Prejudice is defined as, “an unfavorable opinion or feeling formed beforehand or without knowledge, thought, or reason,” (Prejudice) and it has a long history in Canada. Native Americans are a perfect example of this. Sometime around early 1880, the Canadian government meant to assimilate native american children into Euro-Canadian culture, and they did this by creating government sponsored religious schools which are more commonly known as residential schools. (Miller)
Residential schools could
very easily be considered
cultural genocide. They
destroyed families, did
severe psychological damage
to children, and caused
long-term damage amongst
indigenous peoples. (Miller)
Many indigenous children
were forced to attend these
schools. It was very common
for children to be taken from their homes and the parents their families and they were helpless to do anything
because it was against the
law to not let them go.
(Miller) Many native american
families resorted to living in
the woods, barely scraping by, just to not have their children taken away. The idea of residential schools is terrible, but the treatment that the children received their was simply unimaginable. Anything to do with their native american was eliminated, traditional teachings, their language, their hair and clothes, and even their choices of food. (Miller) They were banned from speaking their native language, the only language they’ve spoken since birth, and native americans traditionally grow their hair long, so at these schools the boys heads were shaved and the girl’s hair was kept cut. Their education mostly consisted of religious teachings and training for manual labour. (Miller)