Aboriginal Peoples' Great Hurt

While I lived with the Inuit and listened to their stories of the past there was one lasting thought I was left with. It was the issue of the schools . The government set out a policy that all children had to be educated.This meant that the aboriginal children who lived in small  family groups were forcibly carried off by the RCMP and brought to Residential Schools scattered over the North.

People who actually suffered under this system of education provided by religious groups told me their story. Few could talk about their experience without crying or having a emotional outburst because of the trauma they suffered.

Physical and emotional abuse was common and the policy of total integration drove many of the children to run away and many died.They told of an aeroplane landing close to their encampment and officers grabbing the children against the will of the parents and taking them away. It appeared that the school officials wished to take away the childrens language, their hair was cut short and they were punished for speaking their native tongue.

The parents of the children were equally punished as one of my close friends told me that in their encampment there were fifteen children but only two very young ones remained. He spoke of the change in the home. No laughter from the children, no games played and the lonely feeling from the lack of having children present. Sometimes the children returned for summer holidays but frequently they were away for a year at a time.

I felt the pain of these people who suffered so much and can understand the lasting effect on the children. Perhaps if Canadians lived among our first nations communities there would be more understanding. Unemployment, second and third rate schools because of lack of funding, reservations where clean water is a luxury for some and inside plumbing is second rate if available. All this is a recipe for discontent . The largest growth in our population is in our first nations and they could be a great source for economic development were the people trained so they could contribute to Canadian Society at a greater rate than the present.

Governments push this issue to the back burner until a problem rises and then they speak and have photo ops and go away. Our first nations people are not going away and we as a country should fix the problem before it becomes the elephant in the room and cannot be fixed.