Assimilation In Canada

From the 1870’s until the last school closed in 1996, at least 150,000 Indigenous children attended residential schools in Canada. More than 130 government mandated schools existed across the country. These schools were church administered, with the express purpose of forcibly removing Indigenous children from their native culture, in an effort to assimilate them into Euro-Canadian culture and thereby “kill the Indian in the child”. Countless families were torn apart as the Canadian government placed

Until the 1850’s, churches were in control of the residential schools. The Bagot Commission Report of 1842 and the Gradual Civilization Act of 1857 came into effect and opened the way for the Canadian government to fund schools that would teach english, religion and other features of European culture and discipline anyone who displayed Aboriginal traits.(Can Money Undo The Past?) The residential schools grew from 54 schools in 1898 to 81 by 1946. Residential schools expanded quickly from the Federal government’s funding and support. From 1840

With the passage of the British North American Act in the 1867 and the implementation of the Indian Act in 1876, the “government was required to provide Indigenous youth with an education to integrate them into Canadian society” (Brady 1995). The first residential schools were set up in the 1880s and peaked around the 1920s. After the residential school system was established, children were stripped away from their parents and had no freedom to choose whether they wanted to attend. In these schools heavily controlled by catholic churches, children were forced to pray to whom they had no connection with and forbidden to practice their own culture. The goal was to “convert the children to Christianity and

Residential schools were the one of the worst decisions the Canadian government had made. As they planned this idea with the churches across Canada, it became unforgettable for the native people. These schools changed the way native people lived in Canada. The children in these schools were abused and neglected everyday

The purpose of Canada 's residential schools was to assimilate First Nation peoples into mainstream Canadian Society, like the Indian Act. The Residential Schools damaged First Nation people because it disconnected the children from their history, language, family, and culture. Residential Schools taught children that their culture wasn 't worth preserving. Some legacies of Residential Schools include alcoholism, poverty, and increased chances of becoming a prostitute or abuser (physical, emotional, sexual, and psychological). Statistics prove that people who have been

Residential schools in Canada were present for over 100 years and were created by the government to eliminate the Indigenous culture. These schools successfully separated families while creating huge cultural barriers between children and their Native culture (COHA, 2011). These children were forcibly removed from their families and taken to residential schools because Canadians saw Indigenous peoples as “backwards” or “savage” (COHA, 2011). They also believed that they were inferior to Natives and that these schools would help “civilize” aboriginals by replacing their Native traits with Western values (COHA, 2011).

Aboriginal people in Canada are the native peoples in North America within the boundaries of present-day Canada. In the 1880’s there was a start of residential schools which took Aboriginal kids from their family to schools to learn the Roman Catholics way of culture and not their own. In residential schools Aboriginal languages were forbidden in most operations of the school, Aboriginal ways were abolished and the Euro-Canadian manner was held out as superior. Aboriginal’s residential schools are careless, there were mental and physical abuse, Aboriginals losing their culture and the after effects of residential schools.

250,000 displaced persons (or DP’s for short) were placed in Canada, they fled their homes as a result of the second world war and the formation of the communist government in the Soviet Union. All of these people were assimilated into Canadian culture and most people were separated from their families, but were eventually reunited.

Aboriginal children cannot forget what happened to them in the past. In 1870s, above 150 000 aboriginal children took from their parents to attend Canada’s Indian Residential Schools until 1970s (CBC News, 2010, p 49). The most goals for those schools learned aboriginal children the culture of European people (CBC News, 2010, p 49). Unfortunately, aboriginal parents have not choice even if they want to send their children to schools or not (CBC News, 2010, p 49). According to CBC News if aboriginal children tried to breakout from schools and coming again to their families, they will send back to their schools by Indian agents (2010, p 49). Moreover, there are negative aspects of Canada’s Residential Schools on aboriginal children, such as they beaten and physically abused if they speak their native language, do not pay attention in class, or there is no reason (CBC News, 2010, p 50). As a result, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) began in 2009, to gather information about what happened to aboriginal children on Canada’s Indian Residential Schools and share their stories with all Canadians (CBC News,2010, p 46). The TRC done enough for the survivors of the aboriginal children in Canada’s Residential Schools: collect a historical record, financial compensation, apology, the missing children, and recommendation.

Many of the children were abused and stripped from their native language and culture with them developing different feeling such as alienation, shame, and anger that passes from children to grandchildren. Communities and the culture suffered in the loss of connectivity with the language, tradition and history of the culture. The communities bond with each other and support is all lost due to the teaching of the residential schools. With the increase of suicidal deaths and alcoholism increasing in each colony. The effect that residential schools have brought onto children and families have changed the way they live in society today. The way of life for aboriginals has changed for generations and generations. The . The traumatic experiences the aboriginal people faced in the past involving the government and the aboriginal people is a conflict that is hard to forgive. The abuse both physical and mental that the children and families faced was shocking with also the outcome of the residential school turning children with strong bonds to their culture to children not having the ability to speak their own language

Residential schools could change Aboriginal culture in so many ways. If the youth of the Aboriginal peoples are in residential schools, they are being brought up and educated in a culture relating to descendants of European expansion rather than growing up in their true Aboriginal culture. Through this, new generations of Aboriginals may not pass on the rich traditions and culture of their people, but instead will have conformed to the rest of Canadian culture. Also, residential schools may take away the Aboriginal youth from their communities. Many of the children at residential schools will be educated in a different manner than their home community. This can cause a problem because those children may decide to leave their home communities

Residential schools first started in America and came into Canada “were first established in the mid-1880’s and continued for more than a century” (MacDonald, 431). After the establishment of the schools, aboriginal children were taken away from their parents and try to take away their language and culture; so that they become more cultured according to British standards. The issue with taking teaching the children something that they did not want to learn is that they will start to retaliate, so when this would happen the teachers within the residential would beat the children and force them not speak in their language and not practice and of their traditions. The British were trying to make aboriginals become Euro-Canadian; by making them only speak English instead of their native languages, they cut their hair short, forced to wear uniforms, and follow a strict

For many people Canada is regarded as one of the most peaceful and racially sensitive nations on the Earth and would never relate to a term such as “cultural genocide”. But, unfortunately Canada has a much darker past then what people believe of it, stemming from colonial violence that still has lasting impacts today. Like many nations England colonialized the native people were severely affected and many died due to the forceful takeover of land from the colonialists. One specific impact that still affects First nations in Canada today was the cultural genocide that took place in residential schools. By examining Doug Saunders article Residential Schools, Reserves, and Canada`s Crime Against Humanity I hope to outline the societal and cultural impacts that the residential schools had on the First Nations people and what the Canadian government is doing to rectify the wrongs they committed in the past while working towards a more progressive and co-operative future.

Reconciliation between the Canadian government and aboriginals remains one of the most challenging problems for the country. Scientists define reconciliation as the process of building a mutually respectful interaction between aboriginal peoples and non-aboriginals in Canada. This can be achieved through proper reflection on the past conflicts, acknowledgement of the past mistakes made by both sides of the process, as well as considerable changes in the future. This essay concentrates on the efforts of reconciliation by the Canadian government and the impact of residential schools on First Nations communities. Firstly, it examines how residential schools have impacted Aboriginals.

It is quite surprising that the condition of aboriginals was really worst in Canada. The biggest problem is that the people are suffering from the culture loss. The indigenous persons have to opt with the English language that is mandatory for them to become a citizen of Canada and they do not get attached to their mother tongue. A huge change to occur in their life, as they cannot perform their original lifestyle in a new country. The culture loss was also seen among the students that were sent to the Residential Schools because they were taken away from the parents and taught another language due to which they lost their traditional language to communicate with their parents. But afterwards, the government regret for such residential schools and promise to make new residential schools that will be designed according to the needs of