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The effect of residential schools and the Indian act on indigenous peoples
Effects of the residential school system on Canada's Indigenous peoples
Australian Aboriginal community policy
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‘Confront scourge of sexual abuse, stand up for children, Inuit leaders demand ‘, is an article written by Kristy Kirkup, who reports the impact on indigenous people of Canada due to the disregard and lack of respect from the government for years. Indian residential school systems are disastrous mistakes that wreaked havoc on Canada’s Aboriginal groups. It later, lead to the tragedy that many aboriginal parents do not know how to treat their children in a good way. Abuse, including physical, sexual, emotional, is one of most serious and common issues that still affects several aboriginal communities. Indigenous leaders and victims told The Canadian Press the level of abuse in some communities is shockingly high, although there is limited data that indicate exactly how pervasive the problem is across the country. Sexual abuse had gone through residential schools over several generations. The cycle abuse is continuing to infect subsequent generations in recent years. Prominent Inuit politicians are urging Canada’s leaders who recognize the importance of the …show more content…
This applies to the character Niska, in the novel Three Day Road, who is one of the alternative narrators. She rescues Xavier and Elijah from a Catholic residential school, and raises them in traditional Cree hunter-gatherer roles. Similarly to the other characters, she also has experienced pain and darkness in the residential school. She describes how the nuns abuse the aboriginal girls until they adopt the western culture and abandon their own traditions. For example: Once she was caught speaking her mother tongue, so the nuns poured lye soap into her mouth and deprived her of food for several days as a punishment. The abuse problem that Niksa had gone through in her childhood, is quite similar to the abuse that many children are facing from their own families and communities in recent
Toronto: Pearson Prentice Hall. The Justice System and Aboriginal People: Child Welfare. n.d. - n.d. - n.d. The Aboriginal Justice Implementation Commission. Retrieved December 12, 2013, from http://www.ajic.mb.ca/volumel/chapter14.html.
The over-representation of Aboriginal children in the Canadian Child Welfare system is a growing and multifaceted issue rooted in a pervasive history of racism and colonization in Canada. Residential schools were established with the intent to force assimilation of Aboriginal people in Canada into European-Canadian society (Reimer, 2010, p. 22). Many Aboriginal children’s lives have been changed adversely by the development of residential schools, even for those who did not attend them. It is estimated that Aboriginal children “are 6-8 times more likely to be placed in foster care than non-Aboriginal children (Saskatchewan Child Welfare Review Panel, 2010, p. 2).” Reports have also indicated that First Nations registered Indian children make up the largest proportion of Aboriginal children entering child welfare care across Canada (Saskatchewan Child Welfare Review Panel, p. 2). Consequently, this has negatively impacted Aboriginal communities experience of and relationship with child welfare services across the country. It is visible that the over-representation of Aboriginal children in the child welfare system in Canada lies in the impact of the Canadian policy for Indian residential schools, which will be described throughout this paper.
Storytelling is known to be a part of many people’s childhood. These stories told from parents and guardians, are often told so that the children will either quickly fall asleep, or be entertained. However, in Three Day Road, written by Joseph Boyden, the deeper meaning behind storytelling is revealed through the Cree’s perspective. Throughout the novel, readers are able to understand that storytelling allows Xavier to regenerate, and establish deeper connections with Niska. Also, the journey to accepting reality is demonstrated through Xavier’s adventure. Ultimately, Boyden displays storytelling as a form of revitalizing one’s human spirit.
The current generation of native people in Canada are greatly impacted by efforts made by the Canadian government that forced previous generations to assimilate and give up their culture. Most of the fifth generation of native people are not directly impacted by the atrocities that forced their people to give up their culture for the benefit of others; however, their diminished cultural identity is a result of it. Parents who are raising the fifth generation have difficulty passing on their Indian identity to their children (Deiter-McArthur 381). The parents and grandparents of the fifth generation were raised in the residential school system, where they were stopped from showing affection or love for one another even if it was their own brother or sister. This results in a lack of ability for some of them to show love toward their children (Maniitok). Another e...
During the 19th century the Canadian government established residential schools under the claim that Aboriginal culture is hindering them from becoming functional members of society. It was stated that the children will have a better chance of success once they have been Christianised and assimilated into the mainstream Canadian culture. (CBC, 2014) In the film Education as We See It, some Aboriginals were interviewed about their own experiences in residential schools. When examining the general topic of the film, conflict theory is the best paradigm that will assist in understanding the social implications of residential schools. The film can also be illustrated by many sociological concepts such as agents of socialization, class inequality, and language as a cultural realm.
“To kill the Indian in the child,” was the prime objective of residential schools (“About the Commission”). With the establishment of residential schools in the 1880s, attending these educational facilities used to be an option (Miller, “Residential Schools”). However, it was not until the government’s time consuming attempts of annihilating the Aboriginal Canadians that, in 1920, residential schools became the new solution to the “Indian problem.” (PMC) From 1920 to 1996, around one hundred fifty thousand Aboriginal Canadians were forcibly removed from their homes to attend residential schools (CBC News). Aboriginal children were isolated from their parents and their communities to rid them of any cultural influence (Miller, “Residential Schools”). Parents who refrained from sending their children to these educational facilities faced the consequence of being arrested (Miller, “Residential Schools”). Upon the Aboriginal children’s arrival into the residential schools, they were stripped of their culture in the government’s attempt to assimilate these children into the predominately white religion, Christianity, and to transition them into the moderating society (Miller, “Residential Schools”). With the closing of residential schools in 1996, these educational facilities left Aboriginal Canadians with lasting negative intergenerational impacts (Miller, “Residential Schools”). The Aboriginals lost their identity, are affected economically, and suffer socially from their experiences.
The Canadian and American governments designed a residential school system to assimilate Indigenous children into Western society by stripping them of their language, cultural practices as well as their traditions. By breaking these children’s ties to their families and communities, as well as forcing them to assimilate into Western society; residential schools were a root cause of many social problems, which even persist within Aboriginal communities today.
For the purpose of this assignment, I chose to analyze the overwhelming prevalence of sexual assault of Native American women. In order to create a solution to the issue, every facet of the matter must be addressed and analyzed. To keep within the constraints of this paper I will be touching on various aspects of sexual assault within the tribal community to give a general understanding of what is at hand, as well as to facilitate critical, solution-focused thinking. Without a holistic understanding, we cannot conjure, let alone implement effective changes in tribal communities, law enforcement agencies, or federal institutions.
The creation of the Residential Schools is now looked upon to be a regretful part of Canada’s past. The objective: to assimilate and to isolate First Nations and Aboriginal children so that they could be educated and integrated into Canadian society. However, under the image of morality, present day society views this assimilation as a deliberate form of cultural genocide. From the first school built in 1830 to the last one closed in 1996, Residential Schools were mandatory for First Nations or Aboriginal children and it was illegal for such children to attend any other educational institution. If there was any disobedience on the part of the parents, there would be monetary fines or in the worst case scenario, trouble with Indian Affairs.
Her book focuses on the myriads of issues and struggles that Indigenous men and women have faced and will continue to face because of colonialism. During her speech, Palmater addressed the grave effects of the cultural assimilation that permeated in Indigenous communities, particularly the Indian Residential School System and the Indian Act, which has been extensively discussed in both lectures and readings. Such policies were created by European settlers to institutionalize colonialism and maintain the social and cultural hierarchy that established Aboriginals as the inferior group. Palmater also discussed that according to news reports, an Aboriginal baby from Manitoba is taken away every single day by the government and is put in social care (CTVNews.ca Staff, 2015). This echoes Andrea Smith’s argument in “Heteropatriarchy and the Three Pillars of White Supremacy: Rethinking Women of Color Organizing” that colonialism continues to affect Aboriginals through genocide (2006, p. 68). Although such actions by the government are not physical acts of genocide, where 90% of Aboriginal population was annihilated, it is this modern day cultural assimilation that succeeded the Indigenous Residential School System and the Indian Act embodies colonialism and genocide (Larkin, November 4,
In the book Three Day Road by Joseph Boyden, there are many themes. There is the theme of Cruelty to man and the transformation from innocence to experience. But the theme of identity is the most interesting. Joseph Boyden gives many symbols relating back to the theme of identity like all the symbols of Native culture. There are tons of these symbols in the book, but the three symbols of the moccasins, the medicine bag and Gitchi Manitou are the strongest symbols that demonstrate the theme of identity in Xavier.
First Nations children suffered many forms of abuse at the hands of the Canadian Government (Oh, Canada!) under the guise of residential schools. The purposes of the residential schools were to remove First Nations children from the influence of their families and cultures, and to intergrade them into the dominant culture (The Residential School System). This was done under the assumption that First Nations culture was lesser, “to kill the Indian in the child” as it was commonly said. The children were forcibly separated from their families to live in year-round schools where they were taught “white man” curriculum, with a two-month vacation time, completely separated from their Aboriginal heritage and forbidden from speaking their own languages (The Residential School System). If these rules, along with many others, were broken the punishments were severe (Oh, Canada!). Residential school survivors spoke of their horrible abuse during their time at the schools, including: sexual, physical and psychological (The Psychological and Intergenerational Impacts of the Indian Residential School System). The students received an inferior education, usually only taught up to grade five, training them for manual labor jobs (The Residential School System). The residential school system undermined First Nations culture and disrupted families for generations, leaving severe psychological damage in not only the survivors but also their families and the following generations (The Psychological and Intergenerational Impacts of the Indian Residential School System). Many students grew up without experiencing a family life, never gaining the experience and knowledge necessary to raise a family of their own. The effects of the schools were far reac...
Some of the residential school students were so scarred from the way they were treated in the schools, that they even started putting the same abuse that they had received in the schools, onto their own children. The abuse has left the students with mental trauma and many of the students were unable to erase the memories of abuse from their minds. Many the survivors of the Canadian Residential Schools have been inflicting their children and spouses with physical abuse similar to the abuse that they had received previously in the Residential Schools. In an article talking about the victimization of aboriginals they stated, “Males who had experienced abuse as children were found to be at a significantly high risk to repeat the cycle of violence with future spouses” (Scrim as cited in McGillivray and Comaskey 1996). This sad cycle shows that even though the last Residential School closed in the late 1990’s, the experiences that students had during their time is still negatively affecting their lives today. Many of the former students of the Canadian Residential Schools have turned to substance abuse in hopes to try and cope with their struggling mental health. It is shocking to see that a school this harsh could have such long lasting impacts on its students. In an article related to helping people understand the trauma
In the novel Three Day Road, Joseph Boyden, introduces characters whose lifestyle and identities are changed by the introduction of European culture but as well as their own cultural traditions. Boyden is able to use “healing” as a trope to discuss the reliance of community and spirituality of Niska and Xavier. It shows how the viewpoints of the aboriginal people differ from the western and use solutions that are native based, which mostly revolves around the history of the aboriginal people during the real WW1. As Neta Gordon discuss , in her article, Thomas King’s point which states “most of us [aboriginal writers] have consciously set our literature in the present, a period that . . . allows us the opportunity to create for ourselves
In June 2007, as a result of a Northern Territory Government-commissioned inquiry, a report documenting the extent of sexual abuse of minors in remote Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory was released, entitled Ampe akelyernemane meke mekarle: Little Children are Sacred (Anderson & Wild, 2007). Following the release of the report, the Australian Governm...