Indian Residential Schools

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Indian Residential Schools
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• First Nations people wanted to educate their
  children to ensure that their cultures survived
  in a changing world
• The federal government wanted to assimilate First
  Nations peoples. A rich First Nations culture
  was seen as an obstacle to building the Canadian
  nation.

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• All aspects of First Nations Culture was
  eliminated from the schools
• Children were forbidden to speak their native
  language and were punished for doing so.

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Children were required to wear school uniforms.
Hairstyles were cut short in European style. The
children ate primarily Euro-Canadian foods.
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• Boys were separated from girls. Siblings were
  intentionally separated in order to weaken family
  ties.

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• Students celebrated Christian holidays and
  learned to play European sports such as soccer
  and cricket.

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• The school day was divided between religious
  instruction and training for manual labour. They
  were taught practical skills such as sewing,
  woodworking, reading and writing. They didnt get
  academic subjects such as history, geography,
  math, and science.

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• When an Indian comes out of these places it is
  like being put between two walls in a room and
  left hanging in the middle. On one side are all
  the things he learned from his people and their
  way of life that was being wiped out, and on the
  other are the white mans way which he could
  never fully understand since he never had the
  right amount of education and could not be part
  of it. There he is, hanging in the middle of the
  two cultures and he is not a white man and he is
  not an Indian. They washed away practically
  everything an Indian needed to help himself, to
  think the way a human person should in order to
  survive.
• -John Tootoosis, senator, political activist, and
  former student in a residential school

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Cultural genocide

• Little or no contact with families
• When they returned home their family
  relationships were distant.
• Not much in common with families.
• Didnt speak language so couldnt communicate
• Didnt have same beliefs
• Didnt practice same traditions and customs
• Children were caught between two cultures.

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Timeline

• 1857 - Gradual Civilization Act passed to
  assimilate Indians.1870-1910 - Period of
  assimilation where the clear objective of both
  missionaries and government was to assimilate
  Aboriginal children into the lower fringes
  (non-educated) of mainstream society1920 -
  Compulsory attendance for all children ages 7-15
  years. Children were forcibly taken from their
  families by priests, Indian agents and police
  officers. 1931 - There were 80 residential
  schools operating in Canada.1948 There were
  72 residential schools with 9,368 students.
  1979 There were 12 residential schools
  with1,899 students.1980s - Residential School
  students began disclosing sexual and other forms
  of abuse at residential schools. 1996 - The
  last federally run residential school, the Gordon
  Residential School, closes in Saskatchewan.

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CBC Archives

• http//archives.cbc.ca/society/native_issues/topic
  s/692/