In the 19th century, the Canadian government believed it was responsible for educating and caring for Aboriginal people in Canada. The government believed that the best chance to be successful was for them to learn English and adopt Christianity and Canadian customs. In an ideal world, these new customs would be passed onto their children, meaning their native traditions would diminish and completely disappear within a few generations. The Canadian government developed a policy called “aggressive assimilation” to be taught at these new church-run, government-funded schools, called residential schools. It was believed that children were easier to influence that adults, so the idea of sending these children to a boarding school to learn new values would be the most effective.

These schools were created based on the belief that aboriginal culture was unable to adapt to a rapidly modernizing society. Students were discouraged from speaking their first language or practising native traditions and were faced with severe punishment if they did not comply. Most students lived at these schools 10 months a year, away from their parents, segregating them from opportunities to see examples of normal family life. Siblings at the same school rarely saw each other, as all …show more content…
Children began to refuse to cooperate and sabotaged the operations of the kitchen or classroom, stole food and supplies, ran away, or in extreme cases burned down their school. The parents of students and political leaders combined protested the schools’ inhumane conditions, though their objections were typically ignored. Finally by the 1940s it became obvious to both the government and missionary bodies that the schools were ineffective. The system was taken over by the Department of Indian Affairs in 1969, ending church involvement. By 1986, most schools had either been closed or turned over to local bands (Miller,