In a 2003 review published by the Aboriginal Healing Foundation, Dr. Caroline Tait, a Métis medical anthropologist and assistant professor at the University of Saskatchewan, analyzed the research literature on FASD among Aboriginal people in Canada with specific attention to the  and intergenerational effects of colonialization, including residential schools.

“The colonialist experience of Aboriginal people in Canada suggests that mainstream interpretations and analysis of health and social issues concerning Aboriginal people, specifically one as sensitive as pregnancy and substance abuse, be read from a critical perspective, questioning what is taken for granted as the current state of affairs.” 

The report concludes that “the residential school system contributed to high rates of alcohol abuse among those who previously attended the schools and among significant numbers of parents and community members who had their children removed from their care because of the school system.”

This report also concludes that the residential school system further contributed to alcohol abuse among subsequent generations of Aboriginal people, including women of child-bearing ages.  However, “… not every former student responded in the same way to their experience and, for various reasons, some individuals and communities did better than others. Because of this, alcohol abuse among Aboriginal people in Canada varies and it should be understood as a problem of certain individuals and subpopulations, rather than a problem of all Aboriginal people.”