Analysis of Documents Related to Residential Schools in Canada

This document uses critical discourse analysis to examine language related to First Nations Residential Schools in Canada. The research uses the four discursive operations developed by Coates, Todd and Wade (2000), and specific discursive devices to analyze a selection of government documents, media documents, and published personal accounts dating from 1869 to 2007. The analysis reveals similarities and differences in the language used in the documents. Langugage used in the government and media documents often misrepresents the actions of perpetrators and victims by concealing violence, mitigating perpetrator responsibility, concealing victims responses and resistance, and blaming and pathologizing the victim (Coates et al.). Language used in the published personal accounts appears more likely to represent the actions of the perpetrators and victims more accurately by revealing violence, clarifying perpetrator responsibility, elucidating victims responses and resistance, and contesting the blaming and pathologizing of victims (Coates et al).