In the 1840’s the Government of Canada united with the churches to form Residential Schools. The purpose of these schools, in their eyes, was to teach First Nations the European way in order to become a member of society. Native leaders also wanted their children to participate in white education in order to survive in their changing world. However, what they did not know was that Residential School would become harsh environments in which there children would be forced to forget their “savage” rituals and made to believe in a Christian God like the Europeans. In 1876 The Indian Act increased The Federal Governments control over native education. By the mid 1880’s native children were being kidnapped and forcibly taken from their parents to attend residential schools, which were located far away from reserves to ensure children would have no parental or cultural influences. Children who went to residential schools were mistreated and abused. They were taken out of their traditional clothing and forced to wear standard school uniforms. They were not allowed to speak their native tongue and many spent years in silence as they could not speak English. They were taught that their culture was inferior and not worth preserving. In the 1950’s the Government shifted its’ focus on Residential Schools and began closing them down. St Mary’s was the last school to close in 1984. However, by this point the damage had been done. Many of the children who attended these schools are now parents and grandparents. Their experiences haunt them and they possess negatives opinions about an education for their children today. They know not of their history and have no experience of family life to draw from. In 1993, the first public apology on behalf of the Anglican Church was made to the Aboriginal Community. In January of 1998 Canada’s Federal Government apologizes for the first time to the indigenous people of Canada about the events that took place and the suffering that occurred in Residential Schools. Currently there are over 15,000 claimants filing cases against the Government of Canada (Statistics Canada, 2006). A Healing Fund had been erected for those who suffered but many have said no amount of money will compensate for the damage done to the native culture. "There are testimonies of hundreds of former students whose list of abuses includes kidnapping, sexual abuse, beatings, needles pushed through tongues as punishment for speaking Indigenous languages, forced wearing of soiled underwear on the head or wet bed sheets on the body, faces rubbed in human excrement, forced eating of rotten and/or maggot infested food, being stripped naked and ridiculed in front of other students, forced to stand upright for several hours -- on two feet and sometimes one -- until collapsing, immersion in ice water, hair ripped from heads, use of students in eugenics and medical experiments, bondage and confinement in closets without food or water, application of electric shocks, forced to sleep outside or to walk barefoot in winter, forced labour and on and on." (The Healing Update Has Begun, from the Aboriginal Healing Foundation, May 2002) References Heritage Community Foundation. (2002). Residential Schools: The Legacy. Retrieved February 11, 2006, from http://www.albertasource.ca/treaty8/eng/1899_and_After/Implications_and_Contentions/residential_schools_legacy.html Kennedy, I. (1999). American Indian Prophecies: A Brief History on the Future of America. Retrieved February 11, 2006, from http://www.texfiles.com/features/prophecies.htm Statistics Canada. (2006). Indian Residential Schools Resolution Canada. Retrieved February 11, 2006, from http://www.irsr-rqpi.gc.ca/english/statistics.html#top Stephenson, P.H., Elliott, S.J., Foster, L.T., & Harris, J. (1995). A Persistent Spirit: Towards Understanding Aboriginal Health in British Colubmia. Victoria, BC: Western Geographical Press.

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