Residential Schools: Canada’s Inglorious Educational Past
by Ivan Ho
August 31, 2011
• Critics claim that Canada’s residential schools were part of a cultural raid designed to replace aboriginal
culture and heritage with European values
• Many of these schools have a severe negative impact on native people who suffered rampant sexual and physical
abuse
Background
In 2008, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s apology to former students of residential schools was a momentous step
in repairing a tragic blemish in the relationship between aboriginals and the Canadian authorities. It was the first
time in Canadian history that a prime minister formally apologized for the mistreatment of native students who attended
residential schools. The apology occurred immediately after the federal parliament approved a USD 2 billion compensation
package for victims who had attended 130 such schools across Canada. Between the opening of the schools in the 1820s and
the closing of the last school in 1996, a total of 150,000 children were separated from their families and forced to
attend the residential schools, which were often located far from their homes. Not only were these usually Catholic-run
facilities infamous for the sexual and physical abuse of students, but they were also breeding grounds for often-fatal
diseases. It was not uncommon for tuberculosis to kill nearly half a class; one school reached a 69 percent death toll.
Canada’s residential schools exemplify a failed assimilation policy, a racist initiative that has contributed greatly to
the distrust between the government and the First Nation. The schools have also exacerbated emotional and societal
problems within the First Nation community, as a variety of social ills, like suicide, chronic incarceration and drug
addiction plague former students as well as their children.
Why Residential Schools?
The residential schools were a result of the imperialist legacy and the belief of Euro-Canadians that native culture was
intrinsically inferior. The schools were designed to “civilize” aboriginals by replacing native traits with Western
values. Erasing indigenous culture became the official state policy in a Canadian society that viewed natives as
backwards and savage.
Under the administration of the Catholic Church, there was a heavy emphasis on moral education in a majority of the
schools until the 1930s, when they switched to a more practical focus. The Church was an influential factor in pushing
for the expansion of the residential schools and “enlightening” the aboriginal population. Church missionaries in Canada
were convinced that their culture was the ultimate expression of Christianity, and felt they had a responsibility to
help the native population assimilate into Canadian society through religious education. Misguided attitudes were firmly
entrenched in the minds of teachers who feared students would revert back to their native ways if they returned to their
reserves. Educators and policy makers sought to remove the children’s aboriginal culture through strict rules, such as
instituting school uniforms because traditional aboriginal dress was “uncivilized.” As Duncan Campbell Scott, the Deputy
Superintendent General of the Department of Indian Affairs in 1920, stated, “Our object is to continue until there is
not a single Indian in Canada that has not been absorbed into the body politic, and there is no Indian question.”
Consequently, the assimilation process absorbed the First Nation’s population into white society by destroying their
culture at the root level.
Deep and Dark Side: Cultural Genocide?
To a certain degree, the assimilation policies of the Canadian government amounted to cultural genocide. The residential
schools severed any connection between the aboriginal families and their children, as contact with families was actively
discouraged. Students as young as seven were forced to leave behind the familiar world in which they were raised,
entering an entirely different environment consisting of “new culture, language and role expectations without any
support whatsoever.” This isolated environment made it easier for educators to “assimilate” aboriginal children into
white society. Authority figures constantly extolled the virtues of Western society which “sought to reinforce the
innate superiority” of white values. At the same time, they denigrated all aspects of the aboriginal culture, even
prohibiting children from speaking their ancestral language. Documentation shows educators reinforced this value
hierarchy through punishments that ranged from beatings to sexual assault; in addition children were confined in dark
closets and forced to remain kneeling for prolonged periods of time.
Punishment and indoctrination stripped the aboriginals of their cultural identity. The deeply entrenched shame that
children felt towards their culture complicated relationships with their families. For example, when children returned
to their parents they often refused to eat raw meat—a practice common in the aboriginal culture—claiming it was the
basis of all illness affecting the Inuit people. Such examples do not mean that assimilation was a success. A testament
to the failure of the education process was the fact that in 1945, in a pool of approximately nine thousand aboriginal
children, “only about 100 [were developmentally] beyond grade 8 and none [were] beyond grade 9.” Students from
residential schools were alienated from both the native and white-Canadian communities; many graduated without the
necessary skills to operate within the aboriginal community or white Canadian society. For example, hunting skills,
critical for survival in the Native community. were neglected at the schools; instead, children were trained in basic
domestic work or manual labor.
Legacy of the Residential School
Children also suffered negative effects from the abuse they encountered at the schools. Many students found it difficult
to relate to others and were likely to resort to violence or redirect their anger towards loved ones. Some former
students of the residential schools directed their rage towards their children and spouses. For instance, a study by the
Cariboo Tribe Council and the University of Guelph found that participants who had fathers that attended a residential
school were more likely to report physical violence initiated by their father against their mother. Many students later
abused their children, thus continuing the cycle of violence. Survivors from the residential schools were poorly
prepared to become parents, as they were raised in a rigid institution of authoritarianism. Many report having trouble
“showing affection to their children or us[ing] harsh discipline methods.” Families in native communities continue to
break down as former students are unable to creatively raise children or establish a healthy relationship with their
spouses.
Children raised by former students of residential schools are found to be increasingly involved in criminal activity. A
study by Aboriginal People’s Safety found that factors such as childhood disadvantage, deprivation, child abuse,
parental drinking, and violence will often lead to youths’ victimization and “involvement in the criminal justice
system.” For instance, the correctional service system reported that although aboriginals only make up 2.5 percent of
the Canadian population, they constitute almost 18 percent of those incarcerated in federal penitentiaries. However, in
the Western provinces, where a majority of the residential schools were located, aboriginals comprise an even greater
proportion of those in prison. For example, in Manitoba and Saskatchewan, where aboriginal people make up 15 percent of
the provincial population, they account for nearly 64 and 76 percent of provincial jail admissions respectively. More
importantly, nearly 98 percent of the residents from healing lodges, a federal program that offer services and programs
to aboriginal offenders, have had at least one parent or grandparent in the residential schools. The children of those
placed in residential schools grow up in an environment plagued with abuse and neglect. Without parental guidance or a
healthy upbringing, many aboriginals turn to substance abuse, compulsive gambling, and alcoholism.
The legacy of physical and sexual abuse has been the cornerstone of many social problems within the aboriginal
community. Many of the punishments instituted by the teachers were explicitly sexual in nature, and would later lead to
sexual problems in adulthood. For example, sexual abuse and incest are prevalent in the aboriginal community today. A
study sponsored by the Native Women’s Association of the Northwest Territories “found that eight out of ten girls under
eight years of age were victims of sexual abuse, and five out of ten boys were also sexually abused” in aboriginal
communities. Scholars trace the high rate of abuse to the legacy left behind of the residential schools.
The lack of a support network for former survivors and their children has dramatically increased suicide rates among
aboriginals. Many former attendees report symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, including blackouts, nightmares,
depression, and apathy. Depression is significantly higher in native communities, with the suicide rate 2.1 times higher
than the non-indigenous Canadian rate; not only are former students affected by their experiences, but their children
and the aboriginal community as a whole are severely impacted. For instance, in 2000, suicide accounted for almost 22
percent of “all deaths among aboriginal youth (aged 10 to 19 years).” The perceived lack of opportunity and systematic
abuse from parents has led to this devastating and unfortunate consequence.
Furthermore, economic and educational opportunities continue to escape aboriginal youth. Their experiences in
residential schools have led former students to develop a deep mistrust of Canadian institutions, including public
schools. Children of former students are discouraged from entering mainstream education; parents nurture a fear that
their children will face similar traumatic experiences. Moreover, even when aboriginals enter public schools, they face
prejudice and unhealthy stereotypes that hinder their ability to perform well; aboriginal students avoid school due to
discrimination by peers and faculty, and it no surprise that the dropout rate in secondary schools is extremely high
among aboriginal youth.
Conclusion
Tragically, the negative effects of residential schools can never be undone; problems within the native community will
take generations to solve. Racism and negative stereotypes shaped by the residential schools tint the Canadian
perspective on aboriginals and contribute to native economic and social marginalization. However, the Canadian
government is taking the correct approach with the compensation package that is currently being offered to the native
population. Although money will never absolve the legacy of the residential schools, it is a step in the right
direction. The government also instituted the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, which was founded to
educate Canadian society on the systematic abuses that unfolded in residential schools and compile a complete historical
record. This foundation should serve to educate the future generations of Canada on the extraordinary abuses that
occurred in the residential schools and help to dismiss aboriginal stereotypes and racial attacks. Hopefully, Canada can
begin to closely examine a redress of the awful legacy left by the residential schools.
ENDS