The Presence Of Residential Schools Had A Negative Effect On Indigenous Peoples In Canada

The presence of residential schools had a negative effect on Indigenous peoples in Canada. In Brooke Taylor and Brooklyn Neustaeter’s article called 'Is he here amongst all these graves?': Survivors recall abuse after hundreds of remains were found near Sask. residential school” they interviewed a residential school survivor named Eagleclaw Bunnie who discusses how his sister, Amber Perrier, coped with residential schools. Bunnie said, “‘They would call her by her number, they wouldn’t even call her by her name … [t]hey called her by her name when they wanted to be sweet’” (Taylor and Neustaeter). 

People are given a name to differentiate themselves between humans, and only products and materials are identified as numbers. Products aren’t identified using names because they do not have humanity in them, meaning that they have no uniqueness or life in them. That was the reason why they called Amber Perrier by her number because she didn’t show even a single piece of humanity in her. Again, In Brooke Taylor and Brooklyn Neustaeter’s article called 'Is he here amongst all these graves?': Survivors recall abuse after hundreds of remains were found near Sask. residential school. 

They talk about another residential school survivor from St. Anne’s Residential School named Elizabeth Sackaney. She talks about her brutal experience in residential schools. Sackaney said, “‘When I was living in residential school there was an electric chair. There was a tunnel to take you to the hospital, not to take you out on top of the ground’” (Taylor and Neustaeter). To have an electric chair at a school would mean that something shady was happening, but to have an underground tunnel leading to the hospital meant that they knew what they were doing was wrong and took joy in doing so. Lastly, in David A. Robertson: ‘My grandmother’s sister had a name. It was Maggie’, Robertson gives an analogy between D-Day and residential schools. The analogy was “Allied soldiers in World War II had, by far, a better chance of surviving D-Day than an Indigenous child forced to attend residential school” (Robertson). The analogy between D-Day and residential schools shows how severe residential schools were. D-Day killed thousands of allied soldiers, but those soldiers still had a better chance of surviving than children in residential schools, which meant that residential schools were worse than a large military operation. 

Another reason why this was so shocking was that soldiers knew that they might get killed on the front lines, but these children were just going to school. In conclusion, the reasons above prove that the presence of residential schools had a negative impact on indigenous peoples.