Traditional Education

Looking at the schooling of Indigenous people is important to understand how they were forced into the European education system. However, they also have their own education system and way of doing activities. In this paper, we will examine how the education system effects the Indigenous population within Canada during the twentieth century. The focus will also be on how Indigenous girls and women experienced education in the twentieth century. Women and girls experienced schooling differently because of gender standards set at the time. Women were expected to be a part of the domestic sphere and males the public sphere. This often reflected itself in the education taught to the genders. This will be elaborated on later in the paper. Education

This includes knowledge about hunting, fishing, and gathering which are all a major way of life for Indigenous people. Although there are other methods too, such as, basket weaving which would be one main way women contributed to their home economy. However, by the twentieth century traditional ways of life were changing and the reliance on European goods became more common. Aboriginal people saw education as a form of displacement and not taught enough about everyday laws, whether those are civil or common laws. One elder of the Sioux Valley First Nations said, “The Aboriginal languages were given by the Creator as an integral part of life. Embodied in Aboriginal languages is our unique relationship to the Creator, our attitudes, beliefs, values and the fundamental notion of what is truth. Aboriginal language is an asset to one’s own education, formal and informal. Aboriginal language contributes to greater pride in the history and culture of the community: greater involvement and interest of parents in the education of their children, and greater respect for Elders. Language is the principal means by which culture is accumulated, shared and transmitted from generation to generation. The key to identity and retention of culture is one’s ancestral language.” Eli Taylor, the elder and his point about education and the community, and how language is one of the most important ideas in

Day schools were the first to be set up. However, some of these did exist before the Canadian government established itself, but the majority started to appear after Canada was established. Some of the day schools have existed for many years, from the time the Jesuits arrived in Canada, however, many of these became formal as the federal government established itself. These would be schools funded by the government. The students could leave at the end of the day and return to their families. Due to the schools being set up in the communities of the Indigenous people they could return home, unlike Residential schools. The schools were not well funded and were not set up in a way that enhanced the lives of Indigenous people. They were forced to learn English and not allowed to speak their own language in the schools. The hope to assimilate the Indigenous people into Canadian society first presented itself in these schools and the education they would be exposed to. Day schools were mainly set up by the missionaries, especially in the early years when they were established. Boys and girls experienced school differently. Although the day schools were for both boys and girls they would be taught different things. These would usually be European centered ideas, such as the way to dress for each gender. The government soon realized the day schools