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Residential School

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Residential School
Residential school: (in Canada) a boarding school maintained by the Canadian government for Indian and Inuit children from sparsely populated settlements. Two primary objectives of the residential school system were to remove and isolate children from the influence of their homes, families, traditions and cultures, and to assimilate them into the dominant culture. These objectives were based on the assumption Aboriginal cultures and spiritual beliefs were inferior and unequal. Indeed, some sought, as it was infamously said, “to kill the Indian in the child.”

Before the confederation (1867) and until 1910, Churches and the government sought to assimilate the Native peoples. Residential schools became the promote method of assimilation.

At one time or another, 144 residential schools existed in Canada. An estimated total of 150, 000(one hundred and fifty thousands) children attended the schools. Imagine five hockey arenas, each setting 30,000.

It is said to be a cultural Genocide? How?
Evidence/ Quote
"When the children came back, they were different, speaking in the wemistikoshiw tongue, talking back to their parents, fighting and hitting one another, crying in the middle of the night for no reason"
With the loss of their families and its influences, children that were sent to residential schools resulted in the loss of their First Nations culture and a negative difference in behavior
What led to residential school?
European settlers in Canada thought that Canada’s first inhabitants were ignorant, savage, and—like children—in need of guidance. They felt the need to “civilize” the Aboriginal peoples. Education—a federal responsibility—became the primary means to this end.
In 1920- It was compulsory for all Indian Children to attend the school. Children were forcefully taken from their families by priests, Indian agents and

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