Canada’s cultural Genocide
Opinion Analysis by Sarah Yehya, Staff Writer
August 1st, 2020
Behind every successful man is a woman, and behind every first-world country are years of colonization and oppression against the minorities. In this part of the world we often grow up idolizing the west, from their eloquent languages to the promising lives their citizens lead. We thus continue being held in a container of glorification for the western civilizations; however, failing to recognize that all was achieved at the diabolic expense of other cultures. This opinion analysis will cover the Canadian Government’s superiority complex in the past, and the enforced cultural genocide on the First Peoples of Canada.
Who are the First Peoples of Canada?
Also known as Aboriginal, the Inuit and Metis are said to have travelled to North America from Asia after the Ice Age, thus becoming the first recorded people living in that area. Other scientists claim that they’ve been there for an even longer time period. A time came when the Europeans decided to cross the Atlantic in search of a new land with the purpose of establishing a modern civilization. When met with the Aboriginal (Indigenous) people in North America, they classified them as savages, inferior and ill-civilized. The Canadian Government, radiating slytherin energy, decided to bring greatness into fruition. They solemnly agreed that in order to venture beyond the bubble of heterogeneous cultures under one roof, one has to fabricate a gap between the Aboriginal people and their culture. With a strong belief that their society was the epitome of civilization, they took the Aboriginal people under their wing to teach them the ways of life.
How, you ask, would a government forge a generation of individuals who are slaves to their system? The answer is simple: schools.
What are Residential Schools?
Knowing very well that the adults would be a gruesome batch to steer, the government took its toll on the children and created what was and still known to be as “Residential Schools”. The concept behind these schools was to integrate the construction of Canada into these children while collapsing years of cultural identity.
These schools created a system of slavery, putting Stalin’s five-year plans to shame. These children were forcibly separated from their parents, a new language was bestowed upon them, and a tight schedule left little to no time for them to dare think about the identity they once possessed. Boys and girls had different schedules, where that of the boys comprised agriculture and light industrial work, while that of the girls was rather domestic such as cleaning and cooking (a classic case of sexism, which actively and ironically demonstrates just how “modern” their ideologies were).With such a wide and different spectrum of manual labor, siblings of different genders found it hard to communicate. This system was successfully foreshadowing a growing gap in familial segregation leading to the generational gap they are facing today.
These schools were rarely funded, their bread and butter relied on whatever was yielded by the labor of the children.When comparing education received at residential school with respect to that at public schools, the inequality is as clear as a bell. While migrant citizens enjoy the luxury of graduating with a degree worthy of a higher education, graduates of residential schools acquire only half of the knowledge and thus succumb to labor work and a humble living with no aspirations. They were also indoctrinated by the church with absolutely no choice in the matter.
We cannot be oblivious to an obvious byproduct of residential schools, namely abuse. Coming in various forms, abuse dominated the daily lives of the children that fell victim to this system. Starting with sexual abuse, pastors were active members on weekdays, yet excellent preachers on Sunday. Mental abuse drastically contributed to the change in generational growth of the Indigenous people. The form of abuse which was most prominent was evidently physical abuse. Some examples would be piercing of the tongue if caught speaking their mother language, cutting their hair (which according to their culture symbolizes forced submission and humiliation), hit by leather straps, and shock treatments. These methods were used when rules were disobeyed; however, it shows a clear fail in drawing the line between punishments and physical abuse. The abuse they encountered at school was quickly integrated into their homes, because this is the only form of education that deemed suitable for discipline control.
Many people reported good experiences at the residual schools they attended, yet that does not eradicate the institutionalized and systematic cleansing of all aspects of the Aboriginal culture that was happening behind the scenes. The kindness granted by some of the school’s staff does not overshadow the cultural genocide that was in the works.
As if alienating the children from their families wasn’t enough, these children were diligently used to experiment the benefits of medical drugs.
What form of unethical testing took place?
With no consent, Aboriginal children in residential schools were being used to experiment medical drugs. The researchers followed a method called Randomized Control Trial (RCT), where children were separated into controlled and experimental groups. Hence, while some students were being injected with essential nutrients, others were subjected to malnutrition at the height of limited governmental aid.
Nutrient Supplements and vitamins are but a sample of what was integrated (or rather exempted) from the nutrition of the Aboriginal children to test just how fundamental they are to the human body. Most of the time, they would deprive the children under experimentation of dental care merely due to fear of a deviation of the experimental statistics if oral health were to be in good condition. If there is anything I learned in my two years of dental school, it’s that oral health confines a better general health.
A residential school in Kenora reported 9 children with significant hearing loss after being experimented with a drug for children with hearing loss. Another school in Manitoba left several blind cases post drug experimentation. This means that the effectiveness of various supplements we use today have been successfully determined by statistics behind which stood innocent Aboriginal children.
John Panbrun, a 77 year-old Aboriginal man, had part of his right lung removed as a form of treatment for his tuberculosis - even though the establishment of a cure for this disease was long overdue with a successful outcome that came in the form of antibiotics. The mystery as to why this surgery took place remains unknown, however, it left him with breathing problems as well as obstructing his employment options.
Canada’s indigenous and northern affairs department was established in 1966, and has since been flooded with complaints and lawsuits. An estimate of 6,000 children died in residential schools over the course of 160 years where an estimate of 150,000 children attended. That is 160 years of undocumented and unethical treatment.
The final school closed its doors in 1986 which was only 34 years ago.
Since picking up a minor course in decency, the Canadian government has been trying to compensate for the damages. They may have been of help to many former students, but there is no denial that the damage remains evident. While they were trying to “kill the Indian in the child”, they successfully led to a generational gap hardly resolved by money or apologies. Residential schools may have closed their door, yet racism remains very real, however taking different forms.
The racism we see today is not as obvious as residential schools or slavery, it is much more subtle. It does not have to be like that of the ‘Karens’ we are seeing on social media. It could be a slight change of demeanor, a weighty gaze, a tighter hold on your purse, or an “arigato” even though they are from Taiwan. Stereotyping people based on your lack of education is a fault on your part. Societies became more versatile, now more than ever. When you meet someone new, clean the slate for THEM to tell you who they are before you enforce your prejudiced point of view.
On a larger scale, ethnic cleansing remains a problem in the 21st century. From Myanmar to the mere actions taken by turning Hagia Sophia into a Mosque – there remains a superiority complex driving even third world countries. As time progresses, one would think humanity rises to a modern outlook on the vast differences around the globe.
Sadly, history continues to prove otherwise.
References:
https://indigenousfoundations.arts.ubc.ca/the_residential_school_system/
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/may/11/canada-indigenous-people-medical-experiments-lawsuit
https://indigenouspeoplesatlasofcanada.ca/article/history-of-residential-schools/