Now, more than ever, we need to commit to doing better. With the discovery of more than 1000 unmarked graves at former residential schools, of which many closed only in the last 30 years, it’s impossible to not consider the sociological impacts residential schools have played on Indigenous peoples to present day.
You might have been aware – or not – of the existence of residential schools prior to the recent news. With the announcement of more children found each week as communities continue to search the grounds, what happened in these schools and the subsequent effects on Indigenous peoples since has stirred greater conversation on how we can do better.
With the search underway to uncover more unmarked graves, the mistreatment and the greater genocide of a population based on their ancestry has become more evident, causing us to wonder just exactly how this translates into today’s society. The purpose of residential schools was to anglicize Indigenous children – strip them of their culture, language, family, and ancestry. With the last residential school operating until 1996, this isn’t an old issue that has come to light. In fact, it’s an ongoing issue that needs to be addressed.
According to The Conference Board of Canada, Indigenous job applicants continue to experience difficulties because of the residential school system. In our recent consciousness, the segregation of Indigenous groups is still prevalent, and perhaps translates into the lack of opportunity and high unemployment rates among Indigenous groups within Canada and abroad.
The International Labour Office in Geneva released a report in 2007 stating that Indigenous groups often face barriers and greater challenges when seeking employment on a national and international scale.
According to their findings:
- Indigenous workers are unable to compete on equal footing with their knowledge and skills not valued as highly or they have limited access to higher education and training as their non-Indigenous counterparts.
- Indigenous workers are often exploited in terms of Labour Rights.
- Indigenous workers are more likely to be paid less than their non-Indigenous counterparts despite the same level of schooling. This becomes more evident with higher levels of education.
While likely exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Statistic Canada, in 2020 Indigenous unemployment rates stood at 14.2 per cent, while the unemployment rate of non-indigenous groups was only 9.4 percent. The four previous years reported show the disparity is not new, with Indigenous unemployment rates consistently doubling that of non-Indigenous groups and rates varying between First Nations, Métis, and Inuit groups.