Residential School Abuse

Aboriginals in Canada continue to make issue of the abuses suffered by them or their parents in the residential school system, and continue to receive apology and financial compensation for them. The basis for the complaints involve being forcibly taken from their homes and villages to be placed in the residential schools, having a worldview forced upon them which was contradictory to that of their families, being forced to learn and speak in a different language, being treated harshly physically and emotionally by teachers, and being subject to sexual exploitation by both school staff and fellow residents. The claim is that this treatment has resulted in a lifetime of self-abuse, alcohol and drug dependency, and family break-up.

While recognizing that real and egregious abuses have occurred in all social structures throughout all cultures, and need to be exposed and corrected, the above scenario of systematic subjugation and abuse should be interpreted with some caution. The original intent was to create one new country with a common language (actually two), a common law and government, and a common identity. Aboriginals, originally protected as “status Indians” on reserves, were expected to learn French or English, become literate, receive religious education, learn a trade or profession, and learn to live under a democratic rule of law, in order to become Canadian citizens. Of these goals, one might question the religious education part, but still need to recognize that our very successful western common law was, and still is, based on Judeo-Christian worldview and principles, even if individuals do not accept the spiritual religious aspects.

Immigrants to Canada in the early 1900’s also were forced to learn French or English, were treated harshly emotionally and physically, and to learn the same things expected of aboriginals. The whole approach to instruction and discipline in that culture was much more rigid than today, with harsher consequences for those who would not comply. While our current culture of relativism and pseudo-tolerance recoils at this, it was a process that provided this generation with the comforts and prosperity unimaginable to previous generations. Children of all backgrounds continue to be required to leave their families and forcibly learn the prevailing dogma, even if it conflicts with their home culture. Rather than religious education, it is now secular humanism which demands total allegiance in all aspects of the educational system. Rather than unruly children being physically disciplined (which was the experience of all school children, not just aboriginals), those students who would have been interested to learn, now have to compromise to accommodate those who are not, dumbing down the whole system.

Sexual abuse is a unique aspect, although it is frequently brought in to add to the emotional impact. Incestual sexual abuse is not uncommon in aboriginal communities, just as in other communities where it is not effectively controlled. Claims that this practice was in fact learned from residential schools are unfounded. Having children living in group homes does provide an extra opportunity for early sexual experimentation and abuse by the older ones on the younger, providing the same for adults responsible for the care of these children. But inappropriate sexualisation of children has not stopped, and is now systematized in public education. Children are subjected to sexual content through media from their earliest memories, and commercial interests exploit this for their own gain. The state education system teaches children that all forms of sexual expression are equally valid provided they are not perceived to be forced on someone or take advantage of those who are younger or vulnerable.

Taking children from their parents’ homes to live in such a setting for the purpose of education is questionable, but at times the only realistic way of providing that function. Many parents today send their children, not always happily, to residential schools, with all of the risks and benefits intrinsic to that system. A big difference in the case of Canadian aboriginals is that the parents were often not in agreement with the process. The alternative would have been to allow aboriginal communities to continue as illiterate hunting and gathering societies, dwindling to extinction, while the surrounding world advanced technologically through the 19^th and 20^th centuries.   A similar argument would be applied today, with universal public support, on any family who wanted to raise their children off the grid, to just enjoy nature and forgo modern education and technology. Home schooling is still allowed in this country, provided that the parents demonstrate the children are receiving an education which surpasses the public system, which is not hard to do. That was not an option in Canadian aboriginal communities a century ago.

Rather than self-righteously condemn practices of previous generations according to our current perceptions and norms, we would be better advised to recognize and correct perversions and abuses that our own culture is fostering.

-philw July 2012
See also "Boarding School Syndrome" on British kids' experiences.