Genocide of Indigenous Peoples in Residential Schools

Written by Guest Writer: Esperanza Stevens

Famous Photo Associated with the cultural change residential schools incurred

On May 27, 2021, the bodies of 215 Indigenous children were found in a mass, unmarked gravesite outside of a former residential school in Kamloops, B.C.  Although this was shocking news to most people, it was only confirmation for the Indigenous Peoples.  This is just one of the many graves that they know existed as a result of the schools.  The objective of residential schools was to eliminate the Indigenous peoples, and these mass graves are just one example of how the government attempted to achieve this goal.

Makeshift memorial for the 215 found bodies in Kamloops BC

The Residential School System was a genocide of the Indigenous Peoples, as they were intended to “take the Indian out of the child.”  The settlers who had come and stolen the Indigenous Peoples’ land also took their children and tried to make them look, act and be white like the European children. The settlers would take children forcefully from their homes and families, then bring them to terrifying,  buildings with nuns, priests and teachers that were meant to be schools where they would also reside for the school year.  When they arrived at the school, the children were stripped, their hair was cut and sometimes even bleached and their belongings were taken away and never returned.  The schools were trying to ensure they all looked the same: like Europeans (see photo below).  The children were cut off from everyone and anything from their homes including their families.  If they had siblings, they were separated and not allowed to talk to each other or they would be punished. At the residential schools, children were not permitted to practice any part of their culture, since they would be punished if they spoke their language, told their stories, or shared their teachings.

Some means of punishment included physical, sexual and mental abuse. The Indigenous children would be whipped, beaten and sometimes even locked in a closet for multiple days without food.  There is even a story of a little girl whose tooth protruded from her lip after being thrown across the classroom.  Although this kind of story is unimaginable to us now, similar punishments were a daily occurrence in residential schools. Sometimes, children would be punished horribly for simply being Indigenous.  

The abuse experienced in residential schools caused intergenerational trauma for the Indigenous people in many different ways. In Indigenous cultures, all of their traditions, stories, and language were passed down orally. The generations of Indigenous people who attended residential schools were stripped of their culture, and as a result, they were unable to pass it down fully to the next generations.  To ensure that their culture does not disappear as the schools intended, they must somehow re-learn all the teachings that they were given.  This trauma also means that some parents who attended the schools in their childhood suffer from depression and could potentially turn to suicide, drugs, and alcohol to cope with their pain.  Due to this, they might not always be able to support their children nor pass down the teachings, language, and culture to them.  Intergenerational trauma is part of the genocide of residential schools because it still exists now, making it harder for Indigenous cultures to stay alive. 

The Indigenous peoples are striving to keep their cultures alive because of the deaths, “Europeanizing,” abuse, and intergenerational trauma that exists because of the genocide of residential schools.  Phyllis Webstad has said that her community called St. Joseph’s residential school “the mission” because it was a mission to wipe out the Indigenous culture.