Within the last few weeks, a public outcry emerged when several residential schools in Canada were found to be housing the horrendous number of nearly 3,500 dead Indigenous children buried in those locations. This shocking information led to a demand to uncover the rest of the potential residential school burial sites across Canada and a call for justice for all the unmarked graves of indigenous children on or near their grounds.
Residential schools were an extensive school system set up by the Canadian/American governments & then administered by Catholic churches from the 1880s to the late 1990s. The indigenous children who attended these schools were subject to many forms of abuse with the goal of assimilation into Western and Christian lifestyles. This caused a major disconnect and loss of Indigenous culture for the survivors and descendants as well as intergenerational oppression: socially, systematically, & environmentally.
These residential schools had the ability to be established because of the mission system led by churches & European settlers during the 1600s, who felt the need to educate Indigenous people to be more “civil” since they were seen as ignorant & savage. By 1819, the Civilization Fund Act was passed in the U.S, this act was used to establish Native American boarding schools. By the 1880s, the Canadian government started to establish residential schools across the country, but it wasn’t until 1920 when the Indian Act passed and it became mandatory for Indigenous children to attend these schools.
Even though the final school was closed in 1996, these facilities still heavily affect Indigenous & Native American communities, survivors, & families. The intergenerational effects of trauma & loss of culture are direct effects of these schools, such as cultural assimilation, systemic poverty, lack of housing, over-incarceration, violence towards Indigenous women, girls, & 2 Spirit people.
As there is only so much we can do, keeping up with the news of the residential schools & boarding schools, making a space of discussion or participating/listening in to discussions about subjects that heavily affect Indigenous people, and being respectful towards Indigenous & Native Americans who are grieving are ways to help. There are programs & organizations that you keep an eye on for updates about these institutions as they review the facilities & documents left behind to find possible student burial sites & records of the children. Programs/Organizations like the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative (U.S) and TRC (Truth & Reconciliation: Commission of Canada) both have updates and document the truth of survivors, communities, families, & people affected by residential schools/boarding schools.
Sources:
Comments