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130 years of residential schools By the time the last residential school closed in 1996,more than 150,000 aboriginal students attended the institutions Nathalie Heiberg-Harrison Northern News Services Published Monday, July 4, 2011
"For more than a century," he said, "Indian residential schools separated more than 150,000 aboriginal children from their families and communities." "Two primary objectives of the residential schools system were to remove and isolate children from the influence of their homes, families, traditions and cultures, and to assimilate them into the dominant culture. These objectives were based on the assumption aboriginal cultures and spiritual beliefs were inferior and unequal." For that, he said, they were sorry. The apology followed a historic $2-billion settlement in 2005 which was divided among an estimated 86,000 survivors based on the time they spent at residential school. Most provinces and territories in Canada - with the exception of Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick - contained a residential school. There were 132 residential schools across the nation, including 14 in the NWT. Today, the North has the highest ratio of residential schools survivors in Canada. The first boarding schools for aboriginal people were established in Ontario, even before Canada became a country in 1867, and later in the west by Roman Catholic and Protestant missionaries. In 1883 the relationship between the Canadian government and the churches was cemented, and they established three schools together. Fifty years later, there were more than 70 residential schools in the country, and it is estimated that one out of every three aboriginal children attended. By the time the last school closed in 1996, more than 150,000 had passed through their doors. Many past students have positive stories to tell of their experience and the education they received, but many suffered abuse, lived in horrible conditions and were isolated from their families and culture. "Students were not only strapped and humiliated, in some schools, they were handcuffed, manacled, beaten, locked in cellars and other makeshift jails, or displayed in stocks," according to information provided by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
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