Long Term Impacts of Residential Schools

Residential Schools

The history of residential schools, which were governed by the churches, began in 1831 and existed for over 150 years. The last one closed in 1996 (National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, 2024, para. 2). By the 1920s, it became law for Indigenous children to attend residential schools (The Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of Women, 2016). The conditions for the children at these schools was often poor, with inadequate access to food and medicine, harsh punishments for speaking their language or connecting with friends and family members, and a complete lack of affection and the fundamental human need for attachment.

According to the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, “The schools were often underfunded and overcrowded. The quality of education was substandard. Children were harshly punished for speaking their own languages. Staff were not held accountable for how they treated the children.” These actions were “a systematic, government-sponsored attempt to destroy Aboriginal cultures and languages and to assimilate Aboriginal peoples so that they no longer existed as distinct peoples.” Although it has been over 20 years since the last residential school shut down, survivors continue to grapple with trauma, reduced self-worth, shame, and a loss of culture, language, and traditions.

Long Term Impacts

The detrimental impact of the Indian Act and residential schools continues to be seen across all social indicators. The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (2024) reported on the overrepresentation of Indigenous children within the child welfare system, which is a legacy of the residential school system and a perpetuation of a history of colonial policies and practices that have separated Indigenous children from their families and communities (para. 1).

Hahmann et al. (2024) observed that Indigenous children accounted for 53.8 per cent of all children in foster care in 2021. This can be traced back to the Sixties Scoop, which was “the large-scale apprehension of Indigenous children in the 1960s from their homes, communities and families of birth — often without their parents’ or band’s consent — and their subsequent adoption into predominantly non-Indigenous families across the United States and Canada” (Sinclair and Dainard, 2024). Consequently, these children became disconnected from their Indigenous culture, identity, and sense of belonging. This is supported by Sinclair and Dainard (2024), who explained that Indigenous children frequently experience a disconnection from their cultural identity and endure physical and emotional separation from their biological families, which continues to impact adult adoptees and Indigenous communities today.

As Brant (2020) pointed out, the effects of residential schools remain evident throughout Indigenous communities today, as people struggle with trauma, lateral violence, poverty, addiction, and high rates of incarceration, suicide, and murder. Other social indicators that demonstrate the unequal treatment of Indigenous people can be shown in levels of incarceration tracing back to the criminalization of Indigenous Peoples with the pass system, higher levels of poverty, higher risk of violence, lower levels of education, and higher risks of health concerns.

Resource Extraction and Financial Disempowerment

Colonialism also affected Indigenous communities in northern Canada, which led to increased poverty levels, lower levels of education, joblessness, and substandard housing. According to Canadian Child Welfare Research Portal (n.d.), in 2007, the First Nations Family and Child Caring Association, together with the Congress of First Nations, initiated a lawsuit against the Canadian government, claiming that the child welfare services for children on reserves were unjust and disrespectful. In response, the government stated that its services were inferior to those offered by the provinces and did not comply with the standards outlined in the Canadian Human Rights Act.

The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal affirmed this prejudicial practice, and Canadian laws permitted the confiscation and control of Indigenous territories for resource extraction. The continuation of colonial practices has been linked to neoliberal governance advances in access to land and resources. This can be seen across the globe; as many colonized nations gained independence, economic policies were enacted to deplete nations of their natural resources for the benefit of Western nations.

The long-term impacts of colonialism are far reaching and continue to be felt across the globe, as territories were reconfigured to the benefit of the colonizing nations. The global economic inequality seen today is rooted in patterns of colonization, and continues to be perpetuated with globalization, often linked to neocolonialism.

Well-being: Physical, Emotional, and Social

According to the Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of Women (2016), survivors of residential schools in Canada continue to struggle with enduring trauma, feelings of powerlessness, and low self-esteem. The normalization of violence, abuse, and alcohol has caused survivors to perceive such behaviour as acceptable. Policies such as social welfare benefits and economic exclusion have contributed to increased poverty rates, lower educational attainment, unemployment, inadequate housing, homelessness, and food insecurity. Federal funding for housing, educational facilities, and child welfare services is lower than provincial funding. In addition, Smallwood et al. (2020) explained that colonization has connections to illness, poverty, and disadvantage for Indigenous Peoples, who were removed from their land, culture, and resources. Recognizing the historical and present-day impacts of colonization is essential for confronting past trauma and reducing health gaps among Indigenous people, especially Indigenous youth.

References

Brant, J. (2020, July 8). Missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls in Canada. In The Canadian Encyclopedia. https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/missing-and-murdered-indigenous-women-and-girls-in-canada

Canadian Child Welfare Research Portal. (n.d.). Canadian human rights tribunal on First Nations child welfare. https://cwrp.ca/canadian-human-rights-tribunal-first-nations-child-welfare

Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of Women. (2016). Colonialism and its impacts. https://www.criaw-icref.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Local-Women-Matter-3-Colonialism-and-its-impacts.pdf

Hahmann, S., Lee, H., & Godin, S. (2024, April 18). Indigenous foster children living in private households: Rates and sociodemographic characteristics of foster children and their households. Statistics Canada. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/41-20-0002/412000022024001-eng.htm

National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation. (2024). Residential school history. https://nctr.ca/education/teaching-resources/residential-school-history/

Sinclair, N. J., & Dainard, S. (2024, January 10). Sixties scoop. In The Canadian Encyclopedia. https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/sixties-scoop

Smallwood, R., Woods, C., Power, T., & Usher, K. (2020). Understanding the impact of historical trauma due to colonization on the health and well-being of Indigenous young peoples: A systematic scoping review. Journal of Transcultural Nursing, 32(1), 59–68. https://doi.org/10.1177/1043659620935955