The Canadian Residential School System and Cultural Genocide

Inhaltsangabe oder Einleitung

Beginning in the 1870’s, over one hundred fifty thousand First Nations, Metis and Inuit children were forcibly taken from their families and placed in Indian Residential schools. Funded by the Canadian government and Christian led, the system sought to “kill the Indian in the child,” the last institution not closing until 1996.

The forcible assimilation of aboriginal children through the residential school system greatly contributed to the cultural genocide of Canadian aboriginals by breaking the links to their culture and identity, consequently threatening their existence as a group. The schools also forcibly assimilated the children into the “white-Canadian culture.” Further to this, the residential school employees inflicted physical harm on the students which left physical and emotional scars that prevented them from functioning in their communities in the long run. This essay employs the term ‘cultural genocide’ based on the definition provided by The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada which states that, “

Cultural genocide is the destruction of those structures and practices that allow the group to continue as a group. States that engage in cultural genocide set out to destroy the political and social institutions of the targeted group. Land is seized, and populations are forcibly transferred and their movement is restricted. Languages are banned. Spiritual leaders are persecuted, spiritual practices are forbidden, and objects of spiritual value are confiscated and destroyed. And, most significantly to the issue at hand, families are disrupted to prevent the transmission of cultural values and identity from one generation to the next.”