Residential Schools Case Study

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The question of whether the government protected the collective rights of Aboriginal peoples in its creation of the Indian Act and the Resident school system has sparked many debates. While some people may feel that Canadians did the right thing creating the Residential School system, we strongly believe that the Indian Act didn’t protect any rights. In fact, the act violated many rights we value today. They abused the First Nations by taking away their right to vote, forcing them to give up their legal identities and treaty rights, not consulting the First Nations on agreements that concerned them and by introducing the Residential School system..

Firstly, until 1960 the First Nations had to give up their legal identities and treaty rights …show more content…

The purpose of this was for the Canadian officials to assimilate the First Nations peoples. Canadians did not accept and recognize the ways and cultures of the First Nations peoples because the officials thought that they were superior and had the right of way. This resulted in them trying to lead the Indigenous people in the “right and normal” way. In many more ways than one, they violated the rights and freedoms of the First Nations peoples. To begin with, the residential schools took away children from their parents forcefully. If this was to happen in the present, it would violate the legal rights found in the current charter of rights and freedoms. Legal rights prohibits people from being taken away without proper reason or consult. Secondly, inside of the residential schools, students were not treated properly. They did not feel safe inside of these schools, and instead felt lonely and trapped. This often lead to mental illness and horrible thoughts. Many claims of being raped, abused, both mentally and physically, were also made. If you relate those events to the charter, In the end, the residential schools resulted in death, and those who came back alive saw a world that they no longer recognized. Clearly, having residential schools was a horrible idea. Canadians thought that they were superior to the Indigenous, even they were the ones who inhabited this land first. They wanted to make everyone follow their ways. However, they did not open their eyes to see that everyone had their own unique ways. They did not see that the Indigenous could have really benefited them. From this event, we learn that we shouldn’t try to force someone’s ways into another’s. We all need to accept each other in order to co-live peacefully, and most importantly,

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