Responsibility for Residential Schools

‘The injustice these schools produced on society extends into the community so much that economies suffer; displaying the inescapable effects the past has on the future. This issue affects Aboriginal communities’ contribution to the economy, as seen through their rates of at ­risk families and low quality of education. Although residential schools no longer operate, their victims still exist as a cause of many unstable Aboriginal families. Many children were separated from their families, enduring abuse, isolation, and lack of secure upbringing. This“set in motion an intergenerational transfer of trauma that continues to cause significant downstream damage to Aboriginal families, their children, and their grandchildren”. As a result, many Aboriginal people lack knowledge on raising a family, which theaffects the present development of “children”. In terms of economic growth, education is substantial for youth in order to contribute. The government should notice the similarities schools on reserves have today and how their conditions are comparable to residential schools in the past. Schools on reserves “struggle to retain quality teachers, they lack infrastructure and they can’t offer as many educational programs”. Children in Aboriginal communities ultimately have less educational support.  Approximately “half of First Nations youth graduate from high school, compared to more than 80 per cent of other Canadian children”.  These statistics reveal Canada’s lack of consideration about the past, as the quality of education lacks improvement since residential schooling. Unless more attention is given to improving education, Natives’ economic contributions to Canada will be scarce. Therefore, it is the government’s responsibility to learn from the past, because victims’ unstable family lives, combined with poor schooling conditions will affect the economy today.’