Blog 5 - Monday, September 27, 2021
This week is about TRUTH & RECONCILIATION.
Reconciliation means fixing the relationship between Canadians and First Nations People.
What do you know about Indian Residential Schools?
What were Indian Residential Schools?
Why were First Nations children sent to Indian Residential Schools?
Who ran the schools?
What were some of the effects of Indian Residential Schools on First Nations people?
Why do you think it might be important to learn about Indian Residential Schools?
Explain.
I know a lot about them because my elementary school music teacher taught us about it alot. We ended up making a play on residential schools. Residential schools were where first nation people were sent to during most of the year if not all of it. They were sent to the residential schools to learn the christian religion whether they wanted to or not. They were not allowed to speak their languages, they were forced to have their clothing changed and hair cut. The school was run by the church. The first nations people started losing their languages and culture as the children were taught other information.
ReplyDeleteI think it is important to learn about residential schools because it is a major part of our history that people often forget about. We did bad things and we can never make up for everything we did but we should do something about it.
I totally agree with you, we can never truly make up for the bad stuff that happened, but we can always try to reconcile as much as possible with as much effort as possible.
DeleteIndian residential schools were awful and abusive environments, their job was to educate first nation children in the values of the European settlers and to make them unlearn their first nation values. The schools were run by the Canadian government at the time, as well as the churches. Because of Indian Residential schools, many first nation children died due to malnutrition or severe injury due to beating and punishments given at the school. Important things to learn from Indian residential schools is that they should never be repeated ever again, and should not have existed in the first place. We could also learn that everyone has the right to practice what they believe in and no one should say otherwise, so if anything Indian residential schools showed everyone exactly what never to do.
ReplyDeleteIt really was a bad environment
DeleteI know very little about the residential schools. I know that they were essentially concentration camps, meant to assimilate the native population against their will, to the more european lifestyle. As far as I know, they were the idea of the government, but juristiction was given to the church. As such, the native population was forced into (I would assume) a Protestant system. From what I hear, life in the "schools" was very oppressive, and I would compare them to the soviet gulags of the same period. The gulags were ridden by corruption and the residential schools were probably the same. As a result, those who even managed to live through this hell-on-earth, were cast aside and left to fend for themselves on the streets, much like returning vietnam veterans. Laerning about this is a good way of looking back at the dark past. Every country has commited atrocities such as this, but by learning about them and why they are bad, we can prevent repetitions of these tragic events.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what you're saying. Not a lot of people know about Canada's dark past and it's really important to learn more about it.
DeleteResidential schools were terrible and abusive boarding schools that were put in place by the Canadian government in attempt to strip Indigenous people from their religion, culture, identity, traditions., language..etc. Over a hundred thousand kids were sent to these schools and they were forced to learn Christianity and the English language. If they disobeyed in any way or made a slight mistake, they would be severely beaten. They weren't allowed to be First Nations people anymore. They basically had everything they know taken away from them. Unfortunately, government officials literally had the right to just go to their territory and take these poor children away from their family. The majority of them never saw their parents again. Tragically, about tens of thousands of kids died in these "schools". In reality, they are more like concentration camps. I think that it is very important to learn about this dark part of Canada's history because what happened to the Indigenous people is terrible and it should never be repeated again. The last residential school closed in 1996. That is not long ago at all.
ReplyDeleteI agree that we need to learn about Canada's mistakes and to learn from them to make sure nothing like this will happen again.
DeleteI also agree, I think that a lot of people ignore the dark parts of Canadian history because they want to keep thinking that Canada is and was always an amazing country. It is important to learn about it so we don't ever make any mistakes like that again.
DeleteResidential schools were government sponsored religious schools that were established to assimilate Indigenous children into Christianity beliefs and European culture. In grade 6, my class had a unit just explaining and justifying human rights. I did a presentation on residential schools explaining how these schools disregarded the human rights of the first nation children. Christian churches and the Canadian government established residential schools in an attempt to educate and convert Indigenous children as well as acculturate them into Canadian society. The schools, on the other hand, disturbed lives and communities, resulting in long-term problems for Indigenous peoples. It is unbelievable that these schools ran over 120 years with the last school closing in 1996. Residential schooling had poor general and self-rated health, as well as large rates of chronic and infectious disorders. Mental trauma, sadness, addictive behaviours, and suicidal behaviour were among the effects on mental and emotional well-being. Some children were raped, beaten, and even died without record. Today, the government is still finding unmarked graves of children from the residential schools.
ReplyDeleteI believe that it is important for us to learn about the past regarding these schools so we do not make the same mistakes to happen again in the future. Both positive and negative things have happened in the past and we have learned from these experiences. Residential schools have all been shut down however the consequences are still happening to this day. We can never forgive our European ancestors for the mistakes they have made.
Manny you are the smartest, most handsome human being I have ever seen. Everything you have said here is incredible. If I was Mr. Katz, I would give you a 100% on your report card.
DeleteManny wrote that, no he did not
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteA residential school is a terrible, dehumanising, vicious place where the first nation people were sent to. Over there, they were forced to convert to the christian religion. It was forbidden for them to speak their language or do or say anything that had to do with their culture. The residential schools were run by the church and the Canadian government. The residential schools caused the loss of first nation people’s cultures because they could not pass it down to the youth. Not only that but the residential schools were such a bad environment that it even resulted in deaths, some people were even killed. This year there were many bodies of indigenous children found buried under residential schools and they haven’t even found them all. There were so many people who went through so much because of us and I don’t think we will ever really be able to make up for it but I do believe that we can try. There are still today inequalities that can be changed and we can always try our best to make up for the damage we have done. As much as people want to ignore our country’s past, it is very important to know and learn about it and to take responsibility for everything we have done.
ReplyDelete"A residential school is a terrible, dehumanising, vicious place where the first nation people were sent to." I love the choice of words you used to describe how messed up this place and its purpose was.
DeleteWhen I think of Indian residential schools, what comes to mine is the racist treatment that the Indigenous people suffered. Young children were forced to forget about their culture, their family, their religion... so basically their life and in return, they had no choice but to conform to society's standards, at the time, this was french-Canadian culture. They were stripped from everything. The goal was to convert these Indigenous children into proper Canadian citizen which meant that they were not aloud to speak their native language, they were given a new name or number, and they were forbidden to see their parents. At times, the children were beaten and were malnourished.
ReplyDeleteResidential schools were government-sponsored religious schools that were established to assimilate Indigenous children into Euro-Canadian culture.
The children were sent to residential schools to be converted into "proper" french-Canadian citizens.
This was organized and approved by the government. Priests and Nuns ran the schools.
Because the children were not fed properly, most of them died. Those who survived could of had health issues. A lot of children were mentally, emotionally bruised due to the torture they suffered. Many children did not know where to find their parents. Some parents might of passed away.
I think it is important to learn about residential schools because if we don't, we ourselves are committing a crime by deciding to ignore the crimes our country have committed.
I'm replying to my own blog by stating the following:
DeleteGood ideas Asherah! Aren't you a smart cookie by making all those spelling errors!
Beautifully said Asherah! You couldn't have explained the definition of Indigenous Schools and their impacts on Indigenous lives better.
DeleteFrom what I know, Indian Residential Schools were put in place to "fix" indigenous people and rip them of their culture, religion, traditions, etc. From looking at the internet, Indian Residential Schools were schools for indigenous people. The schools would teach in an unfair way: the kids wouldn't be taught about their native lifestyle, but instead would be taught about the lifestyle of the church and about Christianity. Many children would be punished for different reasons, some being because they spoke their native language, or because they disobeyed their religious administrators.
ReplyDeleteFirst Nations children were sent to Residential Schools because people of opposing opinions wanted to suppress the culture of Indigenous children and strip them of any knowledge of their own culture.
Religious Organizations (basically churches) were running Residential Schools. First Nations people were shown to have a poorer mental and physical health. They were also poorly educated.
I think it's important for us to know about Residential Schools and their impact on Indigenous lives because I believe it's important to acknowledge our past. We need to revert our mistakes and change for the better, but to do that, we need to understand the gravity of the situation.
i totally agree. Residential schools 100% abused the children who attended.
Deletedefinitely agree with why we should know about residential "schools". Very well said.
DeleteIndian residential schools were schools that first nations children were forced to attend by the catholic church and the canadian government. The church would not let the native children speak their native languages or celebrate their culture. They would be forced to learn english and learn how to be part of a western society. They were often harshly punished, mal nourished and abused. The children had to attend residential schools because then canadian government wanted to erase native americans from canada's history. The residential schools really hurt the native americans because alot of the children died and the children who survived couldn't communicate with their families anymore. It is important that we learn about residential schools because we need to help the native americans heal from what we have done to them.
ReplyDeleteI only learned about indigionous residential schools last year in history class on orange shirt day. I know that residential schools started appearing in the 1870s and the last residential school to close was around 25 years ago. The first nations people were sent to these schools where they were abused for their culture. They were sent there by the Europeans that colonised the land. The Europeans made the indigious kids go to the residential schools so that they could change their culture and make the kids more like the europeans. Most of the residential schools were run by the church to teach the kids about European culture but in very hurtful ways (they weren't teaching it they were forcing the culture onto the indiginous kids). It is important to learn about the history of residential schools and how Canada has taken responsibility for its actions.
ReplyDeleteSo i think we all know about the atrocitys of residentual school and what it has cause to the reputattaion of canada and what it has cause to the familys affacted by it. Native children would often be sent to these hellish places due to the fact that they refused to be in the society that the europeans had offered. Thats were it should have ended, the indiginouse people should have been left as they were doing what they were doing. They had there own beliefs and there own culture and the europeans did not like that. So they took the children and tried to change them into people who were "suiatablle for society". I do think that we should learn about this to not repeat it again although we should be focussing on the bigger picture and realising that there are many more atrocitys and learn about them all equaly to prevent any more of this mistreatment.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteResidential "schools" was where Indigenous children were sent to be stripped of their culture, heritage, religion and even their language. I know that there was a lot of abuse and there is honestly nothing good I can say about residential "schools" and yes I'm putting that in quotes because they weren't real schools. The Indigenous children were taught that speaking their language is wrong and that even exsisting as an Indigenous person was wrong. They only learned about Christianity, they were also forced to cut their hair - which is a huge part of Indigenous culture. They were starved and most were extremely malnourished and/or beaten.
Indigenous children were sent to residential "schools" to be either killed or taught everything except for their culture. Mostly highly praised religious leaders like, priests, nuns, etc... ran the "schools".
SOME of the effects on the Indigenous children were, death, extreme starvation, beaten/broken body parts, and extreme trauma. It is so incredibly important to learn about residential "schools" because we do not want to repeat history. Even in this day and age, Indigenous women are being kidnapped and murdered, and the Indigenous community is contantly being discriminated against. Some places in Ontario they throw rocks at Indigenous people. I only first learned of residential "schools" when I watched a tv show called "anne with an e". My mother never heard of them until she went to CEGEP. With this in mind, people should know all that the Indigenous communtity had to endure.
I agree with you, it would be wrong to call them schools. Schools are for learning, not for being converted into a different life, to be abused, etc.
DeleteI know that it was a place where First Nation children were stripped of their human rights. The children were forced to convert to European culture and the Christian religion. They were run by Christian churches and (sponsored by) the Canadian government. The goal of these “schools” was to take away the “First Nation” from the First Nation children. I mean some of the schools literally banned the children’s first languages to be spoken. Imagine if you were in a new area, completely different from where you’re from, and you’re not even allowed to speak your first language, the language you’re most comfortable with. First Nation people are native to their territory, yet they were forced to hide their own culture, spirituality, way of life, etc. This is only one example but some children were forced to change their names because it was “too Indigenous.” A lot of children were separated from their family and their friends which definitely has an impact on them. Not only that, the entire purpose of Indian Residential Schools has a negative impact on First Nations people as I previously explained. A lot of children were also abused and beaten by their teachers. It’s important to learn about First Nations Peoples history in general, but it’s important to learn about Indian Residential Schools because the truth will always come out. The more we hide the truth, the more we forget to realize the torture they went through.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree, this is not something that we can keep hiding. It is mandatory that we speak up about the issues of the past. -Anna Slavin
DeleteIn elementary school, one of my teachers focused a lot on the topic of residential schools. She’d read us stories about them so I know a good amount of information regarding the topic. Indian residential schools were the places Native American children were taken and stripped of their culture. They were sent to the schools so they could become Christians, so they could fit in with the majority of Canadians. The schools were run by the church and all the teachers were nuns who gave cruel punishments to kids who wouldn't behave. These churches caused kids to lose touch with their backgrounds and created lots of trauma for everyone involved. This topic is extremely important to discuss because it is a part of our history. We can’t pretend that Canada is a perfect place, we have to learn from the previous mistakes we made and help everyone who is still being affected by the actions of the past.
ReplyDelete-Anna Slavin