The question of whether the government protected the collective rights of Aboriginal peoples in its creation of the Indian Act and the Resident school system has sparked many debates. While some people may feel that Canadians did the right thing creating the Residential School system, we strongly believe that the Indian Act didn’t protect any rights. In fact, the act violated many rights we value today. They abused the First Nations by taking away their right to vote, forcing them to give up their legal identities and treaty rights, not consulting the First Nations on agreements that concerned them and by introducing the Residential School system..
Firstly, until 1960 the First Nations had to give up their legal identities and treaty rights
…show more content…
The purpose of this was for the Canadian officials to assimilate the First Nations peoples. Canadians did not accept and recognize the ways and cultures of the First Nations peoples because the officials thought that they were superior and had the right of way. This resulted in them trying to lead the Indigenous people in the “right and normal” way. In many more ways than one, they violated the rights and freedoms of the First Nations peoples. To begin with, the residential schools took away children from their parents forcefully. If this was to happen in the present, it would violate the legal rights found in the current charter of rights and freedoms. Legal rights prohibits people from being taken away without proper reason or consult. Secondly, inside of the residential schools, students were not treated properly. They did not feel safe inside of these schools, and instead felt lonely and trapped. This often lead to mental illness and horrible thoughts. Many claims of being raped, abused, both mentally and physically, were also made. If you relate those events to the charter, In the end, the residential schools resulted in death, and those who came back alive saw a world that they no longer recognized. Clearly, having residential schools was a horrible idea. Canadians thought that they were superior to the Indigenous, even they were the ones who inhabited this land first. They wanted to make everyone follow their ways. However, they did not open their eyes to see that everyone had their own unique ways. They did not see that the Indigenous could have really benefited them. From this event, we learn that we shouldn’t try to force someone’s ways into another’s. We all need to accept each other in order to co-live peacefully, and most importantly,
As a result of children being punished for their culture, it ultimately gets lost during their stays at these schools. Culture is a large part of self-identity, and when this is lost it often leads to a lack of self-belonging. Another issue caused by residential schools is intergenerational trauma which is largely caused by the abuse, both emotional and physical, that the children were subjected to. Intergenerational trauma largely affects future
This paper will review the first five chapters in J.R. Miller’s book Shingwauk’s Vision: A History of Native Residential Schools. These chapters examine the events that took place before residential schools were made, as well as looking into the historical context of Canada during this time period. The first chapter of the book explains the way in which indigenous communities educated their children before contact by the European settlers. The educational systems from these indigenous communities were much different than the European educational systems, in the sense of a formal, rigid, institution.
(King 64) explains the idea of residential schools and how the colonizer culture successfully broke up indigenous families and assimilated children into the settler culture. The culture clash between the Native Canadians and colonizer population was a problem to the western society and was unfortunately solved by the attempted termination of the indigenous culture. Once again, Thomas King portrays indigenous people by stereotypical means. The "wild" refers to them as being animals, savages and uneducated along with tagging them, similarly how hunters tag animals to keep track of them possibly due to them being a threat to society. All these effects of colonialism have caused
It is important to note that this was when the residential schools had just been put up, so no one really knew about what was really happening there. After the children in the school turned 16 they were sent away with some money to start their own lives. They don’t really know anything about the outside world and they know practically nothing about their own culture anymore as they’re taught that it was wrong of them to be that way. We can see that in Maisie’s part in the book that she only has the other girls that were in the residential schools to talk to (Good, 57). Her boyfriend wasn’t able to relate to her experiences, to the point where he makes it seem like what happened to the children that were sent to these schools was a minor issue and not something extremely traumatizing(Good, 69).
No longer allowing Aboriginal language had virtual made speaking the native language extinct. Genocide in the past has been trying to kill of people of a certain culture. In this situation, the residential school are trying to kill the culture not so much the
The power dynamic between these groups led to the suffering of Indigenous People, demonstrated in the novel Five Little Indians by Michelle Good. The residential schools then further reinforced the Canadian government's assimilationist policies. By forcing Indigenous People to conform to "normal'' European society, resulted in unrepairable damage between the two
The purpose of these treaties was to open up the land for settlement and to ensure that Indigenous people would be provided with certain rights, including land, education, and health care. While these treaties were meant to benefit both the settlers and Indigenous people, the reality is that they were biased in favor of the settlers.
Hi, I’m Leah, and I will be discussing the News Magazine Education Week Video on Residential schools from 1955. This video, which claims to accurately inform the viewer on the subject of Aboriginal Residential schools, is nothing more than a propaganda video aimed at an audience of white, suburban Canadians to validate their racism. The video claims that residential schools have a positive impact on the aboriginal children who attend them.
This led to loss of identity, culture and tradition, which negatively effected Indigenous people; they often returned to their communities with no knowledge of how to survive and thrive in a traditional way. The education of children was of poor quality and was often forgone because the students needed to do work to support the school and keep it running. Arranged marriages were quite common, and this was to promote the ideas and worldview that was taught at residential schools. The speaking of Indigenous language and following of customs were strictly prohibited, which dramatically reduced Canadian Indigenous cultures because if an entire generation forgets it, it is gone. Furthermore, the treatment of students was very inhumane, children were punished very harshly, and the children were often verbally, physically, and sexually abused.
This led to alcoholism and other things to try to get the flashbacks to stop. When the First Nations agreed to education, they did not know what they were getting into. They expected the kind of education that other people at the time were getting. What they got was horrendous. Their kids were forcefully taken from their homes and weren't allowed to see their parents for a year.
In addition students were assigned chores”(Stolen Lives, 139). Parents sent their children to residential schools in hopes of getting them well-educated for them to be
Imagine being ripped apart from family members, culture, tradition, and labelled a savage that needs to be educated. Imagine constantly facing punishment at school for being one’s self. Unfortunately, these events were faced head on for many First Nations people living in Canada in the late 20th century. These First Nations people were the victims of an extensive school system set up by the government to eradicate Aboriginal culture across Canada and to assimilate them into what was considered a mainstream society.
The TRC’s “The History” author appeals to logos through the use quantitative findings. The use of logical evidence from the collection of testimonials made by former residential school students is an effective way to aid the persuasion of a reader. Throughout “The History”, the author describes the memories of known First Nations peoples Frederic Ernest Koe, Marlene Kayseas, Lily Bruce and many others. In addition, the author quotes Vitaline Elsie Jenner’s use of ‘kaya nakasin’ (TRC, 2015, p.38) in describing her experience with residential school. The author’s example that contains the use native language reaffirms his credibility and detailed knowledge of the
By doing this, colonial Canadians assumed that aboriginal cultural and spiritual beliefs were invalid in relation to European beliefs (244). The problem with ridding the First Nations Peoples of their languages, as Williston points out is to “deprive them of the sense of place that has defined them for thousands of years” (245). The private schooling system was an attack on First Nations identities, and their identity is rooted in “a respect for nature and its processes” (245).
The government believed that if the children remained with their parents the problems would only increase, with the boarding schools it would make it easier to cut off their culture and religions. They decided it was best to christianize the children making almost every boarding schools either christian or catholic. The Native American kids were forced into going to church two to three times a day. It was against the