Essay On Residential Schools In Canada

Despite the fact that all residential schools have closed, what thousands of aboriginal children experienced remain both terrifying to those who hear the stories and relevant to Canadian society. Glen and Lyna are two residential school survivors whose lives were greatly impacted by the government’s attempt to eliminate aboriginal culture. For example, “the system forcibly separated children from their families and “even siblings rarely interacted.” Consequently, the family ties between Glen and his family severely weakened through his years in residential school, making it difficult for him to find comfort in family even when he started his own. As a result, when Glen struggles with alcoholism, instead of confiding in family, he is driven

As Canadians, we are proud of being multicultural and accepting of different cultures, however, residential schools represent the opposite of the ideas the majority of Canadians now harbour. Regardless of this fact, it is extremely important that we continue to talk about residential schools in order to reconcile with the aboriginals who had their identities taken from them. In my opinion, trying to bury the unpleasant events in the past shows disrespect to the people who suffered through those times. Brushing off such events gives the impression that it isn’t important enough to be discussed. Additionally, many residential school survivors actually want their stories to be told so they can shed light upon the injustice that their people endured and so that no other decisions are made out of ignorance. Major events that happen in the past stay relevant to society today no matter how long ago those events may have happened, so sometimes instead of avoiding discussions about past conflicts we can continue to speak up and develop a better society together through those