Understanding the Cultural Impact of Residential Schools

1. CULTURAL IMPACT

2. Learning Goals • Understand why Residential Schools were created • Understand what daily life was like in the Residential Schools • Understand the impact these schools had on the Aboriginal population and their belief system.

3. CULTURAL IMPACT • Aboriginal peoples and European explorers and settlers have had both positive and negative effects on each other • 1755—British created the first Indian Dept of Canada in order maintain good relationships with the Aboriginals • 1900—Aborg. People near extinction due to warfare, diseases such as smallpox, measles, TB • 1876 and 1895—Indian Acts—encourage assimilation and established reservations

4. CULTURAL IMPACT CON’T...RESIDENTIAL SCHOOLS • Mid 1880s, Canadian government funded residential school system • Children were removed from reserves and put far away at boarding schools run by the Catholic, United and Anglican religious orders • 1900s -1960s—they were taught it was wrong to practice their cultural ways and severely punished schools broke ties to communities and families children who had been isolated began to reject their past

5. RESIDENTIAL SCHOOLS CON’T... • By 1986, most schools had either been closed or turned over to local bands. Ten years later, Gordon Residential School in Punnichy, SK, finally closed its doors. • Aboriginal communities have been carrying out the difficult work of supporting their members with residual issues surrounding the family breakdowns, violence and aimlessness brought about by residential schools. 

6. Residential schools con’t... • In 2005, the federal government established a $1.9-billion compensation package for the survivors of abuse at Aboriginal residential schools • In 2007, the federal government and the churches that had operated the schools agreed to provide financial compensation to former students under the Residential School Settlement Agreement. • On 11 June 2008, Prime Minister Stephen Harper, on behalf of the Government of Canada, offered an apology to all former students of Aboriginal residential schools in Canada. 

8. Residential schools con’t...What was life really like? • The purpose of the residential schools was to eliminate all aspects of Aboriginal culture. • Students had their hair cut short, they were dressed in uniforms, and their days were strictly regimented by timetables. • Boys and girls were kept separate, and even siblings rarely interacted, further weakening family ties.

9. Residential schools con’t... • Abuse at the schools was widespread- emotional and psychological abuse was present, physical abuse was given as punishment, and sexual abuse was also common. • Survivors recall being beaten and strapped, shackled to their bed, and some had needles shoved in their tongues for speaking their native languages. STOLEN CHILDREN VIDEO

12. Residential Schools Con’t... • The Day of Apology