The residential school system

The residential school system

Before the arrival of colonial masters, the Aboriginal people taught their children through traditional techniques such as demonstrations and oral lessons. It was the responsibility of the communities’ elders and family members to ensure that children adopted essential skills and competencies, which would enable them to become responsible members of society. Nevertheless, the arrival of the colonialists introduced formal learning means, which generally occurred in classrooms and with trained instructors. One of the major concerns of the new government was that most of the indigenous people had barbaric cultures and observed uncivilized religious practices.

To change this, the idea of the residential school system was born as a way of changing their cultural, religious, and social lives and enabling them to become civilized citizens just like people from other ethnic backgrounds. However, as much as the government wanted the system to succeed, it failed terribly and caused untold sufferings in the lives of the individuals and the society at large. This essay examines the history and effects of this system and the efforts of the government through the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada to address this issue.

The History of Residential Schools in Canada and How They Relate to The Truth and Reconciliation Commission

For more than 160 years, the Canadian government operated the residential school system, which saw many schools across the country open their doors to thousands of children from Aboriginal communities. According to (), these schools began operations in the 1880sand the very first school was constructed and run by the Anglican Church in Ontario. However, it is essential to note that even long before the first residential school was built, religious institutions had established other schools which were meant purposefully for children from Aboriginal communities. A majority of them were concentrated in the eastern parts of the country, though they spread to the other parts as colonialism and civilization shifted to the other parts of Canada.

The primary purpose of establishing residential schools was to resolve the Indian resistance to civilization in the country. The government had embarked on an elaborate process to rebuild Canada as a new and civilized country. However, the Aboriginal people were not willing to adopt a new way of doing things or surrender their land to the government. Hence, the authorities believed that the only way they could deal with this threat to development was by sending the Indigenous children to individual schools, which would remove the ‘Indigenousness’ from them and adopt new ways of doing things. For this to succeed, the Canadian government copied the educational system in the other parts of North America, and specifically the US, as well as in the states that were colonized by Britain. Through this system, the government, in collaboration with the churches, forcefully took the children from their families and placed them in boarding facilities that were meant to change their religion and ensure that they behaved like other civilized westerners. The system had successfully being used in other countries, especially in the European region and the two countries in the Trans-Tasman territory. As a result, the colonial masters were able to obtain and make claims for the land owned and occupied by the Aboriginal people. Therefore, taking their children to such schools was perceived as an effective way of refining the Aboriginal people by forcing them to embrace new languages, religions, and cultural inclinations. The argument behind this was the perception that it was easier to transform an individual while still young since an adult may have difficulties learning new customs. Furthermore, some of the leaders in the government felt that there was no need to have a particular class of people that stood on their own as the whole country moved in the civilization direction. The concept of the boarding schools was perceived to be the best way of aggressively assimilating the Indians and instilling in them long-term values and cultural beliefs.

Since the schools were run and funded by the government through the churches, the Indians had little say about the plight of their children. In any case, the schools were mandatory for every Indian child regardless of whether their parents consented to the idea or not. Furthermore, there was no option of becoming a day schooler, as the people in authority argued that the children needed more time to adopt new values and less time to be Indians. Furthermore, the boarding facilities would take them from their comfort zones and ensure that they learned new skills from the teachers and school administrators, all of them who were Westerners. Besides, the schools were established near the camps of the colonizers, thus ensuring that the children had an opportunity to observe how civilized people behaved and interacted with others. To ensure that no child from any Aboriginal community remained at home, the government hired special agents whose work entailed monitoring the Aboriginal people to ensure compliance.

The last residential school closed its door in 1996. However, concerns over the effects of the school system prompted the government to establish the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) on 2nd June 2008. With its headquarters in Winnipeg, Canada, the commission was established with the sole aim of addressing the injustices of the residential school system in the country. Through this, the government hoped that Canadians would be guided through the ideas for establishing specialized learning institutions for Aboriginal children. Furthermore, the government aimed to reconcile the country, allowing the indigenous communities to obtain long-lasting justice for the experiences they had in those schools. However, it is essential to point out that the commission was established due to the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement (IRSSA), a pact that aimed to compensate the survivors of the residential school systems for the experiences they had. The commission had various responsibilities, which were all aimed to work towards an unbiased future for the Aboriginal people.

From the initial stages of its operations, the commission experienced overwhelming difficulties, which occurred mainly because of government interference. Moreover, the government was not willing to release crucial documents that were obtained from the residential school system, and which would aid the commission in addressing the atrocities. However, it was able to organize various events where survivors told their experiences. Through both private and public community hearings, the commission gathered evidence and oversaw the compensation of the victims. Towards the end of its tenure, the commission established the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR), which would house all the statements and evidence that the commission had collected over the six years it had been in operations. The commission then completed its final report, which highlighted the tragic experiences of the Aboriginal children who attended the residential school system. Furthermore, it proposed several recommendations that would enable the indigenous communities to obtain the justice they had always claimed for right from the time the very first residential school was established. After completing its mandate, the commission held a formal concluding procedure in June 2015.

The Experiences of Children in the Residential Schools

From the time the children were aggressively torn from the hands of their parents, they were given rules and regulations which would govern their behavior during their stay in the schools. The administrators and agents prohibited them from communicating in any other language apart from English and French. Hence, it was illegal to express themselves in their ethnic languages. This marked the beginning of their long journey towards civilization. Both the teachers and school administrators followed the guidelines given by senior government officials. () notes that in most of the schools, English was the medium of communication even during playtimes. This proved a significant challenge to the children, a majority of whom had never had a chance to learn any other language apart from their ethnic ones. Apart from the bewilderment and uncertainties, the children who broke this rule received harsh punishments and, in some instances, were secluded from their peers. () suggests that it was common for such children to receive shock treatment, where their bodies were subjected to high-voltage electric power. Such a rule implied that the children’s ethnic languages were second-rate and not worth receiving any attention, while English was the preferred language of the civilized people.

Apart from the language element, the children were subjected to various religious changes. The colonizers were concerned that the indigenous people’s religious beliefs and practices were barbaric and evil, necessitating the school administrators to replace them. One of the conventional techniques of accomplishing this was by threatening the children that horrific experiences awaited them if they did not abandon their religion and embraced Christianity. For instance, the children were always told that there were evil beings under their beds, who awaited those who would wake up during the night or those that failed to obey the school regulations. For this reason, most of the children ended up wetting their beds and then facing the wrath of the matrons, who would subject them to severe punishment.

Furthermore, the children were subjected continuously to indignity and dreadful conditions, both from their teachers and the other staff that worked in the institutions. They did not receive proper nutrition, and hunger was a daily occurrence. In an article that was published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, Mosby & Galloway (2017) quote the testimony of Aklavik Roman, a survivor of the residential school system. They write, “We cried to have something good to eat before we sleep. A lot of the times, the food we had was rancid, full of maggots, stink. Sometimes we would sneak away from school to go visit our aunts or uncles, just to have a piece of bannock” (p.E1043). It was not uncommon for the administrators to give only water and a piece of bread for lunch and foul foodstuffs during breakfast or dinner. Porridge was also a regular meal, and this was repeated as many times as was possible.

It is also paramount to highlight the sexual and physical abuses that occurred in the institutions. Several times, the children were ordered to remove their pants and receive spanking for trivial mistakes. This happened in broad daylight and, in most cases, while surrounded by the other children so that they could learn not to repeat the same mistake. Smiling at other children or associating with one’s siblings attracted severe whippings and humiliations. Furthermore, Macdonald & Hudson (2012) note that the children also received beatings for no superficial cause. The church and school officials also subjected the children to horrifying and atrocious sexual abuses mainly because they took advantage of their positions of power. In most cases, the school administrators protected the offenders and, in some cases, transferred them to other schools. From the Truth and Reconciliation Commission community hearings, the survivors recounted the horrific abuses they received regardless of their gender. Apart from this, Charles & DeGagné (2013)note that it was also common for the young ones to experience both physical and sexual abuses from their fellow students, a majority of whom used aggressiveness to deal with their daily frustrations.

There was also the issue of manual labor that the children were supposed to provide. According to Macdonald & Hudson (2012), learning occurred in the first half part of the day while the remaining hours entailed manual labor. This was mandatory regardless of one’s gender, size, or physical capabilities. A majority of the children became sick since they worked on empty stomachs, and the activities required much physical strength. Those that got injuries or became sick did not receive immediate or appropriate medical attention. The hardships were made worse by the overcrowding in the classes and sleeping dormitories.

Effects of the Residential School System

As much as the residential school system was established to assimilate indigenous children into mainstream cultures, the system failed terribly due to widespread resistance against the schools. Just like colonization, Wilk, Maltby & Cooke (2017) note that the residential school system adversely affected the survivors. In particular, the experiences affected “all aspects of Indigenous peoples’ health and well-being, affecting not only their physical health, but the mental, emotional, and spiritual wellness” (Wilk, Maltby & Cooke, 2017, p. 1). Some of the adverse physical health outcomes from the residential school system included various forms of bodily injuries, chronic bronchitis due to the unfavorable living conditions, gastrointestinal complications due to poor nutrition, as well as blindness and other eyesight challenges. The chief cause of these physical challenges was the savage beatings that the young people frequently received. Wilk, Maltby & Cooke (2017) further point out that a majority of the children suffered from epilepsy, as well as minor and major circulatory system diseases. Apart from these, the survivors were left with conditions that affected their mental and emotional well-being. These included depression, post-trauma stress disorder, and panic disorders, among others. Wilk, Maltby & Cooke (2017) further specify that most of the indigenous people suffered from trauma due to the physical, mental, emotional, and sexual abuses they received from the school staff members. This affected not only the individual survivors but also their families and communities.

Apart from the health effects of the residential schools, () notes that a majority of the survivors assumed substance abuse and developed suicidal thoughts. In another study conducted by (), the researchers discovered that children born of survivors of the residential schools had higher rates of suicide attempts when compared to the parents that had not. Most of the drug and alcohol abusers adopted the addictive behaviors as a way of coping with their pain and the horrible experiences they had in the institutions. The mind-altering substances were believed to cause relief from stress, painful memories, physical ailments, as well as chilling emotions due to the experiences they had. Although these provided temporary relief, becoming addicted caused various destructive behaviors.

Effects of the Residential Schools on the Society at Large

Apart from the personal effects of the residential school system in Canada, the institutions also impacted the communities of the Aboriginal people. According to (), the aboriginal people have a higher prevalence of poor health when compared to people of other ethnic groups. This is mainly because of the subverting effects of tearing family members apart and trying to change their cultural and religious inclinations. The fact that the schools were compulsory, and the parents did not have a say about their children’s fate made the situation worse, and sadly, the communities have never recovered from those experiences.

It is also essential to highlight the socioeconomic effects of the learning system. According to research conducted by (), most of the Aboriginal people live in deplorable conditions primarily due to the fact they did not obtain quality education through the residential school system. The study discovered that this affected not only the survivors but also their children and grandchildren, implying that the effects are intergenerational. The cause-and-effect relationship between education, employment, and income is evident in the lives of the Aboriginal people, especially those that attended the Indian Residential School system. This implies that because of the lack of quality education, most of the Aboriginal people cannot secure quality employment and hence, cannot earn decent salaries. Furthermore, most of the Aboriginal survivors of the residential school system live in inadequate housing facilities, and this has a direct effect on the community’s prevalence rate of poor health.

The residential school system also caused the deterioration of the relationship between the government and Aboriginal people. The root cause of this was the suppression of Aboriginal culture, weakening of the Indigenous people’s identity, as well as the pain and bitterness that survivors lived with due to the experiences they had in the schools. On its part, the government was not willing to admit that it had inflicted pain and injustices to the Aboriginal people. On their part, the indigenous communities felt that the government had unfairly treated them as people of the other ethnic backgrounds were not subjected to the same treatment. This aspect was highlighted in the testimonies given during the community hearings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. As much as the government apologized and admitted that it had committed the atrocities against the Aboriginal people, the sour relationship between the two parties affected service delivery as well as the identity of the Aboriginal societies.

Conclusion

The residential school system was established with the primary purpose of assimilating the Aboriginal people into mainstream westernized cultures. However, the schools mistreated the children by making it mandatory for all of them to attend. Instead of attaining the objectives of their establishments, the institutions subjected the children to untold suffering and pain. As a result, a majority of them live with trauma and poor health outcomes due to the harsh experiences they had in those schools. The adverse effects continue to touch the lives of the survivors, their children, and grandchildren. Moreover, the residential school system also caused adverse effects in Aboriginal communities. Although the TRC of Canada made elaborate recommendations on how the Canadian government can address this issue, no amount of talk or compensation can undo what was done in the lives of the survivors.