Residential school

           Abenaya

RESIDENTIAL SCHOOLS

EVALUATE THE IMPACT OF RESIDENTIAL SCHOOLS ON ABORIGINAL CULTURE IN CANADA.



Abenaya



Mr. Doyle



CHC2DO          



14/07/2014









RESIDENTIAL SCHOOLS

Evaluate the impact of residential schools on Aboriginal culture in Canada.

         Residential schools were systems set up by the Canadian government to educate Aboriginal children's in the 1930's. In the meantime it also revolutionizes students into Euro-Canadian and Christian way of living which incorporates them into mainstream Canadian society (News). Residential schools had a negative impact on Aboriginal culture in Canada because it changed the students lifestyle, isolated the students from their family, and lacked treatment for illnesses.

         The government of Canada began an educational system for the Aboriginal children to board and learn about Christianity and its society. Residential schools took away the cultural identities as the students were unable to learn their cultural values and traditions because they were away from home (Misconception). Wendy LaFond an aboriginal student that went to residential schools stated, "What they stole from me was my culture and language, and that little girl that played with her brothers and sisters and didn't treat them like strangers."(Residential school survivors). Wendy was able to bring attention to the fact that students could only communicate with each other in English. They were not allowed to speak in their native language and this itself was a barrier between them and their mother language. By standing in school the aboriginal children were not able to celebrate their festivals or further learn about their culture. Students were taught in residential schools about the Canadian society structure which lead to a demolish in their own aboriginal values. Artfourstar is an aboriginal that went to residential school and he describes the emotional conflict, "What happened to me, Canada? You killed my spirit. In its place you put hatred. You put bitterness, revenge that's what you put there...When I left residential school, I didn't know who I was. I lost my identity...I wanted to die. I didn't have the guts to do it myself." (Residential school survivors). Every individual has a different background with diverse religion and thoughts. This is what makes a person proud of their roots from which they develop and carry on certain traditions. By going to residential school it was difficult for children to create a balance between the Aboriginal teachings and Christianity. Residential school students were surrounded by teachers who only promote teaching of their subject and were unable to guide the students  in their own cultural values, which a parent can successfully do (Aboriginal affairs).

                   Parents can provide moral support to their children and teach them to create a balance between home and the outside world. By attending residential schools children were isolated from their family which made them feel lonely. When students are lonely they lose their self-esteem thus, causing them to be less confident, this will distract students so they would not be able to concentrate on school work which resulted in poor marks. An aboriginal Paul Sylvester explained how lonely he was at residential schools. "I don't know if I'm going to forgive and forget...I've been a loner ever since... There wasn't one word of love given... I never used the words 'thank you' or 'I love you' because I never got none." (Residential school survivors). An aboriginal student Paul Sylvester explains that he didn't have anyone to socialize with because he was separated from his aboriginal society and was expected to make friends with people whom he didn't know. As well, this problem was the reason behind losing concentration in class. Staying away from their own family made the students insecure and hesitant to ask for clarification from the teachers because they felt uncomfortable. Aboriginal students fear is shown when Morris states, "Before that, I was not afraid of the dark, but now I can't even sleep without light on, because it always brings me back to that time in school." (Residential school survivors). In this quote, the word signifies the uncomfortable feeling that children felt being away from their parents and surrounded by teachers from a different society. This type of feeling left them emotionally scarred. Just like Morris, who is afraid of the dark because it brings back gloomy memories about school, many other aboriginal students were affected with the same feeling of isolation from their parents. The children feared the teacher to the extent that they were too afraid to mention their sickness which lead to other students contracting the disease.

                   Residential schools did not have the proper medical treatment to avoid infectious diseases from spreading. Furthermore, the school authorities registered children without proper medical checkups. This will cause other healthy students to get sick and to have the need for medical attention. For example Ruby stated,  "I believe the conditions are being deliberately created in our residential school to spread infectious diseases. It is not unusual for children who are dying from consumption to be admitted to schools and housed alongside healthy children". (Residential school survivors'). The school authorities ignore medical checkups and had no provisions to treat these diseases instead they keep registering children without looking into their medical history. It seems they did that intentionally because they never took any steps to avoid this from happening. By staying in residential school, all children were given the same medicine and this did not work with every student, depending on their immunity. According to a controversial report by a former clergyman Kevin Annett, he said "It was standard practice in their schools to deliberately expose children to deadly diseases and then offer no medical treatment." (Residential school survivors).  As per Kevin Annett's quote, it seems that the authorities deliberately exposed children to deadly diseases and worst of all did not provide them with medical treatment.

                   In conclusion, Aboriginal students lives were affected because of residential schools. The Aboriginal children had difficulties in understanding the Christianity culture, learning a new language, making new friends, being isolated from their family and siblings and were contracting diseases from other students. All of these factors show the negative impact of residential schools on Aboriginal culture in Canada.





































BIBLIOGRAPHY

News, CBC. "A history of residential schools in Canada." CBCnews. CBC/Radio Canada, 7 Jan. 2014.                                     <http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/a-history-of-residential-schools-in-canada-1.702280>.

         

"Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada." Residential schools. Web. 26 Feb. 2014.             

<https://www.aadnc-aandc.gc.ca/eng/1302882353814/130288259>



"Residential school." Aboriginal People, Resilience and the Residential School Legacy. Web. 18                                    Jan.2012. <http://www.ahf.ca/downloads/resilience.pdf.



"Residential school." Misconception of Canada's Indian and Residential school system. Web. 13 June                         2012. <http://www.ahf.ca/downloads/misconception>



"Residential School Survivors' Stories Are the Key to Reconciliation." The Huffington Post. Web. 15 July                      2014. <http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/craig-and-marc-kielburger/residential-school-                                 survivors_b_4025086.html>.



"The Residential School System." The Residential School System. Web. 15 July 2014.                                            <http://indigenousfoundations.arts.ubc.ca/home/government-policy/the-residential-school-                         system.html>.