Abstract
Although residential schools no longer exist today, the systems of oppression which allowed them to operate continue. These systems have existed non-linearly throughout time, as the past, present, and future effects of colonialism intersect in the lives of First Nations. The spiritual successor of the residential school project can be viewed in many contemporary structures; specifically, in the institutionalized violence accumulated within the child welfare system. In this paper, I argue that the contemporary child welfare system in Canada, as it relates to both on- and off-reserve First Nations children, is the modern-day successor of the Indian Residential School System. Specifically, the strategies of racialization and subalternation underpinning the colonial machine, and exemplified within the residential school system, have surreptitiously reformed into the child welfare system.
Highlights
Residential schools no longer exist today, the systems of oppression which allowed them to operate continue
Kanien'kehá:ka academic Taiaiake Alfred defines colonialism as: Best conceptualized as an irresistible outcome of a multigenerational and multifaceted process of forced dispossession and attempted acculturation [...] that has resulted in political chaos and social discord within First Nations communities and the collective dependency of First Nations upon the state. (Taiaiake Alfred, 2009, p. 52) From the 1880s until 1997, this forced dependency took many forms; the most known and destructive of which was the Indian Residential School System
The spiritual successor of the residential school project can be viewed in many contemporary structures; in the institutionalized violence accumulated within the child welfare system
Summary
Residential schools no longer exist today, the systems of oppression which allowed them to operate continue. These systems have existed non-linearly throughout time, as the past, present, and future effects of colonialism intersect in the lives of First Nations and First Nation people. I argue that the contemporary child welfare system in Canada, as it relates to both on- and off-reserve First Nations children, is the modern-day successor of the Indian Residential School System and meant to create what academic Achille Mbembea calls a ‘deathscape’.
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