Summary: The Indian Residential School System In Canada

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
of Indigenous nations into society. Additionally, in the source, the author says “ It has been therefore determined that your children shall be sent to schools” which gives the reader evidence of the perspective of the author and their power over these tribes. In 1875, the Gradual Civilization Act was passed in order to assimilate the FNMI people into the Canadian European society.
Eventually, during the late 18th and 19th century, the Indian act was passed and the government started portraying a major role in the administration and development of these schools. Children were forcibly removed from their homes and brought to these schools where they were bound to learn Christianity, English, cooking and other needed skill to integrate into society and the industrial field. Even though they were able to learn some beneficial skills, many suffered from physical and sexual abuse as well as complete assimilation and cultural loss. To this extent, the government was benefited through this system since they had found a logical and functional solution to solve the “Indian problem” which was a worry they challenged since their arrival during the colonization period. To a massive extent, the government was successful in imposing Eurocentric views towards the FNMI people and their attempts at cultural assimilation. However, during the late 19th century, the last federally run residential school closed. Eventually, the government acknowledged Aboriginals in Canada and a reconciliation statement was created in
1998. This significantly relates to the topic of historical globalization, because it is exploring the long- term pursuit of imposing Eurocentric perspectives on native cultures and long -term attempts of creating ethnocentric societies during the imperial era in the 18th and 19th centuries. During the imperial era, many European countries tried to force Eurocentric views on native peoples in colonies in an attempt to create an ethnocentric society, which usually resulted in cultural assimilation, depopulation, exploitation, and marginalization of these native cultures.

The relationship between the three sources is the reality of the true relationship between the Canadian government and the FNMI peoples.
To what extent has the government tried to resolve the issues between FNNI people and the Eurocentric government and how effective were their attempts throughout history? In source one, in the quote by Indian superintendent P.G Anderson, he describes the government's determination to inflict the Indian residential school systems on the FNMI communities, and their goal to assimilate the indian culture into the Eurocentric society. His response to the question is that the Canadian European government has had and always will have a superior power to the first Nations minority in Canada, and that their attempt to resolve the “Indian problem” was successful through the establishment of the indian residential school system. Source two responds to the question through a symbolic drawing of a courthouse with the name “reconciliation” and having only one block built in the project which was the 2008 residential school apology. Additionally, the construction site has a sign stating “UNDER CONSTRUCTION; Completion: UNKNOWN”. In this source, the answer to the question is clearly displayed through the cartoon, that the relationship between the government and the FNMI people is not strong. To a certain extent, the government has previously attempted a more peaceful resolution to the ongoing conflict between the cultural interdependence, but there still
no serious considerations made from the government regarding the issue which is indicated by the uncompleted construction and the unknown construction deadline.Source three,is two black and white pictures comparing Thomas Moore before and after his entrance into the residential school system. Furthermore, source three could answer the question through saying that the government's attempts to resolve the issues between them and the government has been successful and now Thomas Moore, like many other indigenous children have been well integrated as functional members into society. Another way source three could interpret the question is through an Indigenous perspective where they would argue that to a certain extent the government may have tried to resolve the conflict, but their attempts to resolve the issues has been unsuccessful and bias and resulted in major assimilation and cultural loss.