Residential School Research Paper

Truth and Reconciliation

For more than a century, Indian Residential Schools separated over 150,000 Aboriginal children from their families and communities. In the 1870 's, the federal government, partly in order to meet its obligation to educate Aboriginal children, began to play a role in the development and administration of these schools. Residential Schools were run by the church and funded by the government; the students were taught English while also being forced to learn Christian customs. First Nations children were taken away from their families if their parents refused to send them. Some of the schools were not as good as others and in certain situations abuse, malnourishment and sexual abuse took place. Some of the effects from residential schools lead to depression, alcoholism, suicide, and PTSD, which only contribute to

I always heard his stories and how they treated him well and going to the school actually saved his life. There was not much food on the reserves and when bad winters came many people froze to death, so when he went to the school he got food, a warm place to live, and education which he wouldn 't have gotten otherwise and another language which helped him out later in life. I think educating students of residential schools is a good thing but the problem is we only ever learn one side of the story. We learn over and over again how horrible they were and all the children that died, We never hear stories from survivors who had a good experience or about the schools that treated the students good. So how I want to help with reconciliation is to make sure people know these schools were not all bad for everyone. For those who did have a bad experience in the school I think taking part in First nations traditions and customs can show that we support them and are willing to help move forward in