Legacy
Health
15. We call upon the federal, provincial, territorial, and Aboriginal governments to acknowledge that the current state of Aboriginal health in Canada is a direct result of previous Canadian government policies, including residential schools, and to recognize and implement the health-care rights of Aboriginal people as identified in international law, constitutional law, and under the Treaties.
I believe we've already touched a bit on intergenerational trauma; this is the proven idea that trauma inflicted on one generation of people, families, or communities trickles down to affect following generations. The science here is undeniable. I am of the mind that a lot of us suffer from effects of intergenerational trauma, to some extent, but the instances of this in Aboriginal communities are most keenly observed. (Descendants of Holocaust survivors also show such effects.)
These effects aren't simply psychological or societal; there is also a strong biological component to intergenerational trauma, which is explained by the study of epigenetics, "the study of heritable changes in gene expression." Simply put, trauma changes our genes, and these changes can result in a host of issues which can then be passed down to the next generation(s).
Here are some excellent resources regarding intergenerational trauma and its effects:
University of Calgary
Collections Canada
Femmagazine (this one contains a particularly good explanation)
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