Article Review: Indigenous People in Canada

Running head: ARTICLE REVIEW: INDIGENOUS PEOPLE IN CANADA
Article Review: Indigenous People in Canada
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Topic 1: Residential Schools
Sedehi, K. T. (2019). Witnessing the Unspoken Truth: On Residential School Survivors'
Testimonies in Canada. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 9(7), 755-761.
Summary
The residential system of school in Canada started in the year 1876 and continued till
1996 (Sedehi, 2019). The motto of operating the residential schools was to assimilate
children of the indigenous community into the mainstream European-Canadian culture. A
new law was established, known as Indian Act in the year 1876, which gave the government
the power to take the children of the indigenous community away from their homes and
parents and keep them in schools that taught them the methods and essence of the Euro-
Canadian culture. The kids taken to the residential schools had to face extraneous emotional,
mental, physical and sexual abuse while living there. Their education included learning about
European culture and their practices, its beliefs and norms while the kids were expressly
forbidden to talk about their culture (Sedehi, 2019). Their own culture was belittled, which
affected the aboriginal people of Canada for many generation that followed. The residential
schools committed large scale cultural genocide.
The purpose of the article is to provide awareness regarding the incidents that
happened in the residential schools in Canada and provide support and courage to the people
who survived the horrific era so that they can fight and exact their rights. The research
includes testimonies of residential school survivors, collected through YouTube. In one
incident, children were beaten, strapped to their beds or whipped for minor mistakes while
other testimonies recount stories of pedophilia which created large scale trauma (Sedehi,
2019). Most of the victims confirm that the residential school experience led to severe
depression, trauma and substance abuse among them as a mechanism to cope up. Many of the

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survivors developed amnesia as a defense mechanism for forgetting about the horrific past.
They are also skeptic about the governmental approach to address the problems. The study
implores the government to give the aboriginal population the attention that they deserve and
create policies and programs that will truly support them.
Criticism
The article presents the observation and listening of the videos that accounted the
experience of the aboriginal people in Canada. The author realizes the limitations that
listeners have while listening to the accounts of the victims. They often feel too close to them
and relate to them for their own personal experience. They start recounting their own past
which leads them to relive that past that they had already come to terms with. This leads to
further issues. The victims too face the same problem while recounting their stories (Sedehi,
2019). The most critical issue here is that the aboriginal people have not completely come to
terms with their past. This makes them much more vulnerable to intergenerational trauma.
This has led to reduction of health conditions, mental health, lack of education, advancement
due to their lack of trust in government (Cowan, 2020).
In many cases, the aboriginal people are accused of suffering for mental health issues
and substance abuse. In reality, the experience of abuse, suffering and torture that they had to
face in the residential schools, created a permanent scar in their memory that cannot be
removed (Kim, 2019). The assimilation that the earlier government planned, failed
spectacularly, along with it failed one of the most culturally diverse population’s confidence
and sense of identity. The residential system of school in Canada was a joint effort by the
government of Canada and the Catholic Church. The residential system had much effect in
the loss of culture and heritage that the aboriginal community faced. The present research has
certain limitations. The research is based on observation and listening which makes it

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somewhat limited for the obvious reason that gestures and body language interpretation is
different across culture.
The study is significant for several reasons. The study provides a complete overview
of the experience that the Aboriginals in Canada faced during the time of colonization. The
decolonizing efforts from the governments were equally traumatic for them. Till now, the
aboriginal children do not receive aid or scholarship for their education, which limits their
capacity to pursue higher education. Moreover, the several mental and physical health issues
that emerged due to their years in the residential systems also need support from the
government (Bernards et al., 2019). The people that spend time in those schools are unable to
parent their child, maintain proper relationship with friends, family or spouse and are
unequipped to hold a job for long (Cowan, 2020). In this regard, the government organs that
creates the policies need to consider updating the current policies so that the aboriginal
people in Canada are not assimilated but are included in the nation of Canada.