Residential Schools and their Lasting Impacts
Cover illustration by Lakeisha Marie
Residential Schools and its Lasting Impacts on Indigenous Communities
Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes
(TW: Violence, genocide, sexual violence)
What are Residential Schools?
Residential Schools were “schools” that were set up by the Canadian government but administered by churches. The Mohawk Institute in Brantford, Ontario, was the first to open in 1831, and the Gordon Indian Residential School in Saskatchewan, being the last to close in 1996. Nearly 130 schools were placed throughout Canada and sought to have housed 150,000+ Indigenous children throughout the years of operation.
However, these children didn’t just go to the residential schools by choosing. They were taken from their families and forced into the schools. The main goals of the schools were to remove the children from their homes in order to assimilate them into the Euro-Canadian and Christian ways of living, isolating them from their own culture.
Why did they want to assimilate Indigenous Children?
Statements like “Kill the Indian, Save The Man” or “Kill the Indian in Child” were common slogans that perfectly explain the veracity of the school’s intentions. Indigenous children were not allowed to speak their own language, use their own names, or practice anything of their own religion and culture.
To detach the children from their culture, they would give them new names, cut their hair short, and force them to wear uniforms. Every aspect of their identity was suppressed, they had to abandon their way of life due to the belief that their culture was inferior to the mainstream white man’s ways.
For example, in 1920, Duncan Campbell Scott, the Canadian Deputy Superintendent General of Indian Affairs said of his government’s policy: “Our objective is to continue until there is not an Indian that has not been absorbed into the body politic, and there is no Indian question, and no Indian Department.”
The government’s goal was to erase Indigenous Peoples and the easiest way for them to do so was mass genocide. They believed Indigenous peoples as ignorant, savages, a burden to society, and in need of guidance on the “right way to live”.
Therefore, they assimilated Indigenous youth with similar tactics that the United States used. A tactic called “aggressive civilization”, which also led to the public funding of residential schools in Canada. The major key of aggressive civilization was the use of religious instruction and skills training that would help Natives catch up with western society.
How Were Indigenous Peoples Treated at the schools? What were the treatments they used?
Given that the schools were meant for indigenous erasure, treatment was clearly not good-natured. The schools were breeding grounds for suffering and foul treatment. They had strict rules and often their days were regimented by timetables.
Family was not allowed to interact with other family members, for fear they would practice their customs and traditions. The interactions were not allowed for the same reason the children were taken away from their traditional home, to limit their culture. For example, Prime Minister Macdonald, “When the school is on the reserve, the child lives with his parents who are savages; he is surrounded by savages, and though he may learn to read and write, his habits and training and mode of thought are Indian. He is simply a savage who can read and write.” Also, boys and girls were separated the majority of the time.
In terms of the education factor of the schools, children often learned practical skills instead of the standard grade school curriculum. Girls would learn how to cook, clean, sew, and do laundry. Meanwhile, boys would learn things like carpentry and farming. They made the children involuntarily complete these tasks, unpaid child labor. The labor distracted them from their actual schoolwork, meaning some students would only reach grade levels five or six at the age of eighteen.
Aside from the neglect of a proper education, the schools also abused many of the students. Many students were sexually assaulted by the priest and nuns who abused their positions of power. Nearly twenty-eight percent of the young women were assaulted and 5% of the assaults recurring every six months. The schools are often referred to as a place of institutionalized pedophilia.
A majority of the children were also beaten and tormented. Some beaten and strapped or tied and shackled to their beds. Needles piercing their tongues or electric shocks were also a recurring punishment for speaking their native language. Often they were neglected meals and had poor nutrition along with poor sanitation. Nuns and priests used the teachings of Christianity to scare the children, creating and using the fear of God to make them embrace Christianity.
Nearly one in twenty-five students lost their life to residential schools and the pain and suffering continues to torment many of the former students and their communities.
What are the Lasting Impacts of Residential Schools?
Despite the efforts to destroy and colonize Indigenous peoples’ culture, Indigenous livelihood has persisted.
However, residential schools have created a detrimental intergenerational effect. Residential schools laid the foundation for the epidemic we see within Indigenous communities today. Children at the schools grew up without nurturing and loving homes that uplifted them to partake in their culture, leading them to have misconstrued ways of living. Many of them, as adults, lacked parenting skills and utilized tactics of abuse on their children. Similar to the abuse they experienced within the schools. This has created a perpetuating cycle of domestic abuse within Indigenous homes.
Also, nearly fifty percent of the children who attended the schools did not benefit from the education. They often lacked basic reading and writing skills, leading to lower paying jobs, and a lower standard of living.
The trauma of the school’s colonization tactics has often led to self-abuse in an attempt to cope. According to the University of British Columbia, “Among First Nations people aged 10 to 44, suicide and self-inflicted injury is the number one cause of death, responsible for almost 40 percent of mortalities. First Nations women attempt suicide eight times more often than other Canadian women, and First Nations men attempt suicide five times more often than other Canadian men. Some communities experience what have been called suicide epidemics.”
Also, simply being a descendant of a parent who attended residential schools, increases your chances of being sexually assaulted by 2.35 times.
All in all, residential schools have negatively impacted the community. Indigenous peoples are still fighting to re-learn and practice their culture. Overcoming such a mass genocide has posed many challenges, but none that we as a community can not overcome!
Remembrance
In honor of those who lost their lives to residential schools: Full List of Known Names
And to those of us who continue to work through the intergenerational suffering and trauma,
Here's to Indigenous healing and prosperity
Personal Statement:
I am of both Mohawk and Algonquin descent. My grandma and grandpa are both survivors of residential schools. My grandpa and many of his siblings, cousins, etc, attended the Mohawk residential school. On that list there are five people with his same last name, “Beaver”, I know some of his siblings passed away in that school.
Growing up with little knowledge of my culture has been a challenging journey. My grandpa died before I was born and my grandma is reluctant to tell her stories, the few she remembers. It is due to the residential schools that causes separation in my culture and its understanding. Yet I will continue to fight and strive to keep my cultural practice alive.
Sources
https://indigenousfoundations.arts.ubc.ca/the_residential_school_system/
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-49884387
https://www.historytoday.com/history-matters/canada%E2%80%99s-first-nations
https://www.jstor.org/stable/44030407
https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/truth-and-reconciliation-commission-by-the-numbers-1.3096185
