Secondary IV • 2yr.
Good evening, why were there residential schools?
Good evening, why were there residential schools?
Explanation from Alloprof
This Explanation was submitted by a member of the Alloprof team.
Good evening!
Following the formation of the Canadian federation, the federal government funded the creation of residential schools for Indigenous people. The Church was responsible for educating indigenous youth who lived on reserves. However, it was more of a major campaign to assimilate the First Nations.
These young people were forcibly removed from their families and sent far away so that they couldn’t find their way back to their homes.
The purpose of residential schools was to turn Indigenous people into Canadians. Their names were Europeanized, the languages they had to study were French and English and they also had to practice Christianity. It was forbidden for them to communicate in their mother’s tongue.
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