Canadian Residential Schools · Colonial Assimilation · Child Separation · Global Parallels
Nine modules.
One series.
Begin with a careful introduction to colonial assimilation and child separation, using Canadian residential schools as a reference point. Then explore seven regional histories. Move through the numbered stories, then close with the series conclusion.
Series path
Follow the series in order, pause when you need to, and return to any story as you learn.
Introduction
Begin with the Canadian residential school system and the broader history of colonial assimilation, child separation, and Indigenous survival that frames the stories ahead.
South Africa
A global story of racial classification, schooling, land control, labour systems, and colonial/apartheid-era structures of separation.
United States — Indian Boarding Schools
A close North American parallel of boarding schools, military discipline, language suppression, and federal assimilation policy.
Australia — Stolen Generations
Child removal, protection boards, missions, domestic labour training, identity control, and the fight for recognition and repair.
New Zealand / Aotearoa
Native schools, language pressure, treaty context, urbanization, and Māori-led cultural and language revitalization.
Sápmi — Sámi Assimilation
Norwegianization and Nordic assimilation: borders through homelands, school language pressure, racial science, land restrictions, and renewal.
Latin America
Missions, land loss, labour systems, state integration, language pressure, and Indigenous survival across different national histories.
Greenland & Denmark
A final global case study on colonial administration, language, schooling, family separation, modernization, and Inuit resilience.
Series Conclusion
The closing synthesis: what these systems shared, what made each place different, why Canada remains central here, and what truth-telling asks of us now.
How to use this site
For classrooms, personal learning, or public education.
Move slowly
This material is heavy because it is about children, families, language, and power. It is better to complete one story carefully than to rush through the whole series.
Compare carefully
The histories are connected by colonial patterns, but they are not identical. Each place has its own peoples, laws, churches, timelines, and forms of resistance.
Return to Canada
The global parallels are here to sharpen understanding of Canadian residential schools, not to distract from them or make them seem ordinary.