The schools were spread out across Canada but were mostly focused in on Western Canada (Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba). Originally, Ottawa's objective was the assimilation of the Indian peoples into Canadian society. The irony of this statement is that the government, founded by European descendants, wanted to assimilate the Aboriginals, the original first people in Canada, into Canadian society. The schools ran for roughly 100 years, between the 1870s to the mid 1970s (CBC News, 2011). The schools were said to be without a doubt some of the most painful experience for many Indian children and their parents and has landed the victims many long-term effects. Their own religious teachers were sometimes the responsible ones for the abuse, physically and sexually (Bone, 2014).
To further enhance the complexity of the Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal divide, we must recognize that Bone did not specify if the divide he was referring to was only between Aboriginals and those who are of European and other descent. What this means, is that there are a large number of classifications that define Aboriginal Peoples and it causes another divide amongst Aboriginals themselves. The Constitution Act of 1982 refers to Indians, Mtis, and Inuit under the umbrella term Aboriginal peoples (Bone, 2014). The term Aboriginal peoples refer to those living in Canada who can trace their ancestry to the original settlers of North America before the arrival of the Europeans. Furthermore, the Aboriginal peoples can be divided into status (registered) Indians, and non-status Indians. Status Indians are legally recorded by the government as Indians, which is in accordance with the Indian Act of June 1985. They have certain rights, such as tax exemption for income generated on a reserve. Non-Status Indians are the opposite. They are not recorded by the government as Indians and do not get the same rights as declared on the Indian Act.