Introduction 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. Residential schools undoubtedly created detrimental inter-generational consequences. The dark legacy of residential schools has had enduring impact, reaching into each new generation, and has led to countless problems within Aboriginal families including: chemical dependence, a cycle of abuse in families, dysfunctional families, crime and incarceration, depression, grief, suicide, and cultural identity issues (McFarlan, 2000, p. 13). Therefore, the inter-generational consequence... ... middle of paper ... ...ed in out-of-home care during those years were Aboriginal, yet Aboriginal children made up less than 5% of the total child population in Canada (Brown et al., 2005).” The number of First Nations children from reserves placed in out-of-home care grew rapidly between 1995 and 2001, increasing by 71.5% (Brown et al., 2005). In Manitoba, Aboriginal children made up nearly 80% of children living in out-of-home care in 2000 (Brown et al., 2005). These staggering numbers are the reason why researchers and advocates blame the residential schools as the main historical culprit for today’s phenomenon of the over-representation of Aboriginal children in the child welfare system. The sections below will highlight how residential schools shaped child welfare system in Canada today, which help to explain the over-representation of Aboriginal children in the child welfare system.
York’s School of Social Work believes “through research, curriculum and critical pedagogy the school will develop a critical appreciation of the social construction of reality” (York University, 2016, p. 1). Reality is constructed through subjective experiences of individuals and objective experiences of society. The treatment of Indigenous people in Canada was an act of social injustice. From society’s perspective, the ‘specialized’ treatment helped to ease their transition in assimilating into the Canadian culture. Through the Indian Act, it was and still is today, social legislation that regulates the lives of Indigenous peoples, including government’s guardianship over Indian lands, and controlling the process of enfranchisement (Hicks and Stokes, 2016, p. 27.6) The government was not critically conscious, in which they lacked knowledge of the various forms of systems such as race and gender. (Sibblis, 2016) Furthermore, during the 60’s Scoop, children were kidnapped from their homes and placed in the foster care system. These children were placed into white homes in which it caused many to develop a lack sense of self (Hayden, 2016). In Thomas King’s lecture, he describes a hierarchy, that is made up of a series of traits in both the Native and Christian culture, keeping in mind, these are the two societies in which Canada is founded upon. These include cooperation,
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,
Parental influences from each generation leads to chain reactions affecting the behaviour of future children. The instructor of the Warrior Program states that “they (the children separated from their families by residential schools) didn’t learn to be parents and instead just passed on their hurt to their children” (LaBoucane-Benson, 2015, p. 49). As told from Uncle Ray Carver, Bernice Carver was taken by the government as a child to stay of in a residential school. She did not remember her family, as seen in Peter’s small and incomplete family map. Charoenwongsak et al. (2017) conducted a lab observing the relation between parenting styles and drug abuse in Thai adolescents. This study concluded that neglectful parents (or the absence of parents) put Thai adolescents in a risk for substance use. The lack of attention and warmth from parents creates dependency needs, leading children to rely on substances to fulfill dependency. Therefore, it can be inferred that Benice Carver depended on drugs caused from the separation from her family, which lead to poor parenting skills resulting in Peter’s drug association. The current Canadian education system needs to put an end to the chain reaction of disturbed parenting styles within the Aboriginal community caused by the residential schools. Research of personal family members, teaching correct parenting styles and training
Though the film mentioned the impact that residential schools had and still has on the aboriginal people, I felt that this issue needed to be stressed further because the legacy of the schools is still extremely prominent in aboriginal communities today. The film refers to the fact that residential schools harmed the aboriginal people because they were not able to learn their culture, which has resulted in the formation of internalized oppression within in the group. “The...
In the 1950s and 1960s, the government began abolishing the compulsory residential school education among Aboriginal people. The government believed that Aboriginal children could receive a better education if they were integrated into the public school system (Hanson). However, residential schools were later deemed inappropriate because not only were the children taken away from their culture, their families and their people, but the majority of students were abus...
The first reason youth leave home is according to Klodawsky, Aubry and Farrell, “pervasiveness of family conflict and violence”. Most street youth, including aboriginals, have been victims of disruption in their family homes, violence and abuse. A considerable amount of them reported having to live in group homes, foster care, jail or i...
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.
For decades First Nations people1 faced abuse in Canada's residential school system. Native children had their culture and families torn away from them in the name of solving the perceived “Indian Problem” in Canada. These children faced emotional, physical, and sexual abuse at the hands of residential school supervisors and teachers. Since the fazing out of residential schools in the 1960's the survivors of residential schools and their communities have faced ongoing issues of substance addiction, suicide, and sexual abuse.2 These problems are brought on by the abuse that survivors faced in residential schools. The government of Canada has established a Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) to address these issues but it has been largely ineffective. Though the Government of Canada has made adequate efforts towards monetary reparations for the survivors of residential schools, it has failed to provide a means to remedy the ongoing problems of alcohol and drug addiction, sexual abuse, and suicide in the communities of residential school survivors.3
“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 Indian Residential schools and the assimilating of First Nations people are more than a dark spot in Canada’s history. It was a time of racist leaders, bigoted white men who saw no point in working towards a lasting relationship with ingenious people. Recognition of these past mistakes, denunciation, and prevention steps must be taking intensively. They must be held to the same standard that we hold our current government to today. Without that standard, there is no moving forward. There is no bright future for Canada if we allow these injustices to be swept aside, leaving room for similar mistakes to be made again. We must apply our standards whatever century it was, is, or will be to rebuild trust between peoples, to never allow the abuse to be repeated, and to become the great nation we dream ourselves to be,
The end result, rather horrifying as these children were dumped back to their tribes, when they became too old, without a clue of how to survive. Furthermore, children whom returned were discouraged from completing further education due to the fact that they were barely educated in these schools. Most children returned home without semblance of how to raise their own children or show affection. The generational difference also further segregated these children from their parents because most of them failed to understand the culture that they were pruned to deny from childhood. According to the Manitoba Justice institute, the creation of Residential Schools was what created the high rise of abuse and violence among Aboriginal families because the time spent in these facilities isolated the children from nurturing families and taught them abuse. The trauma felt by the children of Residential schools would transcend their behavior to the next generation leading to a vicious
The education of Aboriginal people is a challenge that has been a concern for many years and is still an issue. However, it remains the best way young people can climb out of poverty. With the colonialization and the oppression of Aboriginals, there have been many lasting side effects that continue to be affecting the Aboriginal youth today. “While retention and graduation rates have improved among urban Aboriginal population, an educational gap still remains between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal youth in urban settings” (Donovan, 127). Many suffer from a diminished self-worth, as they do not feel valued and feel inferior to their classmates. In this essay I am going to outline the reasons Aboriginals are struggling, discuss what is being done
In my experience working in a mandated Aboriginal child protection agency, there were many instances of child neglect that were associated with poverty. As reported by Swift (2011), Aboriginal children disproportionately make up the child welfare system in proportion to their percentage of population. Accordingly, most of the cases that I saw were child neglect cases and directly related to poverty. There are many systemic factors that contributed to oppression and poverty in the community I worked, including the lasting impacts of residential school. Moreover, housing on reserve was limited and overcrowded and to move off reserve was expensive, in addition to the impact of being further away from one’s community and support system. Child
The way these kids grew up, with incest, sexual and physical abuse and brutal punishments led to poor parenting skills which damaged future generations. We all know drinking during pregnancy greatly affects babies but these people did not only drink as pregnant adults, most started drinking at the age of 11. The Aboriginal adults that became parents were not capable of raising their children properly because they did not know how to show affection or relate to their kids on any level (Fournier, 83). When the parents were younger and in the residential schools they could not bond with anyone which also led them to become incapable of bonding with their children (Fournier, 83). An even more sad fact is that some Aboriginal kids literally had no concept of what family was (Tunstall 112). These kids did not know what a dad is, what he should say, what he should do or what his ole was. This was a result of being taken away from their family and put in a residential school. Some kids did have family however it was not technically their family. Social workers thought it was a good idea to place these children in middle-class white families. However this isolated the kids more and made them more vulnerable than they were in the residential schools. They were still abused in these home (sexually and physically and were treated as not even
“If anything is to be done with the Indian, we must catch him very young. The children must be kept constantly within the circle of civilized conditions.” Nicholas Flood Davin,” From 1831 to 1969 more than 150,000 aboriginal children were forced into Indian Residential Schools. The government of Canada used this system to assimilate young aboriginal children. The government and many churches joined to run these schools. Indian Residential Schools were one of the biggest stains in Canadian history because they violated human rights, tried to eliminate aboriginal culture and created the lasting effects which are still felt today.