A Residential School Legacy - 1002 Words

A Residential School Legacy From the late 1800s to the 1980s, more than 100,000 First Nations children in Canada attended residential schools (Llewellyn, 2008, p. 258).2 To attend these schools, children were taken away from their families and communities. At the schools, the children suffered from emotional, physical, sexual and spiritual abuse (Steckley amp; Cummins, 2001, p. 191). The worst abuses were often used as punishment for speaking their indigenous languages (Petten, 2007, p. 22). The imposition of residential schools on First Nations children has led to significant loss of indigenous languages, and this language loss has led to further cultural losses for traditional First Nations cultures in Canada. 2 APA style requires†¦show more content†¦Besides damaging family and community relationships, the loss of indigenous languages also distanced many First Nations people from their traditional belief systems. One common belief among First Nations traditional cultures is that â€Å"all of life is spiritual: everything that exists, animals, plants, people, rocks, the sun and stars have elements of sacredness† (Rajotte, 1998, p. 21). This suggests that aboriginal peoples’ connection to nature is crucial to their A RESIDENTIAL SCHOOL LEGACY 4 A. Robinson amp; J. Robinson / 2009 (revised March 2010) Sample Essay APA Style WR4.35 spirituality. Aboriginal spirituality is passed on orally by elders through myths and rituals. Without knowledge of their traditional languages, young people could not learn about the spiritual beliefs of their people. This spirituality was all encompassing, affecting not only their thoughts about the spirit world but also their knowledge of places, plants and animals and traditional skills such as fishing, trapping, and tanning (Blair et al., 2002, p. 96). As Steckley and Cummins have pointed out, without access to the elders’ knowledge of nature, young people lost access to the beliefs and practices their people had developed over thousands of years (2001, p. 17). Therefore, the loss of language led to the loss of traditional spiritual beliefs andShow MoreRelatedThe Legacy Of Residential Schools1849 Words   |  8 PagesThe legacy that residential schools left behind in Canada was not a positive one. Residential schools, up until the day that the last one closed in 1996, were supported and funded by the Canadian government. The aboriginals who attended these schools were treated unethically, and, as a result, the Aboriginals had many bitter feelings of resentment towards everyone else living in Canada. The immoral treatment of the First Nations people by the Canadian government severely impacted relations betw eenRead MoreResidential Schools, a Legacy of Shame2808 Words   |  12 Pagessub-humans; savages with no religion, intelligence, or right to live. This general idea has carried through-out the history of our supposedly great country; Canada. This essay will examine the residential school system in depth. It will then relate the Canadian Government s actions in response to residential schools, good and bad. From the late nineteenth century until well into the twentieth century, the Government of Canada worked vigorously to enforce their legislative war against Indianness.Read MoreDevelopment Of The Residential School System1740 Words   |  7 Pages: A quote from Aggie George recalling of her experience in the Lejac Indian Residential School (Legacy of Hope Foundation, 2001). 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While contemporaryRead MoreThe Truth And Reconciliation Commission ( Trc )1536 Words   |  7 Pageswere forcibly removed from their communities, and sent to Indian residential schools. Generation after generation of indigenous children were denied the right to speak their own language, explore spirituality and to learn about their rich cultural history. These schools were designed to assimilate indigenous children into the society of the European settlers. It was under that system that Aboriginal children were required to attend schools that would ‘take the Indian out of the child,’ in hopes to solveRead MoreOut Of The Depths Shines A Light On Residential Schools1395 Words   |  6 PagesIsabelle Knockwood’s novel Out of The Depths shines a light on Residenti al Schools in Canada through the first hand accounts of twenty-seven survivors who attended the Shubenacadie Indian Residential School. Although Knockwood’s compilation of accounts are all from students of one residential school, the treatments and experiences echo the sentiments of students and authors over a much greater area. The affects of Residential Schools have had a lasting impact, affecting communities and individualRead MoreHistorical Globalization Essay685 Words   |  3 Pageslanguages, family, freedom, and dignity. Like the Rwanda incidents, Apartheid Law in South Africa and the incidents in Residential Schools in Canada. Although those things had happened, they still survive and right now is rebuilding and moving forward to not let it happen again with the little help of NGOs. In my opinion, Contemporary society has done enough to respond to the legacies of historical globalization. Moving forward and start making a better future is the only answer for those horrible events