The Effect of Language in Residential Schools

The persecution of Aboriginal culture in Residential Schools resulted in the extinction or decline of many of their languages, such as Ojibway, Kootenai, Cree, Kwak'wala, Mi'kmaq, Inuktitut, and Aklavik ("The Survivors Speak," 2015, p.105, 4, 6, 48, 50, 51, 16). The children felt lost without their connection to their language. In the Residential Schools, teachers would beat and humiliate students who spoke their home language. Many survivors, like Rose Dorothy Charlie, admit to renouncing their Native tongue simply to avoid being beaten ("The Survivors Speak," 2015, p.54). The Sapir-Whorf…