How did residential schools affect Indigenous children in Canada?

The Canadian residential school system was a government-sponsored program designed to assimilate Indigenous children into Western culture by forcibly removing approximately 150,000 First Nations, Métis, and Inuit children from their homes.1

The impact on these children was devastating:

• Cultural Erasure: Students were forbidden from speaking their languages or practicing their traditions. They were forced to adopt Euro-American clothing and hairstyles, and were subjected to severe punishment for any displays of Indigenous culture.21
• Abuse and Neglect: Children experienced rampant physical, sexual, and emotional abuse. Poor living conditions, overcrowding, and malnutrition led to widespread disease, and thousands of children died, often buried in unmarked graves.21
• Educational Deficiencies: The curriculum was inferior to that of non-Indigenous schools, focusing on menial vocational training rather than academic advancement.21
• Long-term Trauma: The systemic abuse is widely recognized as a primary cause of ongoing challenges in Indigenous communities, including high rates of suicide, substance abuse, and violence.2

In 2008, Prime Minister Stephen Harper issued a formal apology for the harm caused by this system.1