unit 2 - residential schools

Question 1

What is the Indian Act?

Answer 1

• an act passed by the Canadian government in 1876 and changed several times since, which makes “Indians, and the lands reserved for the Indians” the responsibility of the government.
• it is an evolving document that has enabled trauma, human rights violations and social and cultural disruption for generations of First Nations peoples

Question 2

What were residential schools?

Answer 2

Government sponsored religious schools established to assimilate children into Euro-Candian Culture. Their goal was to “civilize and Christianize” the children

Question 3

How many were there in Canada

Answer 3

130

Question 4

Restrictions in the schools for the kids

Answer 4

• they could not speak their own language
• could not practice any of their cultural activities
• they could not speak to other family members

Question 5

Life in Residential schools

Answer 5

• forced to stay at the school
• parents of the children who did not go to school were fined/jailed
• students did not have contact with their parents
• children’s names were changed

Question 6

truth and reconciliation

Answer 6

• Is a component of the residential school settlement agreement
• Inform all Canadians about what happened in the Indian Residential Schools (IRS)
• created a collection of documents about the truth of survivors, families, communities