In 1928 a government official predicted Canada would end its “Indian problem” within two generations. Residential Schools were supposed to prepare the Micmac children to get them ready for life in a “white society”, but it did not turn out that way. Children between the ages of 6 to 15 were prohibited in speaking the aboriginal language if they did the children would be punished severely. The students would be forced to live on school premises , most of them had no contact with their families for up to 10 months at a time, sometimes even years. This would continue for decades leaving physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual scars that haunt the Micmac people to this day.
In 2008 the government gave a public apology stating “the treatment of the Residential schools is a sad chapter in our history”. The Prime Minister not only not only apologized about the Residential school system but the creation on the system itself. Today many of the aboriginal people are still traumatized by the horrific events that the Residential schools have put on them, and the scars it has left. The Aboriginal people will always have an influence on citizens not only across Canada but all around the globe.
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