2/4/2016

 The Aboriginal people valued education and there were provisions for state-funded education in some of the treaties.  They envisioned that the schools would be run in partnership between their people and the government.  Early on an Ojibwa man who was also a missionary was a driving force in setting up the school programs. He fully believed that eventually the Aboriginal people would completely run their own schools. 2/4/2016

The federal government had a completely different viewpoint on schooling for Aboriginals. It was to be used as a tool for assimilation. The churches were used because they would be able to also convert the children to Christianity. The churches were given land grants in return for providing free teaching staff. 2/4/2016

The Aboriginals believed that since their world was changing that education was needed to help their communities survive. The federal government hoped that the children would adopt the Christian viewpoint and reject their culture. 2/4/2016

 The Aboriginal children were not assimilating fast enough and so it was decided that they needed to be removed from their family environment and be in residential schools.  Many Aboriginal groups didn’t like this and stopped sending their children to school.  The government gave truant officers the authority to forcibly remove children and charge parents with summary convictions. 2/4/2016

Churches began arguing over how many students they would get as it was connected to land grants for them. The original schools were trade schools. This resulted in Aboriginal students becoming skilled craftsmen that were competing for jobs with the community. This was a threat and therefore it was stopped. The schools then switched to just basic education up to a grade 6 level but kept the children until they were 16. 2/4/2016

The schools were overcrowded, unsafe, with little nutrition. This resulted in physical problems and a high death rate. Some schools had a death rate as high as 50%. Due to the conditions the children were also vulnerable

Statistics indicated that in some areas 75% of the students that had attended and had been sent home were dead. Medical reports were publicly released but there was no change in the program. Children suffered physical, sexual, emotional, and cultural abuse. 2/4/2016

Students were forced to comply with the rules. Many children suffered concussions from being repeated slapped across the head. Others would have feces rubbed into their faces for disobeying. Any teacher that was sympathetic towards the children was fired. Lice and diseases were always present and children were not allowed to keep their own clothing or traditional elements of their appearance. 2/4/2016

 After years of punishing children for practicing their language and culture the effects on the Aboriginal communities was devastating.  Children with little education, no understanding of socializing, with no self identity were sent back to communities at the age of 16.  They were unable to assimilate back into their own culture and the mental abuse led to substance abuse and poor family interactions.  There are so many reported cases of abuse that the RCMP had to set up a task force to deal with the thousands of reports.  Many Aboriginals are wanting their cases tried in civil courts so that the information is public.  There has been monetary settlements but no amount of money can replace what was destroyed. 2/4/2016

 In the 1960s the effects on the Aboriginal community was reaching an epidemic and well-meaning social workers believed that the next generation of children would be at risk.  The parents had lost the concept of nurturing and managing children.  As a result, children were taken from the parents and adopted out to families in Canada and the United States. 2/4/2016

 Many children couldn’t adjust and ran away. With no self identity, no life skills, no education, many of these children turned either to crime or to substance abuse in order to survive.  As a result there is a higher population of Aboriginal people in the jail and correctional systems. 2/4/2016

QUESTIONS ????? ??? ? 2/4/2016