Residential schools, prisons, and HIV/AIDS among Aboriginal people in Canada : Pensionnats, prisons et VIH/sida au sein de la population autochtone du Canada : à la recherche de liens d'interdépendance

Elder – generally means someone who is considered exceptionally wise in the ways of their culture and the teachings of the Great Spirit; recognized for their wisdom, stability, humour, and ability to know what is appropriate in a particular situation and the community looks to them for guidance and sound judgment; and caring and known to share the fruits of their labours and experience with others [...] Kirmayer and colleagues note the implications of the residential school legacy with respect to impacts on the overall social conditions of Canada’s Aboriginal peoples: “The origins of the high rates of mental health and social problems in Aboriginal communities are not hard to discern. [...] With an acute awareness of the aftermath of assimilation and the establishment of residential schools, assessing the extent and characteristics of the damage is essential in the recovery and resurgence of Aboriginal culture in Canada. [...] Kirmayer and colleagues delve deeper into the two areas the AHF article (Barlow, 2003) had listed by interpolating on the areas impacted by the Legacy: Transgenerational effects of the residential schools include: the structural effects of disrupting families and communities; the transmission of explicit models and ideologies of parenting based on experiences in punitive institutional settings; pa [...] As Kirmayer and colleagues affirm: “For Canadian Aboriginal peoples, the revelations of the evils of the residential schools have made the notion of individual and collective trauma salient” (2003:S20).