Colonialism: The North American Residential School System

Colonialism played a large role in shaping North America. One significant outcome of colonialism in North American was the residential school system. Residential schools were a tool of Eurocentric colonialism to forcefully assimilate Aboriginals into white Canada. This system was mainly created to indoctrinate Aboriginals (savages) into the white European society (civilized). Therefore, I argue that the residential schools were the setting in which the concept of the civilized/ savage dichotomy was the most visible.

As learned earlier in the course, colonialism has two distinct forms. The first distinct form is the process in which one nation uses forceful means to obtain land. The second form of colonialism focuses mainly on “exploiting the

Despite the claims of education being a priority, these schools often provided Indigenous students with an inferior education, “often only up to grade five” (Kohn 2006). The students that attended these schools had no idea that their education was lower than the public schools. In fact, the many students who came out of these school hardly knew anything, as they were primarily taught about God. As Melvin Jack stated during an interview, “they taught us well about their higher power” (Melvin). “When I finally got out of there they sent me to public school and I didn’t know nothing and I felt so stupid” (Page). Today when you ask someone about their typical day at school, you don’t expect to hear that their scared or have no friends. However, when it comes to the case of residential school it is a completely different story. When interviewed, Velma Page, a survivor of a residential school stated that she feared both the Nuns and Priests. These were people who served God and were supposed to make them feel safe and yet students were terrified of them. When you hear something like this it makes you wonder about the horrific acts that took place. Well, the students were given specific rules that they had to follow or they would have to face the consequences. When stated like that it makes it seem like nothing is wrong. However, these students were told not to look around and talk to the other students. If for any reason, they did break the rule, they would “get strapped or get their ears and hair pulled” (Page). This of course made it difficult for students to make friends or even find their siblings that they were separated from. Despite the horrible education system, Indigenous students also had to endure an enormous amount of abuse while attending these