Residential Schools Research Paper

Among Indians the most prominent group of health problems in terms of mortality and morbidity is accidents and violence. In the late 1840’s the first of the Canadian Residential Schools were opened. The schools were opened with the primary intention to civilize Indigenous children as well as convert them to Christianity. The Canadian government thought of the residential schools as a way to assimilate Aboriginals into Canadian society. Aboriginal children ages 4-16 were taken from their communities, homes, and families and relocated to these schools. Although some children traveled to these schools with relatives such as siblings and cousins they were kept separate from them once they arrived. The schools worked on a half day system were …show more content…
The experience in residential schools then affected multiple social aspects of aboriginal individuals, families, and communities. The damage caused from time spent in these schools negatively changed educational, economical, and social behaviors for future generations of indigenous individuals. Aboriginal families suffered in terms of the inability to form trusting relationships with family members, children being raised in abusive homes, and extremely high rates of spousal abuse. The trauma caused by the schools increased crime rates, decreased education and normalized violence in Canadian aboriginal …show more content…
As stated by the Department of justice there is a “High correlation between childhood domestic victimization and criminal activity later in life”. Although young boys are also victims of family violence, women and young girls often times suffer majority of the abuse. 25% to 50% of Aboriginal women were victims of sexual abuse as children compared to a 20% to 25% average rate within the non-Aboriginal population. When children grow up in a household were physical, sexual, and emotional abuse are a constant aspect of family life it then becomes normalized to them making them believe that abuse is ordinary which is how the cycle of abuse in families continues on. Residential school survivor Ray Mason is a key example of this, he says “I have a son that is constantly in and out of jail. Why? Because I was a crappy father.” As well as children suffering their own personal abuse it is also the abuse of their mother that makes them more likely to repeat the same actions with their own spouse in the future. As a result of these three negative social behaviors occurring in indigenous families, the violence in families