In the early 17th century, missionaries were brought over from Europe to initiate schools for the Indians.
Residential schools were seen by the Canadian government as a way to educate the native citizenry and keep their children from continuing in their traditions. The goal of Boarding schools was to see native people desert their culture and integrate into white community through children since they were plentiful more vulnerable to influence. Children stayed at the school for at least 10 months of the year, from the ages six through 18 years.
This paper will focus on the residential school structure and will argue that George Orwell predicted the next intergenerational fallout. It will focus on the history of residential schools, the quality of life of the aboriginals attending these schools, their effect on the First Nations, cultivation & beliefs. I chose to write about this topic because I found that it related to George Orwell’s 1984’s predictions. Also, it carried similar issues which I will mention further on. Students were persistently prohibited to speak their own talking even tho some knew absolutely zero or to practise native traditions. In the novel we see that the children are like spies to their family and cannot be practicing their own religion due to mind control. The party works to form a discourse of the people that make up the country.
In this way, communication is secondhand another proficiency of mind control! Residential schools destroyed First Nations culture because they undressed them of their language, convention and their traditional lifestyle. An Aboriginal that went to a residential school described how they weren’t allowed to speak a word of their language at all and they were restricted from seeing their parents on a regular basis (Bob, Geraldine & Marcuse, 1993). One reaching product of the residential school system is the loss of autochthonous languages in Canada. Children were strictly forbidden to speak their unique languages. The residential schools are seen today as a cultural massacre because the government’s intention was to eradicate all features of aboriginal culture in these little ones.
The Canadian government in that century can relate to a character from George Orwell’s novel, O’Brien. His goal was to re-instruct Winston’s will, mind and heart to remodel his actuality. Dr. Spindler says “ These people that were religiously devoted really interfered with any kind of practice of Native traditional culture. Starting with the language. They were forbidden to speak their language. Language was just the start.
Then it proceeded to any aspect of the Native culture. If any student tried to duplicate any Native ceremony, for instance the ceremony that begins puberty for girls. Some students tried to carry that out surreptitiously and they were punished severely for that,” he said.
This shows that these children had to face their worst fear as a punishment for practicing their own language which obviously taught them and forced them to let go. Winston (1984) had also faced his fear by being trapped in a private room with rats after being caught doing wrong. Little ones were mistreated for speaking their original Native languages. “ Some students were chained to their beds; some had needles shoved in their tongues for speaking their inhabitant languages.” These maltreatments, along with poor cleansing, and extremely insufficient food and health care, resulted in a shockingly high death.” Now this relates to 1984 because mental, as well as physical abuse were predicted throughout the novel.
Children were getting beaten and having their minds being played with for wrong doings. This issue also carried long term side effects that took over the few generations after. According to the Manitoba Justice Institute, generations of children have grown up without a nurturing family life. As developed, many of them lack enough parenting expertise and, having only receive mistreat, in turn mistreat their children and family members.
Many thousands of Native children were taken from their families. The affection bond between children, their parents, their natural community and cultural brace were disobeyed. They didn’t have the chance to hold onto their culture or follow their own personal beliefs. The loss of the accordnes with languages, traditions and cultural history was present and that was the main goal of the Canadian Government.
Referring to George Orwell’s 1984, he had predicted the violation of relationships between one and the other and change of beliefs of the children since they are manipulated much more easier than adults. Children were the spies in their families home because that’s what they were taught in school. Indigenous children were impacted the day they left their families. “ Taken from their homes, stripped of their belongings, and separated from their siblings,” says the recently released final report from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). It manifests that everyone was required to follow the same culture and religion of the Europeans.
The target was to have every child follow what they are taught and get rid of their Native culture to form “ one perfect society”. Mental abuse was one very common kind of abuse that occurred in residential schools. Children learned to work under guidance which doesn’t desire any individual acting or thinking on the part.
The best years of their lives (their childhood) were taken away from them when they were incorporated in the residential schools, where they had to work in all kinds of weather without proper clothes which is really unfair. They were treated as grown ups and didn’t have the chance to live around a proper, loving and caring environment. The children had no one to turn to when they needed to be comforted. They had no one to tell them that they were loved. This turns one into a very cold hearted human being.
These losses to the mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being of the children who attended residential schools abused their relationships with anyone whether it was their parents, friends, lovers or even siblings. We do not see any form or shape of love throughout that specific century because it was not enforced in order to be present. The government’s goal was to keep one religion and form one perfect society but it was done through abuse. The Party in the novel also aims for one type of loyalty which was loyalty to them and only them. O’Brien says to Winston: We have cut the links between child and parent, and between man and man and between man and women. In the future there will be no wives and no friends. Procreation will be an annual formality.
There will be no loyalty, except loyalty towards the Party. There will be no love, except the love of Big Brother. (336-337). Hes explaining that the Party has already gotten rid of connections and relationships that people value. It hopes to develop an unconditional love for itself, and, its leader as well of each one of his members. George Orwell’s entire novel is, in a sense, Winston’s journey on the way to loving Big Brother after all.
This kind of traumatic mind control, takes over each child easily which lead to exactly what the government desired and what 1984 had predicted. In short, residential schools demolished the First Nations children’s culture from stripping them of their language, customs and traditional belief systems. Across the history of western society, we have lived in fear of change, differences in religion, and thoughts different from our own. We either assimilate or destroy.
The creation of residential schools destroyed the children and the life of the First Nations in the 19th century. Imagine being forbidden from speaking your original language, creating relationships and being taken away from your loved ones… George Orwell’s novel predicted such cruelness and selfishness before the Canadian Government enforced residential schools. Traditions and beliefs did not carry any importance at the time which dragged on the next generations. The objective was to create one language and one type of society but in the end, they couldn’t erase the culture and therein lies hope.
