First Nations Assimilation

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

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

The impact of colonization on First Nations peoples in Canada is unsurpassable, regarding every aspect of Aboriginal life and well-being. Throughout Canadian history, the government has been aiming to assimilate and annihilate Aboriginal people by way of racist policies, ethnocentric institutions, discriminatory laws and destructive capitalist behaviours. Because of this, Aboriginal people have suffered many losses, both physically and culturally. One of the main perpetrators of enacting this loss is the education system. The education system in Canada has and continues to threaten the relationship First Nations peoples have with the land. The connection First Nations peoples have with the land is crucial to their cultures, traditions, ceremonies and beliefs. Colonization and colonialism jeopardize this relationship and that is what this essay will address.

Indian Residential Schools has been a major contributing factor towards the mistreatment and decreased standard of living for the First Nations people of Canada. Originally founded in the 1840’s and the last to close in 1996 the goal of Residential Schools was to assimilate First Nations people into Canadian society. The assimilation process consisted of the forced attendance (by Canadian law) for every Native, Metis, and Inuit child to attend the “boarding” schools. Residential Schools were ran by Christian, Catholic, and Anglican churches, the schools were also funded by the Canadian government’s Indian Affairs. Treatment students received while attending the schools was unbearable for the young children. After being taken and

Canada ­as a nation is known to the world for being loving, courteous, and typically very welcoming of all ethnicities. Nevertheless, the treatment of Canada’s Indigenous population over the past decades, appears to suggest otherwise. Indigenous people have been tormented and oppressed by the Canadian society for hundreds of years and remain to live under discrimination resulting in cultural brutality. This, and more, has caused severe negative cultural consequences, psychological and sociological effects. The history of the seclusion of Indigenous people has played a prominent aspect in the development and impact of how Indigenous people are treated and perceived in today’s society. Unfortunately, our history with respect to the treatment of Indigenous communities is not something in which we should take pride in. The Indian Act of 1876 is an excellent model of how the behavior of racial and cultural superiority attributed to the destruction of Indigenous culture and beliefs. The Indian Act established by the Canadian government is a policy of Aboriginal assimilation which compels Indigenous parents under threat of prosecution to integrate their children into Residential Schools. As a nation, we are reminded by past actions that has prompted the weakening of the identity of Indigenous peoples. Residential schools has also contributed to the annihilation of Indigenous culture which was to kill the Indian in the child by isolating them from the influence of their parents and

The Indian Act was an attempt by the Canadian government to assimilate the aboriginals into the Canadian society through means such as Enfranchisement, the creation of elective band councils, the banning of aboriginals seeking legal help, and through the process of providing the Superintendent General of the Indian Affairs extreme control over the aboriginals, such as allowing the Superintendent to decide who receives certain benefits, during the earlier stages of the Canadian-Indigenous' political interaction. The failure of the Indian Act though only led to more confusion regarding the interaction of Canada and the aboriginals, giving birth to the failed White Paper and the unconstitutional Bill C-31,

In 1876, the Indian Act was passed. This act enforced a law that required all First Nations, children below the age of 16, to attend residential schools until they were 18. To elaborate, these schools were run by not only the church, but funded by the government. Children were dragged from their homes; their ways of life, family, and friends stripped from them. While attending these schools, the native children were forced to dress, talk, and act like the white people. Any trace of First Nations culture was stripped away, leaving a raw, abused Indian. Native children experienced sexual, and physical abuse. The Christian faith was forced upon them. If the did not speak English, or follow European customs, and ways, they faced cruel consequences.

After the Church union in 1925 and the federal government establishing formal partnerships with the church led to a nationwide system of residential schools for First Nations children. The system already had origins in the laws enacted before Confederation, but was activated following the passing of the Indian act in 1876. In 1884 an amendment to the Indian act was implemented making it mandatory for attendance, before this, in 1874 the Canadian Government under Prime minister Alexander Mackenzie, began removing First Nations children from their families and communities and placing them into indian Residential schools. The federal government argued that because they had a responsibility for educating and caring for the First Nations people, these people would have to learn english and adopt Christianity and settler customs. A assumption that it would carry through the generations and thus, within a generation or two, First Nations cultures would disappear. Distance of residential schools from most communities was a long journey. This was due to the remote nature of most communities and the intentional reasoning to keep families apart. It was thought that families would interfere in the assimilation process. First nations

The Canadian government enacted an Indian Act in 1876 which outlines their approach towards the elimination of the Aboriginal government, land, religion, and so on. This policy’s central goal was to assimilate the entire aboriginal population into Canadian civilization. The act described how to categorize one as an Indian, how one could lose their Indian status, the abolition of Native traditions and practices, and much more. Through residential schooling, which was administered through the Indian Act, the country was able to force allegiance in mass volumes. The word ‘residential schools’ refers to a schooling system which intends to enforce Euro-Canadian values into Aboriginal youth. After many years of agonizing discrimination and

While the initial objective was for the schools to help integrate First Nations children into the mainstream society they lived in, this integration clearly became an attempt at conversion. The children were removed from their families for extended durations, attempting to ensure Canadian-Christian upbringing. The residential schools original goal drastically changed, with their disgraceful policy regarding forbidding Aboriginal children from any kind of acknowledgement and recognition of their native language and culture. There are numerous reports of physical, psychological and sexual abuse experienced by Indigenous children in residential schools and painful consequences that in most cases last a lifetime (Hanson, E.).

Before the 1920s the attendance at residential schools by Aboriginal children was voluntary, allowing the Aboriginal families to choose the education that their children receive. However, the 1920s brought a mandatory attendance of Aboriginal children to attend residential schools. This mandatory attendance was an attempt to assimilate the Aboriginals into the North American culture, forcing the children of Aboriginal descent to learn the ways of another culture, made to forget their native language and culture. The idea of this was stressed because the government wanted to make Aboriginal “Canadians’ into Canadians and the easiest way for this to happen is by taking Indigenous children from the ages of 7-15 away from their families to attend at these residential schools. Duncan Campbell, superintendent of Indian affairs stated, “The happiest future for the Indian race is absorption into the general population and this

First Nation Peoples within Canada have been facing many injustices in their homeland since the dawn of colonization. The most unraveling point to First Nation assimilation was the formation of the consequential Indian Act and residential schools resulting in a stir of adversity. As racist ideologies within Canada developed, upheaval against such treatment was undertaken as First Nation communities fought back against government land claims and eradication of treaty rights. In attempt to make amends, proper compensations from the injustices within residential schools have been released and the key for the future is allowing First Nation self-government. Ideals with the intent of ultimate assimilation have been standardized unto First Nation

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).

The Indian Act document signed in 1876, resulted in the first nation people to give up their land, religion, culture, and rights. The government wanted the first nation people to give up their Indian status and be them, follow their culture.

Alienated. Ostracized. Outcasted. These are just a few words that describe how the First Nations in Canada were treated by the government due to the Indian Act. In 1876 the Indian Act was passed to give the government immense power and control over First Nations communities across the country.