The Impact Of Residential Schools

With the last residential school shutting down just over twenty years ago, Monchalin’s examination of the impacts of residential schools illustrates the prejudice and discrimination against Indigenous peoples within Canada’s recent history. Not far in Canada’s past is the use of the word “civilizing” to describe the forcing of children from their homes in attempt to eliminate any affiliation with their Indigenous culture and traditions. Based on this, while reading though this chapter I feel that it is important to note the terminology used in the descriptions of these schools and the abuse that took place within them. By looking at the terminology used throughout the chapter, it can be seen just how discriminatory and bigoted Canada’s history
is regarding Indigenous peoples. Another example of the use of bigoted terminology in regards to residential schools is in reference to the nutritional experiments conducted on the children. These experiments reduced Indigenous children to objects and test subjects, as they were starved and referred to as “experimental material.”