This exhibit focuses on Residential schools that began as early as the 1800s and lasted till the late 1900s. The terms Indigenous, Aboriginal, or Native are used to describe the first nations people as a group (Miller, 2022). These residential schools were created to force Indigenous people to assimilate into the dominant Christian culture. They were usually created in Churches and had all Christian teachers (Miller, 2009). Indigenous people faced an extensive amount of trauma in these schools that still impact their lives to the present day. Kids as young as 3 or 4 years old were taken away from their families and placed into these schools. They were beaten, and abused physically, sexually, and emotionally (Miller, 2009). The goal of this abuse was to strip them away from their cultural beliefs, traditions, and their own identity. This exhibit aims to acknowledge and share the injustice and horrifying experiences Indigenous people faced in residential schools. This exhibit is going to explain and educate people about what happened inside residential schools. The goal is to share an important part of the Canadian history.
A few of the punishments kids as young as 3 years old had to face were getting beat up for speaking in their native language instead of english. Alongside, many kids got sexually assaulted. To this day, many indigenous women are getting taken advantage of. A study done in 2008 showed that Indigenous women are abused by their intimate partners at a rate three times higher than non-Indigenous women (Ogden, 2023). A huge factor of this is the residential schools. To an extent, they normalized the act of abusing Indigenous people. Although few changes are being made, many people are still holding racist thoughts caused by the oppression and unfair events that took place, such as residential schools.
Bibliography
Miller, James Rodger. (2009). Shingwauk’s vision: A history of native residential schools. University of Toronto Press.
Miller, J. R. (2022). Residential Schools and Reconciliation: Canada confronts its history. University of Toronto Press.
Ogden, C., & Tutty, L. M. (2023). My Parents, My Grandparents Went Through Residential School, and All this Abuse has Come From it: Examining Intimate Partner Violence Against Canadian Indigenous Women in the Context of Colonialism. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 38(23/24), 12185–12209. https://doi-org.login.ezproxy.library.ualberta.ca/10.1177/08862605231192580