![]() ![]() These traumas can also “impact the environment and quality of care” that survivors provide to their children.Ī flowchart explaining the effects of intergenerational trauma and how it is transmitted. These early-life traumas put residential school survivors at higher risk for health problems ( heart disease, diabetes) and social conditions ( homelessness, substance abuse). These events include childhood abuse, poverty, and separation from parents – the same childhood adversities experienced in residential schools. She notes that these children are more likely to experience childhood adversities – events that significantly threaten a child’s physical and psychological health. What I mean by that is symptoms of anxiety and depression substance, as well as, thoughts of suicide and suicide attempts.” She says that “often, the children and/or grandchildren are at increased risk of psychological distress. ![]() What are the effects of intergenerational trauma?Īmy Bombay is an Associate Professor at Dalhousie University in Halifax and an Ojibway researcher from the Rainy River First Nations who studies intergenerational trauma in the Indigenous communities. The consequences of such trauma can be devastating to subsequent generations. This kind of trauma has been documented in the children of Holocaust survivors, Rwandan genocide survivors, and victims of war, violence, and abuse. When trauma affects future generations who didn’t experience it directly, it is known as intergenerational trauma. Trauma is a response to highly distressing situations, such as abuse and natural disasters, that negatively affect how a person thinks and behaves in the long run. While most of these harmful policies are no longer practised, multiple generations of Indigenous communities continue to struggle with the trauma they caused. You can find more information about this painful part of our history through the Indigenous Foundations, Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, and many others. Unfortunately, the list of historical injustices committed against Indigenous peoples in Canada goes beyond just these policies and cannot be completely covered in this article. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission estimated that 4,000 to 6,000 Indigenous children died in residential schools however, the true number may be far higher. While many think of residential schools as something of the distant past, in reality, the last residential schools closed only in 1996. ![]() They were often malnourished, given a poor education, and experienced physical, sexual, and psychological abuse. They were forbidden to practise their cultures, including speaking their language and wearing their traditional clothes. ![]() The purposes of these schools were to eliminate Indigenous cultures and assimilate Indigenous children into Canadian society. Starting in the 1880s, the Canadian government and various Christian and Catholic churches created 130 residential schools where more than 150,000 Indigenous children were forcibly separated from their parents at a young age to attend these schools. Throughout history, Indigenous peoples have faced countless forms of abuse, discrimination, and cultural erasure. The history of Indigenous peoples in Canada after their first contact with European settlers is tumultuous and tragic. Image source: Library and Archives Canada/Ernest Alexander Cruikshank fonds/c015037, Public DomainĪ brief history of residential schools in Canada Students attending the Metlakatla Indian Residential School, British Columbia, Undated. Consequently, many regularly face racism in their daily lives and are trying to heal from the collective trauma experienced by their relatives and ancestors. While most of the current generation of Indigenous peoples have not been forced to attend residential school, many still experience various racist policies, especially in the child welfare system. The revelations reopened wounds caused by the erasure of the cultures and systematic abuse at these institutions, a exacerbated by present-day discrimination and stigma. However, for those in the Indigenous communities who were sent to residential schools, these discoveries were no surprise. With the discovery of the potential graves of 215 Indigenous children at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School and a further 751 potential graves at the former Marieval Indian Residential School, many Canadians are horrified to learn about the tragedies that occurred on those grounds. Warning: This article contains details that some readers may find distressing Michael Ralph Limmena, Health, Medicine & Veterinary Science editor ![]()
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