In looking at the impact of the residential schools on the culture of aboriginals in Canada some of the most in-depth and revealing information (no surprise) comes from personal, family and whole community accounts of their experiences.
There is obviously a great deal written on this topic and I am finding some of the best resources are coming out of papers written by others as the information is being ‘honed’ in on. The paper linked below is from a University of Calgary doctoral candidate and he is exploring the post traumatic syndrome (more information linked in my previous posts). In looking at this, he looks closely at the impact on aboriginal culture as children were forbidden to wear their own clothing, speak their own language, forced to pray and into religion, etc.