1. Impact of Colonization in Canada Essay
Colonization occurs in circumstances where more than one group or
species is populated in an area. In the past,Canada has hosted many
people from different groups including those with the characteristics of
Aboriginal people, with different lifestyles, beliefs, ways of operating
trade activities and social backgrounds. Nevertheless, colonization
helped Canada to formal distinct Canadian Culture.The culture was
more composed of the geographic and linguistics of Canada and even
incorporated the economic status of its neighboring country the United
States.
Citizens who were born in Canada felt that they had legal rights to live
in that country hence fought against colonization by maintaining their
customs and beliefs and gave the Europeans who had come to their
country to gain from the country’s natural resources a difficult time.
Even as this happened, different communities in Canada sought
freedom from the governments that had created the Indian Act –which
had been enforced and gave the government the mandate to control
Indian Education through the minister – in the country after the
destruction of the aboriginal communities residing in this country.
During the period of colonization in Canada, the aboriginal
communities proposed that the Canadian government should cease
controlling the people, land and other resources and fully support the
equality of the aboriginal nations.
The process of establishing residential schools was tough during the
colonization period in the country. This is because majority of the
residential schools were biased and hence offered education to the
natives of the country only or the people that originated from the same
community. The Indian Act offered the Indians a right to vote on
condition that they would abandon their belief status and accept the
establishment of residential schools for the Indians. This Act, however
was also unfair and mean to the Indians who chose to attend the

2. residential schools because it made it compulsory for children as young
as 6 years to attend the school where they would be compelled to stay
for months without going for holidays.During the school sessions,
learners were forbidden from practicing any activities that were related
to their culture and also communicating in their own language. Since
most of these schools were established by missionaries, most of the
learners were converted to Christianity and were also taught how to
read English.
Physical punishment was meted out to the students who violated any
of the rules and many of the students developed different challenges
and problems owing to the harsh living conditions in the schools.
Majority of the students that left the schools faced many types of
abuses and this affected their social life in the future. Nonetheless,
there are many children who lost their lives as they attempted to resist
the rule of the residential schools. Some of these children committed
suicide while others died while trying to escape from the schools. There
are also those that died due to the trauma they faced in the schools
and as they attempted to erase the bad memories of the school
conditions. The children who survived the closure of these schools,
required a lot of time for healing and compensation from the abuses
and torture they had been put through by the federal government and
the Department of India.
The churches and the federal government assumed that by establishing
these schools it would be easier for them to mold the children in
comparison to the adults. They required to do this in order to intervene
and avoid leaving the native people behind and as such, they would do
this by erasing the cultural influence of the native people from their
children. Today, close to 80,000 former students are still living, and the
impact of residential schools continues to be felt throughout the
generations and is attributed to many social problems that continue to
exist.This is because the survivors still carry the burden of the traumatic
experiences that they had to bear, and being the survivors of such

3. atrocities, they continue to regard themselves with shame, self hatred
and violence due to the many abuses they experienced in order to be
shown how inferior they were. This made them feel neglected and also
affected their relations with their families. However, the government of
Canada,with the help of the christian missionaries, took over the
management of the residential schools and controlled the schools and
set rules and regulations to govern the schools.
Due to colonization, the natives of Canada due, did not have the
freedomto practice theirculture and the introduction of the Christian
beliefs and values, which brought about the many problems in the
residential schools that many natives in the country had to face. Canada
has also faced myriad of challenges with regards to the loss of loved
ones as well as abuses from the colonists.
In the process of healing, the survivors have taken the Canadian
government, the Assembly of first nations and churches to the court in
order to gain compensation for the tortures they had been subjected to
while living in the residential schools, which were actually established
by these three bodies. However, a body known as the Truth and
Reconciliation Commission of Canada has been given the mandate to
carry out research and learn more about what happened to those
natives who attended the residential schools, and duly inform the
people of Canada what happened. The commission will record the truth
of what happened by relying on the previous records that are held by
those who operated and funded the schools, obtaining the experiences
of the survivors from the schools, their families, communities and
anyone who was in any way affected by the residential school
experience.
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4. Work Cited
Hookimaw-Witt, “Any Changes since Residential School?” (PDF)
http://www.trc.ca/websites/trcinstitution/index.php?p=4
http://youth.society.uvic.ca/TRC
Lecture Notes on: “Culture” and on the “Residential Schools” (Power
Points)
Video:Kuper Island: Return to the Healing Circle
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