Preview

Residential Schools Case Study

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1546 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Residential Schools Case Study
For decades in Canada, officially beginning in 1892, children were taken away from their families and put into schools that would change and take away their views and beliefs, initial knowledge, image, and identity. In the earlier stages, these schools were referred to as Industrial Schools for Indians. Today, we call them Residential Schools with Aboriginal survivors who are able to tell their stories. Aboriginal people suffered while there schools were running. This essay will compare the knowledge in a recent article to primary sources that were written while Industrial Schools were in action. The actions of assimilating Aboriginal people through a strict form of education caused a negative butterfly effect upon the public and Aboriginal population. This act was run by the Canadian government and churches as an act of assimilation through education. The school system performed strict forms of discipline towards the Aboriginal children to civilize them to live through the dominant culture. The method of assimilation was unsuccessful, Aboriginal people …show more content…
The primary sources showed a great difference in many aspects compared to the secondary source by Neeganagwedgin. Throughout both of the primary sources, there was a positive outlook towards Industrial Schools. Whereas, Neeganagwedgin showed the negative impact the Residential Schools had on the Aboriginal population and culture. The entry by Baird focused mainly on religious positives, while the report by Davin focused on the positively towards civilizing Aboriginal children. These pieces showed how undermined and disrespected the abilities and culture of Aboriginals were. Nor Davin or Baird spoke about the harsh and strict treatment that Aboriginal people received by taking their children away without consent, or how the students were treated at these

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    In the article “Improve Aboriginal Health through Oral History,” which was published in the Toronto Star on Sunday, May 2, 2010, the author Nicholas Keung discusses the childhood of aboriginal in residential school and its effect on the healthy relationships.…

    • 595 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Series of traumatic events occurred while residential school were running, but it left a scars on aboriginal people forever. As an aboriginal women I get a lot of understanding from Pauline Johnsons “As it was in the beginning”, growing up on the Six Nation Reserve and having meet people who have experienced the same things as Pauline. Residential schools were open between the 1980’s and the 1990’s and the last school did not close until 1996, the year I was born. Pauline writes, “No more, no more the tepees; no more the wild stretch of prairie, the intoxicating fragrance of the smoke-tanned buckskin; no more the bed of buffalo hide, the soft, silent moccasin; no more the dark faces of my people, the dulcet cadence of the sweet Cree tongue”…

    • 245 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Over the past few decades, there has been many distinct perspectives and conflicts surrounding the historical context between the Indigenous peoples in Canada and the Canadian Government. In source one, the author P.J Anderson is trying to convey that the absolute goal of the Indian Residential School system in Canada has been to assimilate the Indian nation and provide them with guidance to “ forget their Indian habits”, and become educated in the “ arts of civilized life”, in order to help them integrate into society and “become one” with their “White brethren”. It is clearly evident throughout the source that the author is supportive of the Indian residential school system and strongly believes that this system was beneficial to the integration…

    • 804 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    During the years of its operation, students suffered from physical, sexual, and emotional abuse at the hands of their teachers. Over the course of its history, many investigations by the Department of Indian Affairs and several other government organizations failed to successfully bring forth any change in the school. Even the death of two male students (in separate incidences) brought forth no change. The deaths of the boys were blamed on the “wild nature” (page 112) of the First Nations, and that they “hate confinement” (page 112). The book ends with blaming the church and government’s inability to effectively stop the mistreatment at residential schooling systems, which has ultimately lead to much suffering and long-lasting trauma in First Nation’s people and their…

    • 921 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The idea of residential schools set out in 1846 and was put into action in the late 1890’s by the Department of Indian Affairs. The whole point of residential schools was deculturalization of aboriginals. However the government didn’t put it so bluntly. They would say that the aboriginals are put in a “white society” to learn how to become “better” Canadians.…

    • 514 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Indian Residential School system had a profound impact on many of the students who attended the schools, their descendants, and Aboriginal communities at large. Aboriginal experiences of the residential schools were largely missing from the historical record prior to 1990, when Chief Phil Fontaine publically acknowledged the abuse he and other students experienced at Fort Alexander school (Stanton, 2011, p. 2; The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, 2015a, p. 41). Through the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and other initiatives , the Canadian government has been on a journey to acknowledge the experiences of residential school students and their descendants, often referred to residential school survivors and intergenerational survivors, respectively. This approach has aimed to record and commemorate the experiences of former residential school students and promote awareness and education of the Indian Residential School system to the broader Canadian public. (James, 2012, p.8-9; Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement, 2006, Schedule N). The chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Murray…

    • 946 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Among the material aspects surrounding residential schools, health care problems were the biggest concern to staff and students. The health of students was not highly regarded unless there was reason to believe it was a serious illness, such as the outbreaks of measles, tonsillitis, Spanish influenza, and tuberculosis to name a few. “Although outbreaks of various diseases hit schools from time to time, tuberculosis continued to be the biggest threat to the lives of residential schoolchildren” (Miller, pg. 304), noted Miller in his writing. Schools reportedly accepted children who were ill to maintain their grants and continue to augment their enrolment numbers. Poverty amongst the schools made it difficult to provide the necessary…

    • 238 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Imagine being treated in a degraded way, deprived from communicating in your own language and unable to make use of your knowledge and traditions because of discriminatory beliefs about your culture and appearance. The following paper is an attempt to give a thorough explanation on residential schools and their impact on Aboriginal people by examining theoretical perspectives on their current education. One must first examine why residential schools came into being. Fear of others results in the belief that some are superior while others are inferior beings, and the dominant white, European culture saw residential schools as a way for their “superior” culture to be taught to the “inferior” Aboriginal students. Language is an important part of our lives; it is a uniquely human gift which lets us communicate, and which differentiates us from primates. Knowledge is an essential part of the human experience and knowledge is first transmitted through culture and family ties. In residential schools, Aboriginals were not allowed to speak their Native language and their knowledge was denigrated. Where residential schools tried to assimilate Aboriginal students into the dominant white culture, current Aboriginal education supports the teaching of language and culture as a way for students to regain their Native identity.…

    • 1200 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Residential schools were created in 1990 by the government to assimilate aboriginal children into Canadian culture. However, these residential schools has hurt the aboriginal children in many negative ways. Unfortunately children were ripped away from their family and forced into unfamiliar situation which was very hard. The negative affects of residential schools are trauma, mental health, and self-medication.…

    • 387 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Aboriginal Study

    • 859 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Residential schools were established with the assumption that aboriginal culture was unable to adapt to a rapidly modernizing society. It was believed that native children could be successful if they assimilated into mainstream Canadian society by adopting Christianity and speaking English or French. Students were discouraged from speaking their first language or practising native traditions. If they were caught, they would experience severe…

    • 859 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Affirmative Action

    • 971 Words
    • 4 Pages

    For more than a century, Indian Residential Schools separated over 150,000 Aboriginal children from their families and communities. In the 1870's, the federal government, partly in order to meet its obligation to educate Aboriginal children, began to play a role in the development and administration of these schools. Two primary objectives of the Residential Schools system were to remove and isolate children from the influence of their homes, families, traditions and cultures, and to assimilate them into the dominant culture. These objectives were based on the assumption Aboriginal cultures and spiritual beliefs were inferior and unequal. Indeed, some sought, as it was infamously said, "to kill the Indian in the child". Today, we recognize that this policy of assimilation was wrong, has caused great harm, and has no place in our country.…

    • 971 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Residential schools were put in to operation with the thought that the aboriginals could not adapt to the changing society. Attendance of First Nations were mandatory to show up. If the child did not attend that day of school or was missing, an agent or “dog nappers” as the children called them who worked for the government would track the child down and drag them back to school by throwing them into the back of a van. In the 19th century the Canadian government thought it was thier job to educate and care for the aboriginals. The government forced English upon the First Nations and were forbidden to speak their first languege and made them adopt Christianity.…

    • 1247 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Residential Schools

    • 1005 Words
    • 5 Pages

    In 1931 there were about 80 residential schools operating in Canada (News, CBC). Over the years that residential schools were in session, there were many traumatic events that caused mental, emotional, and physical damage to not only the individuals who attended, but also their families. While residential schools are in the past, there are still many long term effects including crime, parental abuse and substance abuse that harm the Aboriginal population to this day.…

    • 1005 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Residential Schools

    • 447 Words
    • 2 Pages

    When European missionaries began to live amongst aboriginal people, they concluded that the sooner they could separate children from their parents, the sooner they could prepare aboriginal people to live a civilized (i.e. European) lifestyle. Residential schools were established for two reasons: separation of the children from the family and the belief that aboriginal culture was not worth preserving. Most people concluded that aboriginal culture was useless and dying and all human beings would eventually develop and change to be like the 'advanced' European civilization.…

    • 447 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Residential Schools

    • 832 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The First Nations of Canada have suffered many years due to the Residential school system. Residential schools were an extensive school system supported by the Canadian government, and administered by churches (Hanson). The Canadian government began to establish residential schools across Canada in the 1880’s. There were approximately 130 residential schools for aboriginal children of different communities across Canada (CBC) This essay will examine the residential school system in depth, the Canadian government’s actions upon residential schools, good and bad, and the outcome of residential schools among aboriginal people.…

    • 832 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays