The residential schools were a network for boarding schools implemented and funded by the Canadian government and Christian churches (Hanson, 1). The main purpose was to assimilate the aboriginal culture and teach the Canadian culture (Hanson, 1). Aboriginal children were forced into schools following the passage of the Indian act. “An amendment to Indian act made attendance of day school compulsory for First nation children and in some parts of the country. Residential schools were the only option (Miller, 2). The Canadian government used the schools to keep the aboriginal children away from their culture and parents.
The main purpose of residential schools in Canada was to implement a farm based boarding school situated for from parental influence, so that the separation from parents and culture could be used to influence western culture into lives of the aboriginal children (Hanson, 1). The aboriginal children were forced to live away from their families and parents were often discouraged from visiting the schools. According to a report by CBC news in 2014, “Canadian government developed a policy called ‘aggressive assimilation’ to be taught at church government funded industrial schools, later called residential school (CBC News).
In residential schools, teaching focused more on practical skills than academic studies (Hanson, 7). The female students were taught domestic services like cook, sew etc. and the boys were taught labour like carpentry, farming etc. “Residential schools provided aboriginal students with an inferior education, often they up to grade five that focused on training students for manual labour in agriculture, light industry, such as wood working and domestic work such as laundry work and sewing” (Hanson, 2). The poor education system in residential schools did not allow students to continue with future education and obtain gainful employment (Laing, 53). Also, in residential schools teacher’s ma...