Residential Schools and Mothers/First Nations

Residential schools were most commonly found in Canada during the late 19th and 20th century. A residential school refers to various types of institutions that provide both education and residence to students attending. First Nations is a term used to describe the ethnicity of Aboriginal peoples in Canada who most commonly affiliate themselves with the Inuit or Métis. From 1879 to the late 1990s, students attending residential schools were most often placed there through force, depriving the parents of the authority to decide their children's fate. The stories of children being forcibly removed from their homes highlight how the children and their parents were equally affected by Canada's policies to assimilate Native children to Western culture.