Amerindian Genocide: Difference between revisions

The Canadian government pursued the same policy with the [[Canadian Indian residential school system]] which was designed to forcibly assimilate native children into white culture. These schools were even more brutal than the American ones, with many acts of physical, mental and sexual abuse being committed against the children. Thousands of children died due to poor treatment until the system was closed down in 1996, and mass graves are still being uncovered today.

"Indian termination" is a phrase describing United States policies relating to Native Americans from the mid-1940s to the mid-1960s. It was shaped by a series of laws and practices with the intent of assimilating Native Americans into mainstream American society. Cultural assimilation of Native Americans was not new; the belief that indigenous people should abandon their traditional lives and become what the government considers "civilized" had been the basis of policy for centuries. What was new, however, was the sense of urgency that, with or without consent, tribes must be terminated and begin to live "as Americans." To that end, Congress set about ending the special relationship between tribes and the federal government.