Impacts of Indian Residential School
What Did Indian Residential School Do?
Split Up Families
Parents and grandparents were heartbroken at the loss of their reason for living. “A lot of alcoholism started when the kids were taken away.” At the schools, siblings were separated. Boys and girls were punished for talking to one another.
Cultural Breakdown
Being away from extended families kept children from acquiring generations of wisdom. Ties to the land were broken, values and customs disrupted. Years later, when they came back looking to learn, many elders had passed on.
Silence The Language
Losing their common tongue, nsyilxcən, crippled the relationship between children and their families and elders. Some kids were able to keep nsyilxcәn going in secret at the schools, but they were the exception. Grandparents quit passing the language on because they decided it would not benefit the children, mainly out of a fear of punishment and cultural shaming
Destroy Self-Esteem
In the schools, children were told they were stupid and that their culture and language was “of the devil.” Repeated abuse laid down an internal sound track of negativity and shame that, for many, got louder as they grew older.
Undermine The Future
Research shows that trauma changes how young brains develop. When we are prevented from releasing overwhelming feelings of fear, grief, or pain, those feelings remain unresolved. Instead of going away, these traumas find other ways to come out: substance abuse, self-harm and suicide are common. So is re-enactment, where survivors seek out abusive relationships or take on abusive behaviors themselves.
Breakdown of Family Systems
Instead of learning the nurturing way of our ancestors, students learned from their teachers to be unloving, demanding caregivers. This left them unprepared to create healthy family situations once their own children were born, passing the trauma on to the next generations. As their own parents did not teach them these skills, they lacked the traditional teachings and nurturing.
Resilience of Culture and Human Survival
For many former students, the motivation to heal grew out of love for their children and grandchildren. The return to culture has also been an important source of healing. And the friendships that made the painful years at residential school bearable remain a source of strength. Indeed, it has been the dedication of former students that brought the deep injustice of the schools out into the light and helped create the awareness that has put us, as a Nation, on the healing path.
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