Educating Our Educators Guide for Staff - Algoma District School ...

ImpactsThe loss of family and community connections, in effect, their identity as found in their language and culture, for Aboriginalchildren due to the residential school program has affected generations of Aboriginal people. To dislodgechildren’s previous worldview and disrupt the transmission of cultural heritage the government and thechurches placed a priority on stamping out Aboriginal languages in the schools and in the children. Some ofthe students were successful in completing a formal education but the cost was tremendous. Terms such as“sixty scoop”, “assimilation”, “killing the Indian in the child”, and the “stolen generation” will be used todescribe this era.Situation Schools were set up on reserves and operated by missionaries, but due to the nomadic lifestyleof Aboriginal people, attendance was sporadic and low. Beginning with the establishment of 3 industrial schools in the prairies in 1883, and through thenext half-century, the federal government and churches developed a system of residential schoolsstretching from Nova Scotia to the Arctic. In 1884 the Indian Act was amended to includecompulsory residential school attendance for status Indians under age 16. Children were forbidden to speak their own language or risk punishment (often through beatings),and often worked to clear the land and worked in the gardens and barns to produce the food thatwas to be eaten. It was the intent to systematically remove the children from the cultural and spiritual influence oftheir community members and caregivers (Manitoba, 2003).Educating Our Educators – Educating Our Aboriginal StudentsRevised March 201140