1. Purpose  To assimilate Native children into a Christian lifestyle and European work habits  In 1920 it was made into law that all Native children were to attend Residential schools if there was no Day school near their home.

2. Quote from 1920  “Our object is to continue until there is not a single Indian in Canada that has not been absorbed into the body politic, and there is no Indian question, and no Indian department.”  Stated by Duncan Campbell Scott – Deputy Superintendent General of Indian Affairs

3. Why did Native Children Go?  It was the law.  Indian Agents on the reserves would withhold food and benefits from those who did not go.  Children were forcibly taken by priests, Indian agents or police officers and sent on buses or cattle cars to schools.  Some families did resist despite the consequences.  After Grade Six only about 3% of Native children remained in school.

4. Life at a Residential School  It was a boarding school  Often a long way from the child’s actual home.  Sometimes students could go home for the summers.  Often their meals would be rotten or lacking in quantity.  Usually run by a church. The teachers would be nuns or priests.

5. Rules  Natives were taught that their culture, their spiritual beliefs, their language, and their clothes were inferior and wrong.  The children were not allowed to speak their native language. If they were caught doing so they would be beaten.  The children were given new English names.  Their hair was cut.  They were to wear different clothes.

6. Lessons  The day would start with chapel.  In the morning there would be lessons on reading, writing, arithmetic and religion.  Discipline was harsh. You could be punished for poor work or learning too fast.

7. Lessons Continued  In the afternoon students would be given manual chores.  Thus there education was inferior.  It was believed that Native children were only fit for menial labour so a good education wasn’t necessary.

8. Abuse  Some schools had dedicated staff  But in other schools teachers used their position to abuse the students emotionally, physically and sometimes sexually.  The children were helpless.

9. Impact  When the children were taken from their homes the community was left in a state of shock and despair.  Some turned to alcohol.  Native children were deprived of normal family life and did not learn how to be parents.  Children were taken from their home, culture, land, community…Their identity was torn from them.  Many children who went to Residential schools never returned because they died from disease, beatings, suicide, or failed escapes.

10.  In 1920 it was compulsory for Native children to attend Residential or Day schools.  The last one closed in 1996  “Indian Residential Schools Unit.” Assembly of First Nations. Nov. 29, 2010. http://www.afn.ca/residentialschools/histo ry.html. http://www.afn.ca/residentialschools/histo ry.html

11. Residential Schools