Parents reactions to their children being sent to residential schools. Children taken away from their home. The purpose of the residential schools was the education, integration, assimilation and “Christianization” of Aboriginal children into mainstream Canadian society.
The government removed Aboriginal children from their homes and home communities, and transported them to residential schools which were often long distances away. The residential school system predates Confederation and in part grew out of Canada’s missionary experience with various religious organizations. The federal government began to play a role in the development and administration of this school system as early as 1874, mainly to meet its obligation, under the Indian Act, to provide an education to Aboriginal peoples.
Are boys and girls treated correctly? Winnipeg Free Press - November 6, 2009 Long buried truths emerging Unmarked graves of aboriginal people who died in government care a disgrace By: Catherine Mitchell Among the many euphemisms we have constructed to describe dying is the idea that in death we lose a loved one or a part of ourselves.
It is an apt description of the pain that takes hold -- a life is "lost" to us.Imagine the anguish if it were literally true, if a loved one vanishes without a trace. So the anguish carries on. Health situation in residential schools. The Indian Residential School (IRS) system grew out of Canada's missionary experience with various religious organizations.
The federal government began to play a role in the development and administration of this system as early as 1874. The schools were located in every province and territory, except Newfoundland, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. Most residential schools ceased to operate by the mid-1970s; and the last federally-run residential school in Canada closed in 1996. It is estimated there are 80,000 people alive today who attended residential schools. Justice for All? On June 11, 2008, in the Parliament of Canada, Prime Minister Stephen Harper apologized on behalf of all Canadians for “the policy of assimilation” and the terrible pain and suffering endured by aboriginal peoples, including Inuit, who attended Indian residential schools and hostels in Canada.
The prime minister said this policy “had no place in a country like Canada.” Everpresent Discrimination. Katerina Tefft, staff.
Is money going to do the trick? What is a residential school?
In the 19th century, the Canadian government believed it was responsible for educating and caring for aboriginal people in Canada. It thought their best chance for success was to learn English and adopt Christianity and Canadian customs. Ideally, they would pass their adopted lifestyle on to their children, and native traditions would diminish, or be completely abolished in a few generations. The Canadian government developed a policy called "aggressive assimilation" to be taught at church-run, government-funded industrial schools, later called residential schools.
Voluntary Propagation of illnesses. "Residential schools.”
On the surface, the term sounds benign, even bucolic, the sort of place where upper-class Britons would send their children in preparation for Oxford. But for Native Peoples in Canada, residential schools are the stuff of nightmares. For a century, from the 1880s until the mid-1980s, the government of Canada maintained a system of boarding schools for Native children that were operated by churches, including the Anglican and Presbyterian churches, the United Church of Canada, and the Roman Catholic Church.
The schools’ ostensible purpose was to provide education for Native children. But that education served a larger purpose, one that can only be termed genocidal: to eliminate indigenous culture from Canada. Disabled children in residential schools. Download as PDF 0 MB.
A Scandalous Death Rate. At least 3,000 children, including four under the age of 10 found huddled together in frozen embrace, are now known to have died while they were attending Canada's aboriginal residential schools, according to new unpublished research. From the late 19th century onwards, aboriginal children in Canada were forced to attend government-run residential schools, where they suffered emotional, physical and sometimes sexual abuse at the hands of church teachers (Library & Archives Canada/PA-042133) While deaths have long been documented as part of the disgraced residential school system, the findings are the result of the first systematic search of government, school and other records.
"These are actual confirmed numbers," Alex Maass, research manager with the Missing Children Project, told The Canadian Press from Vancouver. "All of them have primary documentation that indicates that there's been a death, when it occurred, what the circumstances were. " About 500 of the victims remain nameless.