There were 130 residential schools across Canada from the mid-1800’s to the mid-1970’s. The Canadian government made a law that all Indigenous (First Nations, Inuit and Metis) children  go to  Christian schools often thousands of miles from their family homes. The children were taught in English and forced to give up their languages, cultures and families. Today, there are over 90,000 survivors of residential schools. The schools continue to have an effect because parents, grandparents, and extended family and friends were abused in many ways in these schools, told their culture had no value, and taken away from their parents as young children. They had little chance to learn about their own culture, how to parent or teach gently, to value themselves and others, or experience pleasure in learning. In order not to pass on this legacy of pain each individual and community has had to take on the challenge to heal and change. In a racist society, where Indigenous (First Nations, Inuit and Metis) people are still often treated badly, where individual and community change has been too slow in coming, many young people continue to have a hard time.

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