The Impact of Canadian Residential Schools on Aboriginal Communities
The Canadian government felt that they had the obligation of educating the Aboriginal people living in Canada to help improve their lifestyle by teaching their children. They force the children out of their communities into schools to get an education so that they can transform their lives and also secure the future of their generation by passing on the ideal lifestyle taught by the Canadians. The Canadian government established a program known as ‘aggressive assimilation’ which they used to teach children in the boarding schools as they found it easy to manipulate children than adults to make the children adapt to the Canadian customs. The schools left the children with scars accumulated from the physical, sexual and emotional abuse which would carry on to the future and affect them and their relationships with the Canadian people. As a result, a solution had to be created to process the healing for the affected community and to heal the already destroyed relationship.
The Role of the Catholic Church in the Residential School System
The Catholic Church joined in the initiative as part of the extended practiced tradition in the engagement in the education, health and spiritual welfare of people. The Catholic Church involved with the foundation and operation of the Indian residential schools which were sustained mostly by the Canadian government funds. At the early stages of the project there were only about 69 schools, but by 1931 which was the peak of the residential school systems the number had gone up to 80 operating schools (Stabler, 2013). The initiative was rooted in the principle of providing education to the indigenous children like the Inuit and Metis which formed a part of a population which was believed to be an obstacle to the nation’s progress. A move popularly described as “killing the Indian in a child” (Stabler, 2013). The residential schools got established as a solution for eliminating the indigenous cultures which were believed to delay the modernization process, so they decided to use the children whom they thought will be successful in the future.
The Abusive Experience of Aboriginal Children in Residential Schools
The aboriginal children underwent a process that was emotional, physically and sexually abusive all in the name of getting educated. The children were taken away from their families and communities and subjected to new customs, and if they refused to abide by the rules, they would get punished. The punishment used were emotional and physical abuse for refusing to comply with the regulations of the schools. The children were forced to dress in European clothes and cut their hair, forbidden from speaking their languages, and also required to get involved with the state and church festivals and rituals with or without their consent (Stonechild, 2006). Over the years the children had to endure lots of physical, emotional and sexual abuse and they had no opportunities at all of experiencing healthy family life. These experiences damaged them emotionally and physically because with time when they went back to their communities they found out that they could not fit into the environment (Stonechild, 2006).
The Healing Process and Reconciliation Efforts
The indigenous people are currently undergoing a healing process after the Canadian government called for a meeting with the Royal Commissions on Aboriginal Peoples and listened to their experiences. The government later on in 2007 organized for compensation amounting to $ 1.9 billion for the people who went through the residential schools at that time, and each person was to receive $10,000 for the first year they attended school, plus $3,000 for each subsequent year they remained in school (Stabler, 2013). The then Prime Minister Stephen Hamper offered an apology from the Canadian people and the government to the Aboriginal people. The purpose of the apology was to acknowledge responsibility for Indian Residential School and their legacy and also to create possible foundations for new relationships to take place. The churches also acknowledged the abuses endured by students at the residential schools and apologized for the same.
The Role of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission
Apart from the compensation process the Canadian government also formed truth and reconciliation commission to help in the healing process of the students who went through the sexual, physical, and emotional abuse. The commission was to facilitate the process of rebuilding the broken relationship between the Aboriginals and the Canadian people which were experiencing the hiccups of the yesterday hatreds and conflicts (Stabler, 2013). The reconciliation mechanism was to help in affecting change and in affirming the indigenous rights and the self-governing to create a room for self-determination of their laws and practice jurisdictions over their territories (Stabler, 2013).
Looking Towards Reconciliation and Healing
The Indian Residential Schools started with a goal of eliminating the barbaric beliefs of the Aboriginal people which were not helping in the speedy growth of modernization in Canada. Unfortunately, children in helping the Canadian government to reduce the traditions, and in the process, they got severely affected by it. The children got subjected to physical and emotional abuse as a punishment for their refusal to oblige to the rules. The only hope left for the indigenous people is for the reconciliation to facilitate their healing.
References
Stonechild, B. (2006). Chapter 1: Early policies regarding Indian Education. In The new buffalo:
The struggle for Aboriginal post-secondary education in Canada. Winnipeg, MB: University of Manitoba Press.
Stabler, J. (2013). Canadian identity and Canada’s Indian residential school apology. eTopia.
