Hands-Back...
It's unrealistic to think that someone could do justice in describing the resonating impact of the residential schools on the survivors and the families of the survivors of the schools. However, the first chapter in the book They Came for the Children, begins to describe the radical changes the Aboriginal people went through at the time that the Indian Act was implemented.
The Indian Act was imposed by the Canadian Government to help them assimilate the Aboriginal people at that time. The Government recognised that they were going to have to find a way to co-habitate with the Aboriginal population, but instead of coming to mutual agreements, the Indian Act allowed the Government to essentially try and control how and what the Aboriginal did.
Many Aboriginal people and tribes no longer had control over how they lived their lives, the Indian Act allowed the government to overturn band decisions, despose of chiefs, and the Aboriginal people were banned form participating in sacred ceremonies such as Potlach and Sun Dance. The Aboriginal people did not even have ownership over the reserve lands in which the Government forced them to settle on. To make matters worse, the Government could lease or dispose of the reserve lands, and had the power to move bands without their authorization if the lands were needed by growing towns and cities.
Children were forcibly taken from their families in order to attend Residential schools, as the Governemnt felt that the most effective way to assimilate the Aboriginal people was to remove the children away from their parents influence. The Aboriginal children were told that they were considered heathens and their spiritual beliefs were little more than superstition and witchcraft. This is but the beginning of the atrocities that would have a lasting impact on Aboriginal people for generations to come which will be discussed in more detail in the section History of Residential Schools.
The Indian Act was imposed by the Canadian Government to help them assimilate the Aboriginal people at that time. The Government recognised that they were going to have to find a way to co-habitate with the Aboriginal population, but instead of coming to mutual agreements, the Indian Act allowed the Government to essentially try and control how and what the Aboriginal did.
Many Aboriginal people and tribes no longer had control over how they lived their lives, the Indian Act allowed the government to overturn band decisions, despose of chiefs, and the Aboriginal people were banned form participating in sacred ceremonies such as Potlach and Sun Dance. The Aboriginal people did not even have ownership over the reserve lands in which the Government forced them to settle on. To make matters worse, the Government could lease or dispose of the reserve lands, and had the power to move bands without their authorization if the lands were needed by growing towns and cities.
Children were forcibly taken from their families in order to attend Residential schools, as the Governemnt felt that the most effective way to assimilate the Aboriginal people was to remove the children away from their parents influence. The Aboriginal children were told that they were considered heathens and their spiritual beliefs were little more than superstition and witchcraft. This is but the beginning of the atrocities that would have a lasting impact on Aboriginal people for generations to come which will be discussed in more detail in the section History of Residential Schools.