Exploring the Current day Impact of the Canadian Indian Residential School System

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.

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

When the term “genocide” is used, the majority of people will immediately call to memory one of a few widely recognized instances where this atrocity was committed. The Holocaust, Rwanda, Darfur or Armenia are among the most well known, but are they the only instances where genocide has occurred? Surely not, but this is indicative of a problem we are faced with today. Since the term “genocide” was coined, countries are very wary of admitting to any acts of wrongdoing in their history which may fit that definition. Canada is not exempt from this thinking, and because of this we must ask, has Canada ever committed acts of Genocide? This paper will look at one relatively recent example that can be used to answer “yes” to this question; the residential school system. Canada’s Indian Residential School (IRS) system and it’s treatment of Indigenous children was not just dark and brutal, but in fact constituted a “genocide” as defined by the 1948 UN Convention on Genocide.

Education is an essential aspect in our ever-changing societies. It is used as a means of transmitting concepts, knowledge, and values, often to younger generations (Ravelli & Webber, 2010). Education and schooling differ in all societies, varying based on the methods of teaching of different cultural groups. For instance, Canadian Aboriginal people were taught based on the needs of their individual families and class. This greatly differed from the European system of education, which stressed adequate involvement with all of society. Though the Aboriginal manner of education was efficient and effective, the Europeans wanted to bring a change to their previous practices. As seen in the film, Education As We See It, European missionaries

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

“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?

In the past couple of weeks we have participated in activities, discussed, and listened to presentations about Indigenous culture and how it is integrated in education, and what that means for our roles as teachers. This is a topic that I was fortunate enough to get the opportunity to teach, and is a subject that I’ve always been interested in and enjoyed learning about.

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.

The first residential school opened in Canada in the 1830’s and closed in 1996, these schools were made for indigenous children. The children did not leave at free will they were “forcibly taken from families — sometimes at gunpoint — and flew them to remote locations they could not escape — sometimes in tiny handcuffs — where they were submitted to a program” (Staniforth). When the children arrived they were stripped of their clothing, cut their hair and given European clothes and the “European look”. They were not allowed to speak in their own language or practice their traditions, aboriginal culture and spiritual beliefs were seen as unequal and thought that the children should learn the ways of Euro-Canadians and only speak English or French. They forced these children to practice a catholic faith and attend church, if these rules amongst many others were not obeyed they would experience severe consequences. The consequences ranged anywhere from being physically, mentally, emotionally and even sexually abused. The schools were ridden with pests, illness, lice and were overpopulated, children were even experimented on to see the effects of malnutrition. The lack of funding for these systems caused them to use children as labourers and said that it “built character”(Staniforth). The education was very limited and the girls were

In the Indigenous community, when the community is faced with a trauma, it takes seven generations for the community to heal (Trimble, 2015). People may underestimate how oppressed and how much suffering the Indigenous communities had to struggle with, and continue to struggle with these issues today. We may underestimate how severe the situation is because many of us were not taught much about the impact of colonization on the Indigenous communities in school. There are many myths people may have concerning Indigenous life experiences, particularly schooling. To address these myths, I would begin by giving a brief history of residential schools. I would then analyze how residential schools have impacted the indigenous community and how they continue to affect them today. I would also mention the current issues children on reserves are facing today regarding school. Lastly, I would mention some of the progress that has been made. I will use the work of Sefa Dei to demonstrate the importance of community in education regarding the Indigenous people.

The mistreatment of Aboriginal children at residential schools caused detrimental impacts on their identity and even led to death. Furthermore, this has led to many repercussions that negatively affect their communities and made them more prone to criminal acts. There have also been rising tensions between the Aboriginal population and the Canadian government due to the protests for compensation. The imposition of residential schools has negatively impacted the lives of the Aboriginal population and the government must take action for the betterment of their

Residential schools were viewed by the Canadian government as an approach to civilize the native population and shield their children from following their native traditions. Historians and researchers have argued that the Canadian government and churches committed genocide amongst the indigenous populations in an attempt to eliminate the native culture. Arguments for this can be exemplified under the UN’s convention on Genocide which classifies genocide by, causing serious bodily or mental harm, deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life, and forcibly transferring children of the group to another group. The intended target of the residential schools was not the adult population but native children between the ages of three to eighteen

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.

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.

These schools were created for the reason of teaching Aboriginal children the Canadian language and culture in the hope that they will become assimilated into it. Every Aboriginal child under the age of 16 will be forcibly removed from their homes and put into residential schools. Often if children spoke their own language or practiced their own cultural traditions they were punished physically and verbally. They would be abused and many students would deal with emotional damage for the rest of their lives. The death and disease factors also had a large impact on the Indian children, at least 4000 Aboriginal children died from tuberculosis and the spanish influenza. By the 1940s and 1950s, residential schools have restricted nutrients and dental care for multiple students creating an unhealthy lifestyle (The Canadian Encyclopedia "Residential Schools."The Canadian Encyclopedia. October 10, 2012. Accessed July 7,