The first residential schools opened in the 1840s, and by 1910 there were 74, mostly in western Canada. The residential school system separated many children from their families and communities and prevented them from speaking their own languages and from learning about their heritage and cultures. The federal government and the churches wanted students to abandon their ties to their Aboriginal culture and to become "civilized", that is mainstream Canadians. In most schools all evidence of Aboriginal culture was suppressed. The federal government began to phase out residential schools in the 1960s and by 1974 assumed full responsibility for the residential school system.
These development stages must have made the Aboriginal child question its identity as it was bound in an Aboriginal body but lived a white colonisers’ social life. Also, the child was placed in white schooling, which resulted in them becoming unpopular; causing the development of socially inappropriate behavior and academia problems (Hoffnung et. al, 2010). The children were involuntary medical tests and often beaten or sexually abused. This physical trauma has scarred many, as well as creating distraught in the children’s minds of growing up not knowing their family nor true identity (Burns 2008).
During her early teens she was forced to go to boarding school not only by her mothers will but by state law all Indian children were forced away from their parents and sent to Christian boarding schools to acculturate these children through these cultural modification policies, (Bodley, 1999, p. 93). Despite the aims of the laws passed to send Indian children to Christian boarding schools, this actually caused resistance in many cases, as is the case with Mary Crow Dog. The pressures and punishments delivered by these Christian caregivers exacerbated the situation which pushed her to embrace her Indian roots and learn her peoples culture, language and
John Bowlby was a notable British psychologist, psychoanalyst and psychiatrist, well known for his works on child development and the development of attachment theory. He strongly believed that behavioural problems as well as mental health issues have its deep roots in problematic early childhood. Born on 26th February, 1907 in London, he was raised by a nanny. He belonged to an upper middle class family, so he did his schooling from a boarding school as was very common for the boys of his social status. He spent a particularly hard time at the boarding school where he suffered from lack of parental care and affection.
There was sickness and hunger and most of people’s children die before they reach adulthood. The Puritan did everything they could just to survive the difficulty of setting up the colony. It may be because this hardship and struggle that the puritans develop their negative outlook on life. Their need for a God to save them to get through the struggle of the day. It can also explain their belief in superstition and fear of things like witches.
Residential schools editorial The source says that even thought residential schools were a horrible thing that affected the aboriginal peoples of Canada, the TRC is a waste of time and taxpayer money and every one should just forget about it and move on. Residential schools were schools ran by the church and funded by the government to assimilate first nation, Métis, and Inuit children of Canada by not letting them speak in their native language, practice their native culture, and not letting them go back home for long periods of time. They were assimilated by the teachers of the schools, teaching them English so they can read the bible and convert to European culture. The 130 residential schools in Canada were located far away from the
Residential boarding schools were the only options for Aboriginal children and the conditions of these schools were terrible. “Many Aboriginal children who attended these schools were
The best known and probably most horrible of these non-indigenous atrocities is of course the Stolen Generations, the transgression for which the government gave the parliamentary apology. The displacement of at least 10% of aboriginal and half-caste children between the years of 1869 and 1969 (although there is ample historical evidence, including recollections of this author’s mother and aunt who had ‘stolen’ children in their class at primary school, indicating that the displacement continued into the 1970’s) remains a central reason for the mistrust between the indigenous and non-indigenous people, as the events of the Stolen Generations are seen as a demonstration of no confidence in indigenous social order and even an attempt to accelerate what was thought to be the inevitable ‘dying-out’ of the aboriginal race (Perry
Isolated from their homes, punished for speaking in their own language children become distanced from their culture. As Reimer says, “… the residential school experience left students feeling alienated from their community, creating generation gaps. Prolonged and repeated periods of separation between parents and children living in different worlds resulted in an inability to communicate in terms of language, but more-so in terms of not being able to connect and relate to each other. “ This experiences resulted in loss of culture , identity , spirituality and nation; besides , or Aboriginal people it wasn’t an abrupt event, but continued in one form or another through centuries of intense pain and suffering, In conclusion, we can easily see from these few examples, just some of the negative effects of residential schools , not only on their students but on entire Aboriginal society . Tragically, the effects of residential schools and issues of the native community will take generation to
The unhappy history of the residential schools became a scandal and a permanent source of embarrassment that was recorded for future generations of Canadians in the books of history. The development of the Canadian history has to live with the unpleasant memory of the times when the Canadian society punished its members and subjected them to cultural and racial humiliation because they belonged to a different community. REFERENCES | | | Chrisjohn, R. & Young, S. (1997). The Circle Game: Shadows and Substance in the Indian Residential School Experience in Canada. Penticton: Theytus Books Miller J. R. (1996).