Impacts of Residential Schools
The impacts of the residential school system have been broad and destructive towards indigenous peoples. The effects have been felt not just by survivors but also by their descendants. The following article summarizes the key impact areas based on Volume 5 of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) report entitled: Canada’s Residential Schools: The Legacy. Legacy areas include Child Welfare, Education and Linked Economic Factors (eg. poverty, unemployment, poor housing, etc.), Language and Culture, Health, and Justice.
Each of these impact areas are now summarized based on the above cited Truth and Reconciliation Report.
Child Welfare
The removal of indigenous children from their parents occurred due to residential schools and subsequent policies such as the “Sixties Scoop”. As a result, these children grew up without knowing how to be parents themselves as they lacked role models and have never seen their parents taking care of them. The result of this contributes to the continuous removal of children from indigenous communities today (through current child welfare programs) even though assimilation policies such as the residential school system and the Sixties Scoop are no longer being practiced. This removal of children has resulted in indigenous adults who do not know their culture and history and find it difficult to raise children of their own, perpetuating this cycle.
A recent report by the Ontario Human Rights Commission covering indigenous children in the child welfare system states:
“Despite making up only 4.1% of the population in Ontario under age 15, Indigenous children represent approximately 30% of foster children. Indigenous children are over-represented at all points of child welfare decision-making”
The report also discusses the Sixties Scoop:
“Known as the “Sixties Scoop”, children were sent to be fostered or placed for adoption in mostly non-Indigenous families. Formal inquiries into these policies and practices have concluded that the residential school system and Sixties Scoop constituted forms of cultural genocide against Indigenous families and communities.”
Statistics Canada has published a recent report entitled: Socioeconomic and health outcomes among Indigenous people aged 15 years and older who were under the legal responsibility of the government as children.
This report describes the adverse impacts on indigenous peoples due to being the legal responsibility of the government when they were young. Some of the statistics from this report are cited below:
– “According to the 2021 Census, 54% of foster children under the age of 15 were Indigenous, despite Indigenous children accounting for only 8% of the overall child population in Canada”
– “emerging evidence indicates that Indigenous children with a familial history of residential schools face higher odds of involvement in the child welfare system due to increased distress and depressive symptoms stemming from the trauma of parent-child separations and the loss of cultural identity and community connections”
– “Among First Nations people aged 15 and older, the proportion who reported excellent or very good mental health was lower for those who had been under the legal responsibility of the government as a child (30%) compared to 48% for those who had never been under government care.”
– “Specifically, the results show that two-thirds (66%) of Indigenous people 15 years and older who had been under the legal responsibility of the government as children had a disability, significantly higher than the proportion among Indigenous people who had not been under government care during childhood (46%).”
– “Consistent with patterns observed in existing research, the percentage of Indigenous people aged 15 and older who reported ever experiencing homelessness was significantly higher for those who had been under the legal responsibility of the government as a child (26%), compared to Indigenous people who had not been (7%).”
– “When asked about their ability to meet households needs, 60% of Indigenous people aged 15 and older who reported having been under the legal responsibility of the government as a child answered that they had great difficulty or difficulty, versus 38% for those Indigenous people who had not been under the legal responsibility of the government.”
Education and Linked Economic Factors
Indigenous peoples attending residential schools were given a very low quality of education, according to the TRC report. The presumption was that these students would go back to reserves after their education and would not pursue any profession requiring a post-secondary education. According to the TRC report, “From 1940–41 to 1959–60, 41.3% of each year’s residential school Grade One enrolment was not promoted to Grade Two. Just over half of those who were in Grade Two would get to Grade Six”.
The education was focused on teaching students how to be “civilized” and to Christianize them. In addition, schools were focused more on memorizing basic details instead of encouraging students to think. As a result of this, many students were unable to subsequently obtain work after leaving the schools.
Also, the descendants of the residential school survivors are also suffering the intergenerational effects of sub-standard education. The TRC report states:
“Lower educational attainment for the children of Survivors has severely limited their employment and earning potential, just as it did for their parents. Aboriginal people on average have much lower incomes and are more likely to experience unemployment, and are more likely to collect employment insurance and social assistance benefits than non-Aboriginal people in Canada.”
In addition, the TRC report states that:
“The rate of poverty for Aboriginal children is disturbingly high— 40%, compared to 17% for all children in Canada”
Language and Culture
Indigenous students in residential school settings were taught that their language should not be spoken (in schools and when at home) and that indigenous cultural practices are evil and should be discarded. Some of these children grew up to hate their culture. Many also grew up without learning their mother tongue, as usage of this language in the schools resulted in severe punishment. This loss of culture and language resulted in generations of indigenous peoples growing up without learning the lessons of their ancestors. The descendants of residential school survivors also thus have limited exposure to the language and culture of their ancestors. A suitable quote describing this situation is:
“A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots.” – Marcus Garvey
Forced loss of culture among a population can be called Cultural Genocide and contributes to making the lives of survivors and their descendants very difficult (ie. contributes to crime/incarceration, suicides, poverty, lack of higher education, loss of children to child welfare agencies, etc.)
Health
The health of indigenous peoples was/is severely affected by being a residential school system survivor or being a descendant of a survivor. The health of students was affected by substandard sanitation, poor nutrition, low quality medical care, physical abuse, and mental damage due to the feelings of despair from school conditions. Many students took the health conditions they faced back to their home setting after leaving the schools and continued to face the health ramifications.
The treatment of the students continues to have a negative effect on the health of survivors and the descendants of survivors. The TRC report describes these effects, including poor life expectancy, infant mortality, fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, HIV/Aids, mental health, food and housing insecurity, addiction, and suicide.
Some of the details from the TRC report are cited below:
– for suicide: “Aboriginal youth between the ages of 10 and 29, who are living on reserves are 5 to 6 times more likely to die by suicide than non-Aboriginal youth.”
– for addiction: “Due in large part to the residential schools, Aboriginal peoples in Canada are more likely to have experienced the types of risk factors associated with addictions.”
– for impacts of addiction: “Addictions and drug use places people at risk of multiple harms, including greater risk of violence. A recent study of young Aboriginal women who used drugs in Vancouver and Prince George between 2003 and 2010 found that those with a parent who attended a residential school were at twice the risk of sexual assault over the study period.”
– for mental health: “Physical and sexual abuse at residential schools had profound intergenerational effects. Case studies conducted by the Aboriginal Healing Foundation suggest that more than 50% of community members needed healing from the effects of residential schools.”
The report summarizes the social factors and their impact on health with regard to residential schools as follows:
“The social determinants of health are complex. It is not always possible to chart health impacts that are tied directly to the intergenerational impacts of the residential schools as opposed to other factors. However, it is indisputable that many of the recognized social determinants of health—income, education, employment, social status, working and living conditions, health practices, coping skills, and childhood development—were themselves impacted by attendance at residential school.”
Overrepresentation in the Justice System
As a result of the residential school system, Indigenous peoples have been overrepresented in the justice system.
The TRC report presents some data to illustrate this overrepresentation:
“For example, in 2011, Aboriginal people made up 4% of the Canadian population, yet they accounted for 28% of admissions to sentenced custody. As recently as 2013, Aboriginal people constituted 23.2% of the federal inmate population. And since 2005–06, there has been a 43.5% increase in the Aboriginal population in federal prisons for those serving sentences of two years or more, as compared to a rise of 9.6% for non-Aboriginal inmates.”
A particular concern is the intergenerational effect of the residential schools system and how it has resulted in descendants committing crimes. The reasons for this overrepresentation are described by the TRC report and summarized below.
Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) – The residential school system has led to high rates of alcohol use and, as a result, high rates of FASD (a lifelong disability resulting from alcohol exposure in the womb that can affect the brain and body). There is at present an awareness by researchers that FASD results in a greater likelihood of criminal activity. According to the TRC report, “A 2011 Canadian study found that offenders with fasd had much higher rates of criminal involvement than those without, including more youth and adult convictions.”
Parental Neglect – The residential school system made it very difficult for survivors to learn how to raise children (as they were taken away from their parents during those early formative years). As such, these survivors, in many cases, were unable to fully and properly take care of their own children. This cycle of neglect continued from one generation to the next, all of which contributes to greater involvement in the criminal justice system.
Racism – The residential school system was based on the racist notion that indigenous parents were unable to raise their children since they were primitive in outlook (as it relates to their language and culture). Studies have found that those facing racism are more likely to perform criminal activities.
Loss of Culture – The residential school system aimed to eliminate the language and culture of indigenous peoples. This contributed to criminal activities – the expectations of the ancestors were lost due to the schooling approach. According to the TRC report, “Many Survivors, including offenders, have told us that relearning and re-engagement with Aboriginal cultures and languages was very important in supporting them to make progress on healing so that they could live productive and law-abiding lives.”
Sexual Abuse – The sexual abuse experienced by the residential school survivors contributed to these survivors performing these acts on others. The TRC report says, “The available social science evidence establishes a disturbingly strong connection between being sexually abused as a child and the later sexually abusing of others”
Substance Abuse – Research has found that substance abuse (ie. from drugs and/or alcohol) has resulted in many cases from surviving residential schools. Research has also found that substance abuse contributes to criminal activity. According to the TRC report, “Substance abuse is widely recognized as a cause of offending behaviour. An analysis of thirty different studies showed that drug users were three to four times more likely to offend than non-drug users.”
Mental Health Problems – The residential school setting has contributed to mental health challenges for survivors and their descendants. These challenges can contribute to criminal activity. According to the TRC report, “A study done by the Aboriginal Healing Foundation looked at 127 Aboriginal persons in British Columbia who had litigated residential school claims. Ninety-three of those case files had evidence of mental health problems.”
Poverty – Due in good part to a lack of quality education, residential school survivors face poverty. Due to the same reason, descendants of survivors also experience poverty (as their parents or grandparents lacked a high quality education). The TRC report cites many studies that “have shown a direct link between community poverty and higher crime rates.”
Child Welfare Involvement – The taking of indigenous children away from their parents occurs for reasons cited above, such as parental neglect and substance abuse. The TRC report states that “A child’s involvement in the child welfare system has been found to increase juvenile delinquency for children, in particular male children.”
Conclusion
The above has covered how residential schools have contributed to a legacy of difficulty for indigenous peoples. A subsequent article will present some of the solutions/recommendations outlined in the TRC report. That article will try to guide readers into taking action to achieve reconciliation.
