The Long Term Effects of Forcible Assimilation Policy: The Case of Indian Boarding Schools

For decades in North America and Australia, indigenous children were forcibly removed from their homes and placed in boarding schools. These schools had the stated goal of cultural assimilation and are perceived to have been an educational failure. I offer the first causal evidence on the long run effects of these schools using the interaction of changes in Canadian national policy and variation in the power of the Catholic Church. I find that the average boarding school had substantial effects on both cultural and economic assimilation. However, I find suggestive evidence that highly abusive schools only affected cultural connection.