There has long been significant historiographical and popular controversy about the conditions experienced by students in the residential schools. While day schools for First Nations, Metis and Inuit children always far outnumbered residential schools, a new consensus emerged in the early 21st century that the latter schools did significant harm to Aboriginal children who attended them by removing them from their families, depriving them of their ancestral languages, through sterilization, and by exposing many of them to physicalleading to sexual abuse by staff members, and other students, andenfranchising them forcibly.
The atrocities that the children of residential schools had to endure is not something that can be ignored, just as the lessons these children learned, like shame, humiliation, hate, compassion, and forgiveness cannot be overlooked (Borrows 486-7). Borrows raises an important point, which is that the children of the Residential schools, who survived, grew up to eventually become elders (487). Although there are some who feel Residential schools had positive impacts, the high suicide rates in Indigenous communities cannot be
This paper will review the first five chapters in J.R. Miller’s book Shingwauk’s Vision: A History of Native Residential Schools. These chapters examine the events that took place before residential schools were made, as well as looking into the historical context of Canada during this time period. The first chapter of the book explains the way in which indigenous communities educated their children before contact by the European settlers. The educational systems from these indigenous communities were much different than the European educational systems, in the sense of a formal, rigid, institution.
The perception was that Native American adults had a limited ability to learn new skills and concepts. Later in the report, it is expressed that children learn little at day school, causing their “tastes to be fashioned at home, and [their] inherited aversion to toil is in no way combated. ”11 Davin recommended that similar industrial boarding schools should be built in Canada, which would attempt to assimilate Native children into the European culture.12 Nicholas Flood Davin’s research and advances about the industrial schools in America, was important in the creation and developing of the Residential school system in
Introduction The little community of Attawapiskat, Ontario, Canada has been and is currently facing an immense loss due to a high amount of youth suicides. The community has been under a state of emergency since April 2016 after many of the community’s youth have tried to or succeed at committing suicide. These suicides have been the product of colonialism and intergenerational trauma from the generations that came before them. The devastation in the community can teach Child and Youth Care practitioners how to put into action programs that build youth’s strengths and resilience as well as overcome any negative factor that have been created during this epidemic.
The Aboriginal people have been abused in many ways, both mentally and physically. They had been torn away from their homes, their families, their lives and dropped into places that they did not know. The places were called Residential Schools. Residential Schools has given many victims PTSD (Post- Traumatic Stress Disorder). PTSD has symptoms that include flashbacks, nightmares, severe anxiety and uncontrollable thoughts about the event.
We Were Children, the documentary on residential schools, is a re-enactment of two aboriginal children and their first hand experiences in the residential school system. The kinds of problems this documentary presented include mistreatment faced by the children who attended these schools, corruption and scandal inside the administration of the schools, and the false perception about these schools that resonated amongst Canadian society. These two children talk about the bullying they had to endure from the nuns which show that the children were not seen as equal to a child of non-Aboriginal decent. Furthermore, the types of abuse administration would put these kids through was immensely disturbing considering this was a state run institution.
Though many First Nations people believed that the concept of these residential schools would help connect their children to a better life, residential schools were also faced with harsh criticism and strong resistance from First Nations parents and students. After generations of family members facing the harsh conditions of the residential schools, parents began to speak out against the use of residential schools, showing their discomfort and their discontent. Parents
These negative effects were further amplified with residential schools in which they were not allowed to practice their tradition and were forcefully assimilated into the “western” ways. Boarding schools were run by the new white government and forcibly taught Haudenosaunee boys agriculture and manual trades, while Haudenosaunee girls were taught domestic skills. Since residential schools targeted younger generations, it made the Haudenosaunee’s traditional
These schools have been described as an instrument to wage intellectual, psychological, and cultural warfare to turn Native Americans into “Americans”. There are many reports of young Native Americans losing all cultural belonging. According to an interview with NPR, Bill Wright was sent to one of these schools. He lost his hair, his language, and then his Navajo name. When he was able to return home, he was unable to understand or speak to his grandmother.
Indigenous people are incarcerated at much higher rates than non-Indigenous in Canada and are incarcerated for longer periods of time (Cook & Roesh, 2012, p.222). Canadians have put Indigenous communities through much heartache and pain. With the colonization of Indigenous people to residential schools, Canadians continue to stigmatize and treat Indigenous people poorly. Indigenous people are more likely to suffer from drug abuse using needles because of the intergenerational trauma suffered through their parents attending residential schools in Canada (Bombay, Matheson, & Anisman, 2014, p. 327). This puts them at a higher criminal risk than others because of what they have been subjected to.
-What are the challenges faced by indigenous languages and efforts to revitalize them? -What is the role of indigenous women in their communities and in advocating for indigenous rights? -How has residential schooling impacted indigenous communities, and what are the long-term effects?
In this essay, I'm going to argue to you that residential schools were harmful to indigenous people. Do you know why these schools were horrible well in Erin Hanson, article called The Residential School System, she says that the residents school system was an attempt to ‘kill the“Indian in the child”. And I agree with this, the Residential school was an attempt to take away indigenous kid's culture. Residential school survivors endured horrendous abuse from the so-called staff. Indigenous kids were forced away from their parents and most times never saw them again.
“Historical trauma coupled with ongoing present-day traumas such as anti-Indigenous racism and a lack of clean drinking water has had a massive negative impact on Indigenous communities, resulting in (and combining with) issues such as addiction, limited education, incarceration, violence, abuse, suicidality, homelessness and poverty” (Seto). The effects of boarding schools are evident in the high poverty rates, unemployment, substance abuse, and suicide among Native Americans. The boarding school system has also contributed to the erasure of Indigenous languages, cultures, and knowledge systems, which are essential for the well-being of Indigenous communities and preserving their unique and beautiful ways of
The TRC’s “The History” author appeals to logos through the use quantitative findings. The use of logical evidence from the collection of testimonials made by former residential school students is an effective way to aid the persuasion of a reader. Throughout “The History”, the author describes the memories of known First Nations peoples Frederic Ernest Koe, Marlene Kayseas, Lily Bruce and many others. In addition, the author quotes Vitaline Elsie Jenner’s use of ‘kaya nakasin’ (TRC, 2015, p.38) in describing her experience with residential school. The author’s example that contains the use native language reaffirms his credibility and detailed knowledge of the
Critical Summary #3: First Nations Perspectives In Chapter eight of Byron Williston’s Environmental Ethics for Canadians First Nation’s perspectives are explored. The case study titled “Language, Land and the Residential Schools” begins by speaking of a public apology from former Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper. He apologizes for the treatment of “Indians” in “Indian Residential Schools”. He highlights the initial agenda of these schools as he says that the “school system [was] to remove and isolate [Aboriginal] children from the influence of their homes, families, traditions and cultures, and to assimilate them[…]” (Williston 244).