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Summary Of The Indian Problem By Elizabeth Graham

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The purpose of Elizabeth Graham’s text is to explore the uses, abuses and techniques of control used in two Ontario residential schools. The first being the Mohawk Institute located in Brantford. Originally opened as a Mechanics Institute by the New England Company in 1831 the building was later made into a residential school in 1834. The second, Mount Elgin in Muncey, founded by Peter Jones and the Methodist Church in 1850. Graham explains the residential school system as a preliminary attempt to mould and educate Canada’s Indigenous youth to fit into the greater Eurocentric society. Though the methods of assimilation and attitudes towards the ‘Indian problem’ have changed throughout the years, residential schools remained key to the solution. …show more content…

Many of the survivors and their families today suffer from negative intergenerational effects like alcoholism, loss of parental skills and much more. The most notable motif of Graham's article is how the survivors attitudes toward their school separate. There are the survivors who grew up in poverty and saw the schools as a place of refuge, providing them with food and education. The others saw the schools as a prison, forcibly removing them from their homes and culture and leaving them with lifelong negative …show more content…

Fitting in with class content, the text reinforces the fact that the colonial process was planned. The article places importance on telling the story of the survivors. Problematic at times, Graham attempts to invoke sympathy where sympathy is not granted. By emphasizing the fact some did not completely resent the schools Graham fails to see that the schools should not have been made in the first place. Albeit, the schools may not have been built on the intention of abuse but they were built on the planned destruction of a culture. By including the personal accounts Graham awakens an empathic feeling in the reader. The academic route of critically analyzing the uses of control delves deeper into the true nature of the schools. Though there are some disputible points Graham’s piece is an effective one. By concentrating on the stories of the survivors Graham reminds me where the process of decolonization starts, in the experiences of our

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