Premium Essay

Residential Schools In Canada In The 19th Century

Submitted By
Words 626
Pages 3
In the 19th century, the Canadian government believed it was responsible for educating and caring for Aboriginal people in Canada. The government believed that the best chance to be successful was for them to learn English and adopt Christianity and Canadian customs. In an ideal world, these new customs would be passed onto their children, meaning their native traditions would diminish and completely disappear within a few generations. The Canadian government developed a policy called “aggressive assimilation” to be taught at these new church-run, government-funded schools, called residential schools. It was believed that children were easier to influence that adults, so the idea of sending these children to a boarding school to learn new values would be the most effective.

These schools were created based on the belief that aboriginal culture was unable to adapt to a rapidly modernizing society. Students were discouraged from speaking their first language or practising native traditions and were faced with severe punishment if they did not comply. Most students lived at these schools 10 months a year, away from their parents, segregating them from opportunities to see examples of normal family life. Siblings at the same school rarely saw each other, as all …show more content…
Children began to refuse to cooperate and sabotaged the operations of the kitchen or classroom, stole food and supplies, ran away, or in extreme cases burned down their school. The parents of students and political leaders combined protested the schools’ inhumane conditions, though their objections were typically ignored. Finally by the 1940s it became obvious to both the government and missionary bodies that the schools were ineffective. The system was taken over by the Department of Indian Affairs in 1969, ending church involvement. By 1986, most schools had either been closed or turned over to local bands (Miller,

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

West Coast Education In Canada

...Coast. In this part of Canada for example ”… immigration was the primary factor in shaping the mass schooling movement, but it did so in ways quite different from those on the East Coast of the continent”( Historica Canada, 2015,np ). Religion and Minority-Language Education form one of the fundamental themes in the history of Canada’s learning society -A high level of educational dispute and disagreement has involved religion and language. The founding of schools brought local training under official examination and forced communities to accept the recommended standards of basic instruction which did not agree with the reality of a multicultural society. For example,” …religious groups did not always agree on the desirability of nondenominational Christian curricula, and their protests led to the growth of parallel Catholic and Protestant school systems in Québec, the provision for separate schools in provinces such as Ontario, and a completely denominationally based school system in Newfoundland (Historica Canada, 2015, np). The higher levels of Asian immigration and rising prejudice developments continued to form one of the fundamental themes in the history of Canada’s learning society, schooling developed somewhat differently on the West Coast than in the rest of Canada. One noteworthy...

Words: 1109 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Residential Schools In Canada

...Summary: Two key objectives of the residential school system were to remove and isolate children from the influence of their homes, families, traditions, and cultures, and to also make them adapt to the dominant culture. These objectives were created based on the theory of the aboriginal cultures and spiritual beliefs of the, being unworthy and unequal. It was infamously dais to “kill the Indian in the child”. Initially, about 1,100 students attended 69 schools across the country. In 1931, at the peak of the residential school system, there were about 80 schools operating in Canada. There were a total of about 130 schools in every territory and province except Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick from the earliest in the 19th...

Words: 792 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Bad Education

...INTRODUCTIONS TO CANADIAN STUDIES BAD EDUCATION Bad education? Is there such a thing as bad education? Education supposed to be a good thing. Its roots come from the Latin word educere and means something like “to lead forth “ or “to develop mentally and morally by instruction “[1] Therefore a process of education should have a positive impact on human being and it should actually broaden his mind. But that is not what happened to Aboriginal people in Canada at the time of residential schooling. Residential schools were established in order to assimilate (Canadian Education Association) aboriginal people to western society. Later,” to assimilate” became synonym of “to civilize”. But was that really necessary to do? Gradually it became similar to a totalitarian regime and its expansion within society. Why cannot people understand each other, learn from each other and respect each other? Aboriginal people had their own educational system long before new settlers arrived to the shores of North America. System that was so different, and yet so similar to the western one. The teachers were the parents, the elders and other members of community. The classrooms were the teepees, the hillsides or the forests. Also other unusual subjects played role in the process of education. Education of this kind is distinct from the education that demands schooling. It aims, first, to explain to the...

Words: 1516 - Pages: 7

Premium Essay

Aboriginals in Canada

...ABORIGINAL ISSUES IN CANADA Teacher Name: Bob Gregory Student Name: Juan Carlos Bernal Student Number: 057638082 Date: Monday October 15th, 2012 References: Canada (1891). Indian treaties and surrenders, from 1680 to 1890 Volume I. Ottawa: Brown Chamberlin (Queen's Printer). URL: http://www.canadiana.org/ECO/ItemRecord/91942 Centre for Social Justice URL:http://www.socialjustice.org/index.php?page=aboriginal-issues Canadian Council on Social Development URL: http://www.ccsd.ca/cpsd/ccsd/c_ab.htm Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada URL: http://www.aadnc-aandc.gc.ca/eng/ Assembly of First Nations URL: http://www.afn.ca/index.php/en The Indian Residential School Settlement URL:https://my.senecacollege.ca/bbcswebdav/courses/CAN275BA.GENH.20123/summary%20of%20court%20settlement.pdf Aboriginal Issues in Canada Many problems exists in aboriginal communities which include their living conditions, crime rates, suicide rates, lack of education and skill training, unemployment and other issues. The living conditions or quality of life for Aboriginals rank 63rd, or amongst Third World conditions. Health Canada states that as of May 2003, 12% of Aboriginal communities had to boil their drinking water and approximately 1/4 of water treatment systems on-reserve pose a high risk to human health. Almost 25% of Aboriginal water infrastructure are a high risk of contamination. House density is twice that of the general population. Nearly 1 in 4...

Words: 1458 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

Family

...Sociology & Family Theorizing and Researching 1. Structural Theories a) Materialism & Conflict theory Marx & Engles -changes in family lives reflect material change (ex, the mode of production, industrialization) macro-micro focus -power differences characterize society at all levels (ex, capitalism creates: exploitation of men in the workforce; oppression of women b) Political Economy -assumes the power of the one class over another (social control), capitalist relations of production -a more concentrated focus on how economic and political processes shape society and history and therefore family, families c) Structural Functionalism Parsons & Bales -the social institution of the family - family is seen as a function, and different parts of society helps it move along -the nuclear family performs functions -they saw the families as a main faction, economic support, these functions that happen in nuclear families include economic support -equilibrium, all parts help it work as a whole -hierarchical generations and role specialization within families produces harmony -the different roles that men and women take on, allows the family be a harmony -parsons and bales, gendered perspective on families, families having instrumental roles such as achieving income, feed the family, cloth the family, this would be men 2. Symbolic Interactionism Mead & Cooley - individuals create their own family realities through micro level interactions -from...

Words: 8656 - Pages: 35

Premium Essay

Indian Act

...gain these advantages. Two main incidents were established in the Aboriginal history, the first was the treaties that spread across Canada and the second incident was the Indian Act of 1876. The main difference between the Indian Act and treaties were the aboriginal’s role in the decision-making. Treaties allowed for a compromise between the Natives and the government that allowed for benefits on both ends whereas the Indian act was imposed on the Native culture by the Canadian government without any arrangement with the aboriginals. This paper will first describe the history of treaties and what they entail for both parties and also look at the formation of the Indian Act. Then, this paper will look at how each had affected the Aboriginal people in similar and different ways. Finally this paper will look at the relation in today’s society that the treaties have in Canada and what life would be like if the Indian Act was still a large part of how First Nations people would have been treated if the Act was not changed following World War II. After these points, a reader should have a better understanding of a topic that they may know little about. By looking at both the Indian Act and Canadian treaties, it is easy to distinguish that the treaties were more effective for establishing rights for Canada’s indigenous people. The first Treaty in Canada was know as the Great Law of Peace of the People of the Longhouse. It is one of the earliest recorded treaties negotiated between...

Words: 2505 - Pages: 11

Premium Essay

American Pageant Chapter 17 Summary

...Chapter 17 •From the beginning of the Repub., Amer. upheld a strategy of Ind. Removal; migrated estrn tribes west of the Miss., promising that they could stay there for all time. •By the mid-19th century, Man. Dest. directed U.S. approach; arrive no longer appeared to be unlimited. • The legis. looked for control of Ind. terrains, promising consequently to pay annuities and to place Indians on grounds saved for their utiliz.—reserv. •In 1851, 10 K Plains Ind. met at Frt Lar., Wy., to arrange a settlem. that surrendered a wide swath of their terr. to permit sect. of wagon trains; would have liked to save their way of life even with the white attack, which had as of now pulverized their populace and pillaged their surroundings....

Words: 1663 - Pages: 7

Premium Essay

Verizon Wireless

...Products Offered 11 Wireless 11 Enterprise/Mid-Market Business 12 Key Enterprise Products and Services 12 Residential/ Small Business 13 Key Residential and Small Business Products and Services 13 Community Work 14 Fast Facts 15 Customers and Target Market 15 Financial Ratios Balance Sheet Balance Sheet Financial Analysis Income Statement Analysis Cash Flows Statement and Analysis WACC Calculation Financial Planning Forecast Forecast Analysis Forecasted Balance Sheet and Analysis Forecasted Income Statement and Analysis Conclusion [pic] Executive Summary Verizon Communications, Inc., with Headquarters in New York City; Operations Center in Basking Ridge, N.J. is a Dow 30 company and the most reliable wireless network with 106.3 million total connections. Verizon, a global leader in providing broadband and other wireless and wire line communications services to mass market, business, government and wholesale customers; operates nearly 143.7 million customer connections (wireless, wire line, broadband and TV) served every day. Verizon also provides converged communications, information and entertainment services over America’s most advanced fiber-optic network, and delivers innovative, seamless business solutions to customers around the world and network serving residential and small-business customers evolving to fiber-to-the-premises technology with FiOS high-speed fiber services. Verizon employs...

Words: 5170 - Pages: 21

Premium Essay

Housing Business

...for their exclusive use. Sometimes called a flat or digs (slang). Some locales have legal definitions of what constitutes an apartment. In some locations, "apartment" denotes a building that was built specifically for such units, whereas "flat" denotes a unit in a building that had been originally built as a single-family house, but later on subdivided into some multi-unit house type.[5] • Apartment building, Block of flats: a multi-unit dwelling made up of several (generally four or more) apartments. Contrast this with the two-family house and the three-family dwelling. An apartment (in US English) or flat (in British English and often associated with or miscontrued as social housing) is a self-contained housing unit (a type of residential real estate) that occupies only part of a building. Such a building may be called an apartment building, especially if it consists of many apartments for rent. Apartments may be owned by an owner/occupier or rented by tenants (two types of housing tenure). The term apartment is favored in North America, whereas the term flat is commonly, but not exclusively, used in the United Kingdom, Hong Kong and most Commonwealth countries. In Malaysian English, flat often denotes a housing block of lesser quality meant for lower-income groups, while apartment is more generic and may also include luxury condominiums. In New Zealand English, the two terms are independent: apartment has the US sense, while flat usually refers to any rental property...

Words: 12388 - Pages: 50

Premium Essay

Undocumented Student

...22 August 2014 The Struggles of Undocumented Students What is the dream of an Undocumented Student? The dream of an undocumented student is to pursue the American Dream of becoming someone professional and having the opportunity to help their family back in their country. What are the reasons that the government does not want undocumented students to continue pursuing an education after they graduate from High School? The government does not focus on what undocumented students dream of becoming in the future. What they do focus on are the jobs they are taking from our country. Undocumented students are being denied the privilege of attending college because they are unaware of their rights to attend college. Every year, there are many undocumented students from different countries migrating to the United States. They migrate from El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala in search for a better life. However, once they arrive to the United States they are faced with many obstacles that they did not know existed. Many undocumented students graduate from high schools, but only a few get the opportunity to pursue the American Dream because they do not have the right documentations. I believe the government should give undocumented student a visa in order for them to pursue their dreams. Chicanos and Latinos students are being affected by this situation because most of them end up going back to their countries. Other students end up working in low wage jobs for example, in restaurants...

Words: 2889 - Pages: 12

Premium Essay

Keystone Xl

...The highly controversial, and much disputed issues surrounding the Keystone XL crude oil pipeline project have been under the scrutiny of American politics in recent months. A debate has ensued around national calls for the construction of infrastructure that would transport a crude oil alternative from Canada to the United States, and has rapidly gained increased exposure. This exposure can be attributed to a number of factors, but in large part rising gasoline prices and political pressures are the driving factors. Increased demand for more reliable and stable supplies of crude oil in the United States has been driven by an ailing supply of traditional heavy oil. TransCanada Corporation is a Canadian based energy company which develops and operates energy infrastructure throughout North America. The corporation finds itself at the focal point of the oil sands debate. The transnational corporation has applied for a permit to carry out a $7 billion project by the name of Keystone XL, which would allow TransCanada to construct and manage an oil transport pipeline between the United States-Canada border. The pipeline would transport crude oil produced from oil sands in Canada to oil refineries in the Texas Gulf Coast. Since the pipeline would cross international borders, the project requires the approval of the State Department in accord with Executive Order 13337. It is over this crucial point that much of the discussion has been centered. Time Magazine has dubbed oil sands “Canada’s...

Words: 4360 - Pages: 18

Premium Essay

Differences of National Cultural Influences on Higher Education in China and the United States

...Introduction 1.1 Problem definition Any discussion of higher Education in different countries needs to be conducted within the context of the overall perception of a country’s culture, society, history, salary and intellect. These influences are the foundation of the education in a country. Due to these different influences every country has a different understanding of education. I will also concentrate on the influence of culture on education in China and in the United States (U.S.) with special emphasis on Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions, because culture and history can lead the way in understanding the differences among student’s higher education. 1.2 Objectives The paper investigates the differences between the education in China and the U.S. against the background of dramatical differences in culture and history. First the country-specific Cultural Dimensions by Hofstede need to be elaborated to reveal a basic approach for the understanding of a nation’s culture. Based on Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions and the history the effect on education and instructional strategies in China and the U.S. will be discussed. 1.3 Course of the Investigation To achieve the objectives the course of the investigation will be carried out in three steps. In the first step the conceptual background on the topic will be defined to provide a basis. Chapter 2 describes the theory and the five Dimensions of Hofstede’s Culture’s Consequences. In the second step the explanations focus...

Words: 4510 - Pages: 19

Free Essay

Chapter 1 Human Geo Notes

...Chapter 1 - Geography Matters: Definitions: * Human geography the study of the spatial organization of human activity and of people’s relationships with their environments * Cartography: the body of practical and theoretical knowledge about making distinctive visual representations of Earth’s surface in the form of maps * Map projection: a systematic rendering on a flat surface of the geographic coordinates of the features found on Earth’s surface * Ethnocentrism: the attitude that a persona’s own race and culture are superior to those of others * Imperialism: the extension of the power of a nation through direct/indirect control of the economic and political life of other territories * Masculinism: the assumption that the world is and should be shaped mainly by men for men * environmental determinism: a doctrine holding that human activities are controlled by the environment * globalization: the increasing interconnectedness of different parts of the world through common processes of economic, environmental political and cultural change * ecumene: the total habitable area of a country. Sine it depends on the prevailing technology, the available ecumene varies over time. Canada’s ecumene is so much less than its total area. * Geodemographic research: investigation using census data and commercial data (i.e. sales data and property records) about populations of small districts to create profiles of those populations for market research ...

Words: 24912 - Pages: 100

Premium Essay

Substance Abuse Notes

...Substance Abuse – Pre-midterm Notes Week 2 (First lecture) – 9/10 * Substance use vs. abuse * Use * The legal enjoyment of your property within socially acceptable norms * i.e. you don’t drive under the influence – that’s not socially acceptable * Consumption of any psychoactive substance * More neutral * Includes * Social drinking * 1-2 drinks on any one social occasion * Abuse * Any use of illegal drugs * Ex. Any use of crack cocaine – never legal * Used both objectively and pejoratively with the intention to vilify consumption of illicit drugs * Use that is harmful and puts the user at risk * Have been used interchangeably by the media * Alcohol use in that context * Social drinking * 1-2 drinks in a day, in any one social occasion * Problem drinking * 3-4 drinks a day * Alcohol abuse * 6-24 drinks a day * What is a drug?: Defining the term * 3 categories: Illegality, Medical utility, Psychoactivity * Medical utility * Used to treat or heal the mind or body * Medicalization: prescription of currently illegal substances for medical purposes * Marijuana in 14 states * Heroin in some countries * Not all substances have medical utility * Categorization by government ...

Words: 3491 - Pages: 14

Premium Essay

Dabbawallahs

...Chandra Sekhar Ramasastry prepared this case under the supervision of Professor Larry Menor solely to provide material for class discussion. The authors do not intend to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of a managerial situation. The authors may have disguised certain names and other identifying information to protect confidentiality. Ivey Management Services prohibits any form of reproduction, storage or transmittal without its written permission. This material is not covered under authorization from CanCopy or any reproduction rights organization. To order copies or request permission to reproduce materials, contact Ivey Publishing, Ivey Management Services, c/o Richard Ivey School of Business, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada, N6A 3K7; phone (519) 661-3208; fax (519) 661-3882; e-mail cases@ivey.uwo.ca. Copyright © 2004, Ivey Management Services Version: (A) 2004-04-26 INTRODUCTION On November 7, 2003, Raghunath Medge, president of the Nutan Mumbai Tiffin Box Suppliers Charity Trust (the Trust), had just returned to his office in suburban Mumbai after meeting with Britain’s Prince Charles who was on an official visit to India’s commercial capital. The Trust was the managing organization of the dabbawallah meal delivery network (see Exhibit 1). The dabbawallahs’ service, often referred to as tiffinwallahs outside of Mumbai, was cited internationally by management scholars and industry executives as an exemplar...

Words: 7423 - Pages: 30