and, ultimately, will argue that while it may have been the custom to impose colonialist and imperialist ideals in the late 1800s and early 1900s, in today’s society we view what occurred as nothing less than inhumane, an act which must be remembered as a dark shadow that for decades – and still today - clouds relations between aboriginals and the Canadian government. To understand the complexity of this matter I will discuss why this policy was implemented; I will look at the goals and the methods used to achieve these outcomes; I will discuss indigenous response to this amendment of the Indian Act; and finally, I will look at the effects this action had on indigenous peoples and their relationship with the country. It is important to know that while my opinion is clear in that I see the creation and implementation of Indian residential schools as an evil action with no redeeming qualities, there are others – as recently as Conservative Senator Lynn Beyak on March 7, 2017, who spoke out in favour of those who worked at the schools – who do not agree with my point of view . These polarized viewpoints, often times skewed by emotions and poorly informed opinions, add to the complexity of the matter, particularly in moving forward and achieving reconciliation with indigenous

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.

The Aboriginal peoples of Canada have taken on great suffering from the colonization of the settlers of Canada. However, the effect of colonization has not disappeared from the Canadian society. Indigenous Residential Schools (IRS) played a major role in the cultural loss or genocide of the Aboriginals. Presently, IRS litigation is trying to reveal the effects of the IRS and how the justice system needs to acknowledge that cultural genocide was a consequence of IRS. This socio-legal issue is the focus of the article,” Troubling the Path to Decolonization: Indian Residential School Case Law, Genocide, and Settler Illegitimacy,” written by Leslie Thielen-Wilson.

Residential schools first opened in the late 1880’s with the last one closing in the later 1990’s. The Canadian government was responsible for the initiation of residential schools while it was the churches (Anglican, Presbyterian, United, and Roman Catholic) responsibility to educate and oversee the overall running of the schools. Hanson (2009) writes “The purpose of residential schools was to eliminate all aspects of the Aboriginal culture.” It is through looking at the history of residential schools and facing the assimilation forced upon Aboriginal children and their families, along with the abuses endured that a reconciliation between all involved with the uprising and running of these schools that all can come together in moving forward

With the last residential school shutting down just over twenty years ago, Monchalin’s examination of the impacts of residential schools illustrates the prejudice and discrimination against Indigenous peoples within Canada’s recent history. Not far in Canada’s past is the use of the word “civilizing” to describe the forcing of children from their homes in attempt to eliminate any affiliation with their Indigenous culture and traditions. Based on this, while reading through this chapter I feel that it is important to note the terminology used in the descriptions of these schools and the abuse that took place within them. By looking at the terminology used throughout the chapter, it can be seen just how discriminatory and bigoted Canada’s history

Canada holds a shameful history of operating beyond 130 residential schools for the Aboriginal Children during 1800’s until late 1900’s (“Misconceptions of Canada’s Indian Residential School System” 2007). Due to the implementation of the Indian Act in 1876, more than 100 000 Aboriginal children between the ages of four and sixteen years old were forced out of their homes, separated from their family, and sent to the residential schools to be assimilated into Euro-Canadian cultures (ANISHINABEK, 2013). The residential schools were operated by the churches and were funded by the Government of Canada. The main reason for sending the children to the residential schools was due to the strong belief that the assimilation has to start with the children to make them a civilized human beings as the Aboriginal were seen as “savages”. (NEEGANAGWEDGIN,

Disadvantages include the loss of the First Nation’s right to govern themselves and the loss of the right to vote

It is not possible to talk about the lengthy history of colonial settlers and indigenous groups without addressing the devastating effects of Indian residential schools on the Aboriginal community in Canada. During the past two decades, the Canadian government acknowledged the implications and has taken responsibility for the outcomes of these residential schools. Much has been done through the framework of transitional justice in order to facilitate reconciliation with the indigenous community in Canada. Despite the government’s amends, I will argue that the reconciliation efforts were inadequate because the purpose of these initiatives was merely to draw a line between the past and the present, rather than to restore the socioeconomic wellbeing of the Aboriginal community that existed before the legacy of Indian residential schools.

Residential schools play a vital role in Canada’s history. In the late 1800’s, the federal government created church-run residential schools to assimilate Aboriginal children to European and Christian ways and in doing so robbed them of their cultural identity. Many children were subject to sub-standard living conditions, barely edible food, disease, emotional, physical and sexual abuse and even death. As a result of these dreadful experiences, there arose a movement aimed at healing the survivors of residential schools. The main concept of this healing is reconciliation. To reach the goal of reconciliation one must agree to gain knowledge and understanding of survivors experiences and accept that a mistake was made by the government