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In the 19th and 20th centuries, the Canadian government collaborated with various religious organizations to form a residential school system that taught English, French and Euro-Canadian values, religions and skills to First Nations, Métis and Inuit in an attempt to assimilate them into Canadian society.
Between 1831 and 1998, 130 residential schools operated in all provinces except Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick. From 1920, attendance at the schools was mandatory for most Aboriginal children up to the age of 15; in all, tens of thousands of people went through the system.
Residential schools: a painful past
In recent years, the effects of the residential schools on those who were forced
to go to them have become painfully clear. Person after person has come forward
with horror stories of overcrowding, neglect, starvation, forced labour and
hideous physical, emotional and sexual abuse. According to a report by the Aboriginal
Healing Foundation, "At its core, the Indian residential school system was
an organized effort to 'kill the Indian in the child.' Missionary Hugh McKay,
writing in 1903, characterized the system itself as an effort 'to educate and
colonize people against their will.' "
In 1998, the federal government announced Gathering Strength: Canada's Aboriginal Action Plan, which included, among other things, $350 million to support community-based healing for the many people who had suffered at these schools.
In early 2006, the Aboriginal Healing Foundation, which provides financial
support to the community healing programs, published its final report on the
healing that has taken place to date on and off reserve, in urban and rural
areas, in every part of the country except PEI, and what needs to be in place
for the process to continue to be successful.
The mission
of the Aboriginal Healing Foundation is "to encourage and support Aboriginal
people in building and reinforcing sustainable healing processes that address
the legacy of physical abuse and sexual abuse in the residential school system,
including intergenerational impacts… by helping Aboriginal people help themselves,
by providing resources for healing initiatives, by promoting awareness of healing
issues and needs, and by nurturing a supportive public environment." Funded
activities offered over the past six years were for former students and their
families, Aboriginal youth, Aboriginal communities and included public education
for our Canadian society as a whole
"You're
going right to the source of what makes a community."
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Generations coming together
"We have found, and I don't think it surprises anybody, general projects which are culturally based tend to be the most promising--the ones that get the most participation and have the greatest effect," says Wayne Spear, Communications Director for the Aboriginal Healing Foundation. "Projects which bring together different generations of people—youth and elders, for instance—are a pretty powerful approach. People didn't talk much about residential schools until recently so there has been some barrier between the generations."
The Internet offers opportunities for new tools that can help bridge understanding
between generations. For example, Where
are the Children? Healing the Legacy of Residential Schools, is a virtual
gallery of archival photos and shared stories
to help Aboriginal youth learn about the experiences of their parents and grandparents.
Range of activities needed to promote healing
There has been a wide range in the nature of funded programs over the past six years, from crisis management approaches to more coordinated, planned project, including:
- Participatory activities, including a project involving women of all different ages who go out on the land and learn to do stitching.
- Projects that include something practical and hands-on. "It creates a non-threatening environment and people just get talking," says Spear, "and the school aspect of it just comes out organically."
- A combination of western and therapeutic approaches means people are given the option of who to talk to--a counsellor or an Elder--and whether they'd be more comfortable with a western-based therapy or Aboriginal-activity-based approach. Some of the activities include crafts, hunting and survival skills, games, making quilts, blankets and baskets--"things that are part of the history or culture of these people," says Spear.
- Religion-based programs are offered and are used by some. The Anglican and United Churches of Canada have specific programming to address impacts from residential schools.
Restoring community harmony
The impact of the healing programs reaches far beyond the survivors of the residential schools themselves. By talking with older generations, young people start to understand why things are the way they are. "You kind of grow up just assuming all these problems are just how we are, that that's our nature," explains Spear. "They've never really had any context to put it in. Then they realize, oh, there's this history; it's not about me or something I did, or we're not bad people. It's a way they can start to look at their identity and who they are and where they come from in a way that they don't have that burden."
Survivors, he adds, feel that they personally represent all the things that are wrong. "For older people, this takes some of the personal stigma away from it and starts to restore them to the community in a way that's positive and of value." And just by talking about it instead of carrying it inside, some of the taboo is stripped away. "People pretty quickly find out it's what we call a structural problem," he adds. "It's not a personal failure; it's a history; it's something that was done to Aboriginal people all over."
The Aboriginal Healing Foundation initiatives have created the opportunity for great first steps to healing. But Spear says past experience has shown that it takes about 10 years for a community to go from setting up a project to broad participation to larger changes in the community. Still, early signs of healing are good. "You're taking something that's been associated with a lot of shame, a lot of loss, a lot of hurt and making it have the foundation of a healthier community," says Spear. "You're going right to the source of what makes a community."
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This article was prepared by Nora Underwood, a journalist living in Toronto, with input from the 
