In the story, a character named Stazz talks about his experience being taken to a residential school, “One spring morning with the arrival of a bus that was soon filled with sobbing bodies of children'' (Wagamese 322). He along with many other children were taken in broad daylight and forced into residential schools. This was a common method of stealing Indigenous children from their families, where they were then taken miles away from home and forced to attend one of these schools. These schools were designed as a tool to alienate Indigenous children, leaving them traumatized due to the horrific situations they experienced. Children were beaten and locked away from others for things such as speaking their language and practicing their own religious traditions such as prayers.
The atrocities that the children of residential schools had to endure is not something that can be ignored, just as the lessons these children learned, like shame, humiliation, hate, compassion, and forgiveness cannot be overlooked (Borrows 486-7). Borrows raises an important point, which is that the children of the Residential schools, who survived, grew up to eventually become elders (487). Although there are some who feel Residential schools had positive impacts, the high suicide rates in Indigenous communities cannot be
He summarizes the history of the trauma suffered by the Indigenous people in a way that paints them sympathetically and makes his opinion on the topic clear. Stabler stays clear on this – that the Indigenous people have been severely wronged and the land early Canadian settlers lived was stolen from them. His arguments are distinct and decisive. The purposeful organization of the article makes it very easy to follow, and each topic flows into the next well. He begins with the history of the Indian Residential Schools, with the apology following, and then moves onto the reasons why the apology is inauthentic and what obstacles lay in the way of real
Novel/Paper Assignment Shirika Hariram 20952694 Professor Joelle Mcneil PLAN 233: People and Plans Section 1: Five Little Indians and The Sociological Imagination (518) Maisie's story blatantly shows the effects of residential schools on Indigenous children and communities. She suffers from the violence she endured physically and emotionally in the residential school and the trauma of being unwillingly torn away from her family and culture. We can see that she deals with the trauma she's endured in unhealthy ways, like self-harm and drugs, to end her life eventually.
Countless numbers of Native individuals are traumatized and their unhealthy mindset and physical traits are typically passed on. Many of these Indigenous people probably do not even realize the harm that their actions cause to their future family members which is one of the root issues that makes people struggle to end the cycle of abuse. Thus, it is important for one to recognize their negative behaviours toward others. Fred mentioned that residential schools were not their fault, “We’re not responsible for what happened to us. None of us are,” (120) which is absolutely true, however, he also said, “But our healing—that’s up to us,” (120) and this further proves that in order to end the cycle of traumas, one should take the initiative.
I attended the book launch for The Regina Industrial School (1891-1910): Historical Overview and Chronological Narrative by Douglas Stewart, Professor Emeritus and film screening of RIIS from Amnesia by Janine Windolph and Trudy Stewart on the evening of October 25, 2017. My first impression when I walked into the room was that there were many white faces in the crowd consisting and students and older adults as well as a few Indigenous people. The evening consisted of exploring the effects residential schools had on students, the function of residential schools, as well as the process of uncovering truth. The evening started with an introduction by James Daschuk to welcome and invite forward two members of All Nations Hope, Wesley and Audrey
For many indigenous nations, surviving in the aftermath of residential schools is troubling as many suffer from historical trauma (Anisman, Bombay & Matheson, 2014, p. 320). Other than experiencing mental and physical health problems due to various forms of neglect and abuse, the indigenous population in Canada will continue to suffer as “attending residential schools across several generations will have cumulative effects” (Anisman, Bombay & Matheson, 2014, p. 320). In fact, historical trauma will further undermine the well-being of contemporary members of indigenous nations throughout Canada as historically traumatic events will accumulate across generations (Anisman, Bombay & Matheson, 2014, p. 322). It is, therefore, hard for indigenous nations to forget that they have lost their identities, culture, rights, land, and language under the Canadian government and fellow Canadian who they are constituting a political community
We Were Children, the documentary on residential schools, is a re-enactment of two aboriginal children and their first hand experiences in the residential school system. The kinds of problems this documentary presented include mistreatment faced by the children who attended these schools, corruption and scandal inside the administration of the schools, and the false perception about these schools that resonated amongst Canadian society. These two children talk about the bullying they had to endure from the nuns which show that the children were not seen as equal to a child of non-Aboriginal decent. Furthermore, the types of abuse administration would put these kids through was immensely disturbing considering this was a state run institution.
Today, money has made many people believe that you need to have a lot of money to live a great, happy life. People in the world, especially the people who don’t have as much money as the ones that do, look up to people like popular idols, because they have money. People think they have a great living life with all the money they have earned during their lives. In the short story “Why You Reckon?” by Langston Hughes, the author uses diction, colloquialism and dialect to express the fact that just because people have the money to go out to eat somewhere expensive or buy the newest clothes, does not mean that a person is happy all the time and expresses how people in the town talks. Money is what makes the world goes round and everyone has come
It recalls Mary’s long, hard days at Mission School in Fort St. James, a residential school and the joys and struggles of bearing 12 children. Mary John joined the Homemakers Club, which tried to “make life better for [the reserve] families and … village” through knitting, quilting, and crocheting, but as injustices rose within the reserve, they felt that they “could no longer … leave Native politics to others.” The club took a political standpoint and fought for Aboriginal rights and justice involving the deaths of Aboriginal peoples on Mary John’s reserve and the overall living conditions. Mary’s story is a personal account of the discrimination, poor health conditions, living conditions and laws that Aboriginal peoples
The indigenous people are literally crashing into the buildings produced by the colonizing culture, “Look out! Bob shouts. There are Indians flying into the skyscrapers and falling on the sidewalk.” (King 63) and it adequately represents the lack of adaptability of the Native Canadians. Thomas King taps again into the effects of colonialism and notions the indigenous people as uneducated and an untamed species.
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.
To many people, Canada is known for its equality, freedom and its acceptance of people no matter their race or culture. However, Canada is not always as good and accepting as people think of it to be, especially when it comes to stereotyping Aboriginal peoples. Drew Hayden Taylor, as a half-white and half-Ojibway author, has personally experienced the stereotyping in society against Aboriginal peoples. By providing testimony, using a sarcastic and mocking tone in all three of his essays, and often referring to general stereotypes of Native people, Drew Hayden Taylor’s essays “Seeing Red Over Myths”, “What’s an Indian Worth These Days?” and “Pretty Like a White Boy: The Adventures of a Blue Eyed Ojibway” challenge conventional values and beliefs
The TRC’s “The History” author appeals to logos through the use quantitative findings. The use of logical evidence from the collection of testimonials made by former residential school students is an effective way to aid the persuasion of a reader. Throughout “The History”, the author describes the memories of known First Nations peoples Frederic Ernest Koe, Marlene Kayseas, Lily Bruce and many others. In addition, the author quotes Vitaline Elsie Jenner’s use of ‘kaya nakasin’ (TRC, 2015, p.38) in describing her experience with residential school. The author’s example that contains the use native language reaffirms his credibility and detailed knowledge of the
In this story, cultural assimilation is shown from the perspective of Harley Wind Soldier, Frank Pipe who are the students in the class of colonialist educator, Jeannette McVay. Although Jeannette tries to adapt to the culture of the “isolated territory” (31-34), neither the students nor Jeannette understand each other because of the cultural differences (40-43). This situation resulted in that the students demand to read stories belonging their culture and the teacher wants to improve herself about native culture (50,
