The current reconciliation process taking place in Canada is a collaboration between Aboriginal residential school survivors, their families, the Canadian government, and churches are finally addressing the impacts still felt by Indian Residential Schools. In these schools students were forced to abandon their culture and language in order to assimilate into the dominant society. Decades later, Aboriginal communities still feel the traumatic effects from attending Indian Residential Schools. Family dysfunction, loss of culture and identity, addiction and social issues not only affect residential survivors, but also the following generations. Given this impact, it is important culturally responsive and appropriate strategies be developed to help communities heal from this trauma. This paper examines the psychological, physiological, and social processes involved in the transmission of trauma, as well as the transmission of trauma through generations.
Source: Aguiar, William, and Halseth, Regine. “Aboriginal Peoples and Historic Trauma: The process of intergenerational transmission.” National Collaborating Centre For Aboriginal Health. 2015. https://www.ccnsa-nccah.ca/docs/context/RPT-HistoricTrauma-IntergenTransmission-Aguiar-Halseth-EN.pdf