Residential Schools in Canada research

The legislation demanded the Aboriginal kids attend the Residential Schools which majorly were in operation in 1880. The schools had initially been the idea of the Christian church community and the Canadian government. The schools were established with the ideology of civilizing the original inhabitants of Canada through forceful conversion to Christianity and integration into the Canadian system through the process of educational, cultural, social, political and economic assimilations (Vallgårda, 2016). This paper seeks to unfold why the residential schools were established in Canada, who was their targets, the effects of the residential schools on the aboriginals and the interventions done as a result of the impacts. Who were the targets of the Residential Schools in Canada? In every society schools are established to nurture and give direction to the young following the saying you cannot teach old dog new tricks.

a) The forceful eviction and isolation of the Aboriginal children from their homes. A group of officials who served in the Bagot Commission of 1842-1844 analyzed the factors behind the Aboriginal learning system and came up with different ideas of precepts and acquisition unlike that of chief Sunday, Shingwauk and Johns (Hayter, 2017). This resulted in a proposal that the detaching children away their parents could help the realization of the acculturation according to the 1847 report of the Native Education (Hayter, 2017). According to me separating the children from their parents was part of their initial plan because the system had already worked for them in USA so this was not a new strategy to imperialists; it was a gradual process of minimizing resentment from the older generation.

What they did was to partially assimilate the parents to allow children to go to school then finally introduced the Residential School system killing day schooling. According to my understanding the missionaries held an idea that conversion of the Aboriginals to Christianity was part of global warfare for the salvation of the souls of the Aboriginals which to them anybody who never subscribed to Christianity was evil. This belief warranted the process and the act of subverting the traditional spiritual leaders. As per the perspective of Hall, the traditional Aboriginal religious leaders were agents of the devil and that Christian missionaries action of banning the sacred cultural practices of the aboriginals was justified (Hall, 2018). According to Hall, the Christians actions of attempting to desolate the Aboriginals from their religion were act of justice and service to humanity.

The Protestants and the Catholic missionaries’ referred to the indigenous spiritual beliefs as superstition and witchcraft forcing the missionaries to organize campaigns that were geared to illegitimate the sacred Aboriginal ceremonies like the western coast Potlatch and in the Prairies the Sun Dance (Woods, 2016). The children at the Residential Schools faced animosity and wild treatments which most of them lived to narrate. a) What were the claims given by the survivors of the Residential Schools in Canada? The claims provided by the Residential School survivors were indeed heartbreaking. Nobody feels comfortable to stay in a hostile environment. Many of the students who attended the school reported several waves of abuse subjected to them in the residential schools. They treated us like servitudes and as animals.

These ordeals faced by the students resulted into intergenerational problems which became part and parcel of their lives. 2) The impacts of the Residential Schools in Canada on the Aboriginals The age group that was the target was up to as low as three years. At this age, the child s still attached to the parental warmth. If such a kid is isolated from his/her parents; it subjects the kid into a depressive situation and a condition that will stay with him or her until adulthood (Bombay & Anisman, 2014). So when the residential schools separated children from their grandparents, siblings, parents and the extended family it was indeed horrific and unforgettable. This is why most of the Aboriginal men today are Alcoholic, irresponsible and most of the women end up being single parents.

Many Aboriginal women face numerous gender violence issues due to the physiological torture they underwent while at the residential schools. When these survivors in the later years became spouse and parents, they were unable to interact with others ethically. The neglects and abuses they suffered at the residential schools many at times resurfaced in their relationships in which they developed the habit of being the abuser. The ageless circle of ferocity within the families and yielded coevals of broken children who were sent to attend the residential schools that robbed their predecessors their childhood. This was to purpose to create awareness and educate the survivors on the understanding of the residential schools legacy. The national government has issued gathering strength. This is the Aboriginals action Plan for Canada structured to renew the relationship between the Canadian citizens and Aboriginals (Niezen, 2017).

In 1990, Chiefs Phil Fontaine summoned the churches who participated in recognizing the emotional, sexual and physical abuses suffered by the children in the Residential Schools. After one year, the federal government decided to work with the Catholic, Anglican and the Presbyterian churches to create a compensation strategy for the industrial Schools alumni of the RS. Civilization is not killing the culture of other people, civilization is accepting other people’s way of life by improving it and nurturing it in more superior and friendly way. The Christian missionaries failed abusing the doctrines of Christianity of do to others the things you would want them to do unto you. The current situation among the Aboriginals is a creation of exploitation by the church and colonialists, therefore I call upon the perpetrators of injustices to the Aboriginals to fully participate in the healing programs and help restore fully the cultural rights of the Aboriginals because there is no superior culture, all cultures exist purposefully.

This paper is significant since it reconstruct the past of the aboriginals at the time of colonization and factors that resulted to the changes that were witnessed after many years of colonization in connection to the predicaments of the Aboriginals today. References Bombay, A. The boarding school as metaphor. Journal of American Indian Education, 57(1), 37-57. Christensen, J. , Andrew, P. , Dene, T. , Ross, A. , & Collin-Vézina, D. Sexual abuse, residential schooling and probable pathological gambling among Indigenous Peoples. Child abuse & neglect, 44, 56-65. Fallon, B. BC Studies, (188), 118. Hackett, C. , Feeny, D. , & Tompa, E. Canada's residential school system: measuring the intergenerational impact of familial attendance on health and mental health outcomes. A. , & Anisman, H. Indigenous identity transformations: The pivotal role of student-to-student abuse in Indian Residential Schools.