Indian Day School lawsuit

"Indian Day Schools were established in Canada by, or with the assistance and support of the Crown. Through mandatory federal government policy Aboriginal children were required to attend Indian Day Schools. Government policy dictated that attendance be compulsory for Aboriginal Children between ages 7 and 15.

These education regimes were designed to negate an Aboriginal Child's cultural identity by depriving them of their way of life in Indian Day Schools where they were forced to learn to speak and read a European language and also to accept a cultural way of life that was not their own.

In the result, these Aboriginal Children and their descendants were deprived of the opportunity to learn about and practise their own legal and social systems, including ceremony and culture and this form of education caused teh fragmentation. oppression and, in some instances, eradication of Aboriginal spirituality, Language, law and culture.

Many children were also subjected to physical, sexual and emotional abuses, in addition to other inflictions of cruelty that took place while the policy was followed through within Indian Day Schools that created the arena which provided for the orchestration of ethnocide and hear cultural genocide of the Aboriginal peoples of Canada.

These policies were began in 1920 and existed untill 1996. The legacy of damage done through Indian Day Schools has saturated the very fabric of Aboriginal Peoples of Canada. Generations of Aboriginal people have suffered, and continue to suffer, damage, in addition to those classes that have been specified in this action.

The damage of Aboriginal Peoples, as a result of the federal ethnocide policy is evidenced today in, for example, higher suicide rates, incarcerated rates, infant mortality rates, diabetes rates and Aboriginal gangs."

*from the class action lawsuit of Spiritwind -Joan jack

Traditional First Nations Parenting

One of my fondest memories was of my Moshum, Edward Moosomin, waking me up in the morning, "Wa-nis-ka a-say e-ya-kwa ki-si-kaw"..."Wake up, it is already late in the day", he would say every morning, even though it was still dark out, the sun was'nt even up. My Kohkum Irene was already busy cooking by the wood stove, you could hear the fire crackle, you could hear and smell the bacon and eggs, poridge and fried bannock would already be done. The table was a feast, eating by moshum and kohkum watching the sun come up. There was a quietness in the kitchen as we ate but it was so warm and comforting that I never wanted it to end.

First Nations People have been practising traditional parenting since time immemorial, with well developed and well proven techniques in parenting passed down through the Generations.
Children are the future and a happy child is a healthy child.
The First Nations Plains tribes understood that it was everyone's responsibility to assure that the child was warm and fed, happier children did not cry, this was also to make sure the child did not scare away game during a hunt or alert the enemy. Teaching children was also a communal responsibility, life skills, ceremony and song was taught through active participation with guidance from the Elders.
The daily activities began as soon as the sun was on the horizon, with morning songs, offerings and prayer,the children learned to give thanks to the Creator. After washing up in the nearby stream or lake, a grand breakfast was prepared and enjoyed by everyone in the home, there was no such thing as "sleeping in". In the warm days meals were often eaten outside in the sun, and on cold days everyone ate by the campfire in the home.
Tiny babies were precious gifts from the Creator, children were believed to be on loan and it was everyones duty to take care of this gift.