Indigenous

I have learned about residential school’s history in a few courses, and I have understood some real history about residential schools. I feel very sad. At the same time, I feel sympathy for what happened to Indigenous children. I think any language and culture that disappears is a loss to all mankind.

Residential schools were government sponsored Christian schools for Indigenous children. The purpose of building residential schools was that the Government of Canada and churches thought it was important for Indigenous people to forget their culture, religion, language, and family lifestyle, and the Government of Canada and Churches thought it was better for Indigenous children to learn to be Christian and speak English or French only and assimilate into white European culture.

The first residential school opened in 1832 in Canada, English or French white Christian, Church people taught the Indigenous children. There were 139 residential schools in Canada, and there were 150 000 children who were 4 to 17 years old in Canada who went to residential schools. The children ate terribly, no healthy food, and didn’t sleep in their own rooms in the school. Also, they could not visit their parents on school holidays. They have suffered a lot of abuse and discrimination, and many children died at school. Many of the children had big psychological problems after they grew up.

The residential schools had a very bad influence on the Indigenous people until now. In my opinion, I think the Government of Canada should apologize and change the wrong policy. Also, we should help more and respect Indigenous people and think seriously about how to improve the methods.

As newcomers living in Canada, I think that we should be learning more and understanding Canada. Canada is a multicultural country now, and people could enjoy and study different cultures in Canada. Therefore, we should respect the cultures of each other and better maintain our good cultures and languages.