Residential Schools

Residential schools have existed since the mid 1850’s when missionaries were setting up schools to educate and Christianise the Aboriginal population. Since then and the last one that closed in 1996, one hundred and fifty residential schools operated across Canada. The main point of these schools was to isolate children from their families and communities, and by doing so eliminating their culture and eventually the aboriginal community in its entirety. It is an efficient tactic to create change by implementing it in the school system that was used by Hitler in extreme circumstances and is still used today. Rhonda Claes and Deborah Clifton created a time line illustrating how the purpose for the residential school changed throughout time. …show more content…
There were some cases where children were loaded up in cattle trucks, railroad carts, planes etc. without the knowledge or consent of the parent. In 1884, an adjustment to the Indian Act was made making school mandatory for all aboriginals under the age of sixteen, also allowing authorities the right to fine and imprison parents who did not cooperate. When the students arrived, regardless of which school, they were scrubbed down, given new clothes and hair was cut, attempting to erase all traces of their ‘savageness’. One girl wondered as the nuns cut off her braids whether her mother had died as in Assiniboine tradition, cutting braids was a symbol of mourning for a loved one, the shorter the cut, the closer the relationship. Another young boy, the first night had nightmares from being in a foreign place and had wet his bed and as a consequence was dragged out of bed and beaten. By taking children away from their families, the authorities had no respect for the important role of family involvement in a child life, and failed to replace that same role for the children. Punishment for speaking their native language started on the first day, illustrating the school had …show more content…
There were many restrictions placed on the children to ensure they were being assimilated. As mentioned above, speaking native tongue was strictly prohibited even amongst friends during play. Boys and girls were segregated, and a residential school survival, Abraham Ruben states this was due to the schools desire for the children to live a celibate life. This seems very ironic as the amount of sexual abuses that occurred in the schools is outrageous, which were often being down by the religious authorities preaching a good Christian celebrant life. This separation of genders was also problematic as it meant children were not allowed to talk to their relatives if they were the opposite

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