Arlena Bateman

T00554734

Research Essay

History 3510

Tracy Penny Light

December 7, 2017

There is an overwhelming amount of evidence that reveals the negative impact Canadian Residential Schools had on Indigenous children, their families and culture from their first conception to the day they closed. The schools were presented as a way of integrating the Indigenous children into the European society. However, in the article, “Residential Schools: Impact on Aboriginal   Students’ Academic and Cognitive Development,” by Rosemary Barnes, Nina Josefowitz, and Ester Cole states, “Residential schools were developed to educate widely dispersed aboriginal children but also remove children from their parents’ care and to encourage them to abandon and denigrate aboriginal language, culture, and religious practices”[1] it exposed the true intent, that the schools were not for assimilation but “cultural genocide.”[2] This is further supported by documentations that showed the death toll of children at these schools was approximately 50, 000 which is stated in, “The Whites Were Terrorists” by Thomas Thorner and Thor Frohn-Nielson.[3] Once the government finally acknowledged the injustices and harm caused by the Indian Residential Schools after so many decades of silence, it opened the floodgate to an overwhelming amount of testimonies and documentations of the horrors so many of the survivors had faced or witnessed at these residential schools. It was difficult to find a positive outcome among them. It should also be noted, that many survivors do not wish to talk about it. The impact and long term effects that residential schools had on the survivors and their families was said best by John Burrow’s Aunt (who was a survivor) in his article, “Residential School Respect and Responsibility for Past Harms,” “The experience had killed the spirits of so many people.”[4] Hopelessness was a recurring theme in the books and articles of survivors due to the fact they were not only removed from family and culture but in many cases abused and even witnessed murder. The purpose of this paper is to show the negative impact Canadian Residential Schools had on the Indigenous children and their families, disclose the abuse that many encountered and witnessed during their school years and lastly, the long term effects this had on them, their families and culture once they were released.

The detrimental effects on family relationships as a result of these residential schools was prevalent in the research conducted by different authors on the survivors. This took hold as soon as the Indigenous children were removed from their homes whether voluntarily or forced. It is documented that some Indigenous families willingly volunteered to enroll their children as they thought they would be given better opportunities. No one had the foresight to know what was in store for their children at these schools. In the document, “Isabelle Knockwood Remembers the Shubenacadie Residential School,” Isabelle discussed how at the age of 5, her parents voluntarily put her into school due to being financially unstable.[5] In many other documented cases there was a collective feeling of abandonment felt by the children who were further isolated in a school that did not have their best interest in mind. This point is further reiterated in the book, Behind Closed Doors: Stories from the Kamloops Indian Residential School by Jack Agness, where one survivor stated, “I had some hurt feelings about my mom and dad thinking they gave me away, but the president of the treatment centre said, “No, they were threatened – that’s how come you had to go. And after that I never blamed my family. My poor parents, how they must have hurt too.”[6] This reveals how the survivors harboured resentment against their own kin, not knowing the emotional toll it took on the entire family.

Unfortunately, most children were forced from their homes and then further segregated from their siblings within the school. These tactics created an environment of isolation, fear and mistrust among the children. Once placed in the schools these children were not only taught to loathe their heritage but were in many cases encouraged to fight each other. Survivor Harriett Nahanee stated in, Thorner et al’s article, gives her account of how the teachers were, “always pitting us against each other, getting us to fight and molest one another.”[7] There are many accounts from the readings of how the teachers were intent on breaking the unity of the students to maintain their power. The fact that in some schools the teachers encouraged and provided weapons to the children to carry out discipline among fellow students is testimonial of the level of harm that happened to their spirit, “So we quickly learned never to love or trust anyone, just do what were told to do.”[8] This hindered their ability to have relationships among their own people and caused psychological damage as examined in the article “Suicide Ideations and Attempts among Indigenous People” by Robyn J. McQuaid, Amy Bombay, Opal Arilla McInnis, Courtney Humeny, Kimberly Matheson, and Hymie Anisman, where studies show that, “Historical trauma theory is that consequences of numerous collectively experienced events can potentially accumulate over generations to influence the risk for certain outcomes.”[9] Since the Indian Residential School survivors were taught to not trust the authorities or each other, caused further disconnect among them and resurfaced later as well. Since survival in some cases meant becoming the aggressor and even the abuser as examined in article “Indigenous Identity Transformations: The Pivotal Role of Student to Student Abuse in Indian Residential Schools” by Kimberly Matheson, Amy Bombay, S. Alexander Haslam, and Hymie Anisman, where it was revealed by one of the workers at a residential school that, ““Supervisors groomed the children to be abusers… these bullies only did what they were taught.””[10] This shows the breakdown in their relationships with fellow students as a result of emulating what they saw. These children who were removed from their families, were not only subjected to abuse from the staff but also from their peers. The survival method in the schools was to be in the top hierarchical position as founded in Matheson et al, “That these students went beyond actions needed to survive was not surprising, as they were purposefully made to feel powerless by staff, which often resulted in intense feelings of anger and frustration.”[11] Removed and with little access to their families for support and dealing with abuse at such a vulnerable age shows that basic survival instincts took hold. One survivor stated this very clearly; “you had to fight for your life there.”[12] These children who were removed from their families, were not only subjected to abuse from the staff but also from their peers. Being taught to not trust each other played a big part in the disintegration of their self-identity and unfortunately this continued past the school years once they were released into their communities.

The distrust and other deviant social practices learned at the school’s affected their already estranged relationships with their families on the occasions they were allowed to go home. It was clear in many of the testimonies that as children they felt resentful because of their lack of understanding for being sent to these schools where they suffered abuse. This is reiterated in the chapter, “Killing the Indian in the Child” by Theodore Fontaine, “The blame had been shifted from the priest and the Church to my family members”[13] this shows the severity of how ingrained residential schools impacted the children’s social abilities. It did not help that many of these students were not allowed to go home until summer break which lead them to be at these schools for 10 months at a time – further severing their connection to their families.[14] The emotional and physical distance took a toll on both sides, as shown in the book by Agness, “I could never sit down with my mother or my father and just talk. We were just too far removed. We never really shared our feelings and concerns because we never bonded when I was young”[15] In this book there are many testimonials of how they were taught to dislike their heritage. One example is that many recount the immediate cutting of their hair and removal of belongings, “Imagine that we were sort of ashamed of being Indians. We were ashamed, I guess because they showed us how to be”[16] This causes distance between families, as the children were being retrained in these schools in order to steer away from their own culture. The social dysfunction amongst each other was paramount, as shown by the survivor Cedric Duncan, “It seemed different as if I didn’t know my brothers and sisters. It seemed like they didn’t want to be around me and it seemed like I didn’t want to be around them because they were different after being down here for a long time”[17] This loss of connection within the family distanced these children further from their heritage and culture. This is further reiterated by another survivor, who stated, “the residential school took my culture language and my freedom. I know my language and culture and I am still scared to use it to this day. It hurts deep inside”[18] This proves how the denigration of their culture really effected relationships within their own family.

The emotional, sexual, and physical abuse that many of the Indigenous children experienced while attending residential schools was extensive. The lack of family support and kinship, even among siblings in same schools caused great detachment. The documentations provide evidence of the atrocities that occurred at the schools such as, murder, torture, and experimentations that were performed is beyond what anyone could imagine. Some of these schools, “Operated under the legal and structural conditions which encouraged, aided and abetted murder and which were designed to concede these crimes”[19] This is proof that assimilation was not the objective but “cultural genocide”[20] as these schools were run by governments and churches who implemented these practices. These schools forbade the students to speak their native language which caused further issues with communication among their family. One example, in Sqwéqwel’ Múta7 Sptakwlh: St’ át’ Imcets Narratives by Carl Alexander, when the young student attended a residential school and lost the ability to communicate in his native language. After for several years he even forgot how to pronounce his own name.[21] This book focuses on the hidden contents that are so brutal and disheartening that the government has covered it up in order to justify to the population that these residential schools are not as bad as one may say. In the book by Thorner et al, reveals that as early as 1907 the Canadian Press acknowledged that the death rate in Indian Residential Schools exceeded 50%.[22] In this book, a first-hand account was documented by one of the survivors who stated that he had been exposed to tuberculosis purposefully, “They kept me isolated in a tiny room there for more than three years,” following with the description about two of his cousins who were given shots by nurses and killed.[23] There are hundreds of accounts of various abuses as another survivor recounts, “Some of the girls who got pregnant from the priests were actually killed because they threatened to talk.”[24] The powerlessness faced by the children is surmountable. To be tortured, witness murder among your peers and see death as a consequence is no wonder that silence prevailed amongst the Indigenous population as it was detrimental to speak out, in the book by Agness, a survivor Robert Simon states, “All the abuses are there, sexual abuse, physical abuse. Those things pass on, not only generational but intergenerational and the residential school was the major contribution”[25] Survival kept them quiet and yet this silence about the atrocities done to them perpetuated their spiral into depression and hopelessness for generations to come.

There were many challenges and difficulties the residential school survivors encountered once being integrated back into society. The impact of the trauma endured at Indian Residential Schools and the estrangement from their families negatively affected their lives for years and generations to come. As stated by a survivor in the chapter by Thorner et al, who said, “How does a man who was raped every day when he was seven make anything out of his life? The residential schools were set up to destroy our lives, and they succeeded.”[26] The difficulties among the families were examined in Fontaine’s book, where children were made to believe that their parents no longer wanted them, as stated, “They pounded our little minds that our families couldn’t look after us as well as the school could.”[27] This caused resentment that prevailed once returning to their community, “The idea constantly instilled in us that we were now better than our reserve families and communities. The job of getting rid of the Indian in us was being well done by the Church, Government and teachers”[28] these vulnerable children who were recently torn from their families and taught the wrongfulness of their culture lead to the allowance of perpetuating learned behavior onto future generations. Burrow’s article examines the challenges the survivors faced with reintegration to their communities, and included raw experiences of aunts and other Indigenous people closed to him. As stated, “Most were not adequately prepared for any meaningful career opportunities and many had difficulty successfully integrating within their communities when they returned home”[29] this lack of communication within the Indigenous community perpetuated the disconnect. This is reiterated in by one survivor who stated, “No one wanted to talk about it. It seemed like something is controlling us. If we ever talked against it, that they’d get us, whatever that is.”[30] Another survivor stated, “There are times I’d block these things out of my mind because I know there’s going to be a lot of pain. I protected myself by blocking it out.”[31] This unhealthy coping mechanism of internalizing their pain was a pattern for many survivors. Instead of discussing the problems that occurred, many suppressed their shame and humiliation and turned to alcohol as a means to cope, “My life after that was just lost, really out, gone, completely. I went to alcohol off and on to cover up the pain”[32] many survivors went down this road which also lead to many deaths of the Indigenous people. The article by McQuaid sheds light on the link between Indian Residential Schools and suicide. The psychological distress that was endured during and after was never repaired due to the lack of discussion. The isolation and despair from having survived a terrible trauma resonated throughout their adult life and into the next generations as studies have proved in McQuaid et al’s article, “that having a familial history of Indian Residential Schools attendance was associated with an increased risk for lifetime suicidal ideations”[33] They were taught to be ashamed of their culture, taught not to trust even their own family members and had nowhere to turn but inward. The ones who survived by being the bully or aggressor and was given positions of power continued to wield this over other members, perpetuating terrible behaviour that they had been exposed and taught as children. This dissociation and disconnect amongst Indigenous people made it even more difficult to come to terms to what had happened to them. Worse yet, some looked down on their families and did not values their culture because that is what they were taught, “despised the characteristics that defined them first and foremost as ‘Indian.’”[34] Native communities have higher rates of people who suffer with suicide and substance abuse as examined in the chapter by Thorner et al and the native leaders do place the blame solely on residential schools. McQuaid et al article illustrates how these profound effects caused shame even to the aggressors about their identity and dealing with the abuse they endured and caused.

The injustices inflicted on the Indigenous people at residential schools was inexcusable. Although in recent years the Government has finally admitted fault to the harms that occurred at these schools, it doesn’t take away the pain and suffering many of the Indigenous people experienced for generations. It doesn’t repair the shattered families and loss of culture that resulted from these residential schools. As E.L. the survivor stated, “They took away my belongings, they took away everything from me. Everything that’s important to me, mother, father, culture.”[35] Not only was the culture and language affected by the schools, it changed their sense of identity and many became lost and did not know how to cope with the trauma. A survivor who recounts his stay likened it to being put in jail, “Any place that hold you against your will, punishes you and sets up rules to totally retrain your thinking.”[36] The cumulative effect of being removed from families at vulnerable ages, abused and witness of terrible behaviour, turned against their own culture and were silenced for so long which caused poor outcomes. It placed so many at a disadvantage to harbour the anger, shame and humiliation that as Burrows stated, “most endured the pain of these violations their entire lives.”[37] The long term effects of the residential schools have haunted Indigenous people for generations. The hope that with the Reconciliation Act being implemented, that perhaps some healing will begin.

 

Bibliography:

Agness, Jack. Behind Closed Doors: Stories from the Kamloops Indian Residential School, Montreal: Secwepemc Cultural Education Society on Behalf of the Story-Tellers, 2000.

Alexander, Carl. Sqwéqwel’ Múta7 Sptakwlh: St’ át’ Imcets Narratives, Vancouver: UBCOPL Vol. 3, 2016, 183-184.

Barnes, Rosemary, Nina Josefowitz, and Ester Cole. “Residential Schools: Impact on Aboriginal Students’ Academic and Cognitive Development.” Canadian Journal of School   Psychology 21, no. 1/2 (2006): 18-32.            http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0829573506298751.

Borrows, John. “Residential Schools, Respect, and Responsibilities for Past Harms.” University of Toronto Law Journal 64, no. 4 (2014): 486-504.     http://eds.b.ebscohost.com/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=1&sid=717d3d63 6362428e9be5-b235e6e5f17e%40sessionmgr120.

Fontaine, Theodore. “Killing the Indian in the Child.” In Broken Circle: The Dark Legacy of Indian  Residential Schools, Toronto: Heritage House of Publishing Company Ltd, 2010,      128-137.

Keshen, Jeffrey, and Suzanne Morton. “Isabelle Knockwood Remembers the Shubenacadie Residential School.” In Material Memory: Documents in Post-Confederation History, Ontario: Addison Wesley Longman Ltd, 1998, 47-51.

Matheson, Kimberly, Amy Bombay, S. Alexander Haslam, and Hymie Anisman. “Indigenous Identity Transformations: The Pivotal Role of Student-to-Student Abuse in   Indian  Residential Schools” Transcultural Psychiatry 53, no. 5 (2016): 551-573.            http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1363461516664471.

McQuaid, Robyn J., Amy Bombay, Opal Arilla McInnis, Courtney Humeny, Kimberly      Matheson, and Hymie Anisman. “Suicide Ideation and Attempts among First Nations People Living On-Reserve in Canada: The Intergenerational and Cumulative Effects of        Indian Residential Schools.” The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry 62, no. 6 (2017): 422- 430.

http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0706743717702075.

Thorner, Thomas, and Thor Frohn-Nielsen (Eds.) “The Whites Were Terrorists”. In A Country Nourished on Self- Doubt, Toronto: University of Toronto, 2010, 376-410.

 

Endnotes:

[1] Rosemary Barnes, Nina Josefowitz, and Ester Cole, “Residential Schools: Impact on Aboriginal Students’ Academic and Cognitive Development” Canadian Journal of School Psychology 21, no. 1/2 (2006): 20.

http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0829573506298751.

[2] Thomas Thorner, and Thor Frohn-Nielson (Eds.), “The Whites Were Terrorists.” In a Country Nourished on Self-Doubt, (Toronto: University of Toronto, 2010), 377.

[3] Ibid, 383.

[4] John Burrows, “Residential Schools, Respect, and Responsibilities for Past Harms,” University of Toronto Law Journal, (Toronto: University of Toronto, 2014), 486. http://eds.b.ebscohost.com/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=1&sid=717d3d66362428e9be5-b235e6e5f17e%40sessionmgr120.

[5] Jeffrey Keshen and Suzanne Morton. “Isabelle Knockwood Remembers the Shubenacadie Residential School.” In Material Memory: Documents in Post-Confederation History, (Ontario: Addison Wesley Longman Ltd, 1998), 47.

[6] Jack Agness, Behind Closed Doors: Stories from the Kamloops Indian Residential School, (Montreal: Secwepemc Cultural Education Society on Behalf of the Story-Tellers, 2000), 28

[7] Thomas Thorner, and Thor Frohn-Nielson (Eds.), “The Whites Were Terrorists.” In a Country Nourished on Self-Doubt, (Toronto: University of Toronto, 2010), 390.

[8] Ibid, 391.

[9] Robyn J. McQuaid Amy Bombay, Opal Arilla McInnis, Courtney Humeny, Kimberly Matheson, and Hymie Anisman, “Suicide Ideation and Attempts among First Nations Peoples Living On-Reserve in Canada: The Intergenerational and Cumulative Effects of Indian Residential Schools.” The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry 62, no. 6 (2017), 424. http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0706743717702075.

[10] Kimberly Matheson, Amy Bombay, S. Alexander Haslam, and Hymie Anisman. “Indigenous Identity Transformations: The Pivotal Role of Student-to-Student Abuse in Indian Residential Schools” Transcultural Psychiatry 53, no. 5 (2016), 559. http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1363461516664471.

[11] Ibid, 560.

[12] Jack Agness, Behind Closed Doors: Stories from the Kamloops Indian Residential School, (Montreal: Secwepemc Cultural Education Society on Behalf of the Story-Tellers, 2000), 21.

[13] Theodore Fontaine, “Killing the Indian in the Child.” In Broken Circle: The Dark Legacy of Indian Residential Schools, (Toronto: Heritage House of Publishing Company Ltd, 2010), 133.

[14] Jack Agness, Behind Closed Doors: Stories from the Kamloops Indian Residential School, (Montreal: Secwepemc Cultural Education Society on Behalf of the Story-Tellers, 2000), 33.

[15] Ibid, 27.

[16] Ibid, 29.

[17] Ibid, 70.

[18] Ibid, 66.

[19] Thomas Thorner, and Thor Frohn-Nielson (Eds.), “The Whites Were Terrorists.” In a Country Nourished on Self-Doubt, (Toronto: University of Toronto, 2010), 385.

[20] Ibid, 377.

[21] Alexander, Carl. Sqwéqwel’ Múta7 Sptakwlh: St’ át’ Imcets Narratives, (Vancouver: UBCOPL Vol. 3, 2016), 183.

[22] Thomas Thorner, and Thor Frohn-Nielson (Eds.), “The Whites Were Terrorists.” In a Country Nourished on Self-Doubt, (Toronto: University of Toronto, 2010), 381.

[23] Ibid, 381.

[24] Jack Agness, Behind Closed Doors: Stories from the Kamloops Indian Residential School, (Montreal: Secwepemc Cultural Education Society on Behalf of the Story-Tellers, 2000), 21.

[25] Ibid, 108.

[26] Thomas Thorner, and Thor Frohn-Nielson (Eds.), “The Whites Were Terrorists.” In a Country Nourished on Self-Doubt, (Toronto: University of Toronto, 2010), 394.

[27] Theodore Fontaine, “Killing the Indian in the Child.” In Broken Circle: The Dark Legacy of Indian         Residential Schools, (Toronto: Heritage House of Publishing Company Ltd, 2010), 133

[28] Ibid, 136.

[29] John Burrows, “Residential Schools, Respect, and Responsibilities for Past Harms,” University of Toronto Law Journal, (Toronto: University of Toronto, 2014), 487. http://eds.b.ebscohost.com/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=1&sid=717d3d66362428e9be5-b235e6e5f17e%40sessionmgr120.

[30] Jack Agness, Behind Closed Doors: Stories from the Kamloops Indian Residential School, (Montreal: Secwepemc Cultural Education Society on Behalf of the Story-Tellers, 2000), 32.

[31] Ibid, 83.

[32] Ibid, 81.

[33] Robyn J. McQuaid, Amy Bombay, Opal Arilla McInnis, Courtney Humeny, Kimberly Matheson, and Hymie Anisman, “Suicide Ideation and Attempts among First Nations Peoples Living On-Reserve in Canada: The Intergenerational and Cumulative Effects of Indian Residential Schools.” The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry 62, no. 6 (2017), 427. http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0706743717702075.

[34] Kimberly Matheson, Amy Bombay, S. Alexander Haslam, and Hymie Anisman. “Indigenous Identity Transformations: The Pivotal Role of Student-to-Student Abuse in Indian Residential Schools” Transcultural Psychiatry 53, no. 5 (2016), 554. http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1363461516664471.

[35] Jack Agness, Behind Closed Doors: Stories from the Kamloops Indian Residential School, (Montreal: Secwepemc Cultural Education Society on Behalf of the Story-Tellers, 2000), 29.

[36] Ibid, 107.

[37] John Burrows, “Residential Schools, Respect, and Responsibilities for Past Harms,” University of Toronto Law Journal, (Toronto: University of Toronto, 2014), 487. http://eds.b.ebscohost.com/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=1&sid=717d3d66362428e9be5-b235e6e5f17e%40sessionmgr120.