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Abstract
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Sometimes we get so caught up in our advocacy for issues dear to our heart that we can miss the bigger picture. This is quite understandable, although when we do it, it means that we lose the opportunity to create broader systemic change. While this happens in many countries, we will talk about what has happened in Canada in the last 25 or so years regarding how children in state care have been historically and are currently treated.
An example in Canada is the Indian Residential School System. The system was based upon a racist foundation that sought to destroy Indigenous cultures through the removal of children from their families. Under the guise of education, the schools were meant to assimilate Indigenous children into the dominant society, albeit still as lesser people. Similar to the Indian boarding schools in the United States, the children experienced neglect and abuse and were exposed in often poorly built facilities to numerous diseases while at the same time being undernourished and fed poor quality food. The resulting death rate of these children is just coming to light in Canada with the exposure of unmarked graves at many of the school sites. Thousands of children died in the schools. The numbers are even higher when factoring in those children sent to hospitals from the schools due to illness or sent home in poor health to eventually die there. Many of the survivors have spent a lifetime of ill psychological and physical health as a result of their experiences in the schools.
The schools were unique in their systemic attempt to destroy Indigenous peoples. The combination of deeply held racist attitudes driven by a fervent form of Christianity and a high sense of class self-righteousness and moral superiority backed by the power of the state means that the destructive impact of this government sanctioned attack on Indigenous peoples for generations will be felt for generations.
Language: en |