Residential Schools Essay

458 Words2 Pages
Thesis: Residential schools has had negative impacts on Aboriginal families in Canada such as disassociation of family, lack of identity and an absence of cultural practices. Outline: Body1: I) Opening Sentence: In the eighteen-forties, the Canadian government established the first residential school in northern Ontario, which was the start of First Nation children being taken away from their families. II) Supporting: i) The government thought that they were going to educate and “civilize” the First Nation culture ii) By the nineteen-twenties, almost seventy-five schools were in operation across Canada iii) Authorities running the schools used harsh and unimaginable ways of teaching Body 2: I) Opening Sentence: Residential schools had an immediate effect on the students attending through mental and physical abuse, which later on manifested as substance abuse, which was used as a coping mechanism. II) Supporting: i) Most of the physical wounds would heal: they might leave a scar, but the mental images would last in their minds forever. ii) Many of the awful effects endured couldn’t be healed by reaching threw to their own culture because it was stripped away from them. iii) Studies have shown that substance abuse and suicide have been more common with those who were enrolled in residential schools. Body 3: I) Opening Sentence: Children’s religious and cultural practices were ignored in the schools, and they were taught European ways of life. II) Supporting: i) They did not learn basic parental skills and cultural traditions; which normally were a very important way of life for the Aboriginal culture. As a result a lot of the Aboriginal culture was lost. ii) Many children were confused about who they were, when they went home to the reserve they found that they could not help out with their community because residential schools stripped them
Open Document