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The civic question is important because the residential school system pushed indigenous people though a traumatic and abusive experience funded by the government.

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I think School survivors would have needed to pay for therapy, medical appointments, rehabilitation from any substance abuse caused by the schools trauma and also compensation for the overall experience. So expenses related to the time at the school and overall compensation

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Residential schools were across Canada in every province with significant indigenous populations, It is being seen on a nation wide scale due to the current residences of the survivors but also due to the scale of these schools and how many there were.

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Current Compensation for Night Students (Used)

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Current Compensation for Night Students (Used)

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Commemoration is a component of the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement that supported regional and national activities that honoured, educated, remembered and paid tribute to former Indian residential school (IRS) students, their families and their communities.

Commemoration was jointly managed by Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada (AANDC) and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). The TRC's role was to receive and review proposals to ensure they met the program objectives, as set out in Schedule J of the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement, and to make recommendations for funding. The department's role was to approve and fund the projects recommended by the TRC, (PDF Version, 121 Kb, 2 pages) as set out in the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement, and ensure compliance with Treasury Board guidelines.

Commemoration objectives

The main objectives of Commemoration were to:

assist in honoring and validating the healing and reconciliation of former students and their families through Commemoration initiatives that address their residential school experience

provide support towards efforts to improve and enhance Indigenous relationships and between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people

provide an opportunity for former students and their families to support one another and to recognize/celebrate their strengths, courage, resiliency and achievements

contribute to a sense of identity, unity and belonging

promote Indigenous languages, cultures, and traditional and spiritual values

ensure that the legacy of residential schools and former students and their families' experiences and needs are affirmed

memorialize in a tangible and permanent way the residential school experience

Commemoration projects

$20 million in funding was set aside by the Government of Canada to fund 144 commemoration projects. The projects recognized individual and family resiliency and achievements, as well as promoted Indigenous languages, cultures, traditional values and spiritual values. All former students, their families, communities and groups, were eligible to submit a proposal for a regional or national Commemoration project. The distribution of funding was based on the projects recommended by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Gestures of reconciliation from the Government of Canada

At each of the TRC's seven national events, the Government of Canada offered gestures of reconciliation:

Choose a Truth and Reconciliation Commission National Event

Winnipeg, Manitoba - June 2010:

The Government of Canada announced its intent to repeal those sections of the that allowed for the establishment of Indian residential schools and the removal of children from their homes and communities.
Advocacy and public information program
$50,000 through the Advocacy and Public Information Program to northern Aboriginal organizations to support former students' travel to the event.

Inuvik, Northwest Territories - June 2011:

Travel for an Inuit elder to present her booklets on traditional Inuit knowledge for living well

Funding to print ' Cultivating Canada', (PDF Version, 134 Mb, 466 pages) the Aboriginal Healing Foundation's third volume on Truth and Reconciliation, for distribution at the event

Advocacy and public information program
$800,000 to northern Aboriginal organizations to support former students travel to the event

Halifax, Nova Scotia - October 2011:
Advocacy and public information program

$200,000 through the Advocacy and Public Information Program and Health Canada to support travel and accommodations for former students' to attend the event;

Saskatoon, Saskatchewan - June 2012:

Funding to the Saskatoon Tribal Council to set up accommodations for survivors in a large campsite at the Wanuskewin Heritage Park, a historic gathering place for Aboriginal people in the region

On June 11, 2012, the fourth anniversary of the Prime Minister's Apology, Minister Duncan unveiled the artwork of Métis artist Christi Belcourt, which was selected to be translated into a stained glass window and permanently installed in Parliament to commemorate the legacy of Indian residential schools. Minister Duncan placed an image of the stained glass artwork in the TRC's Bentwood Box.

Advocacy and public information program
$150,000 to support former students' travel to the event

Montreal, Quebec - April 2013:

$183,000 to support over 120 former students' travel to this event

Presentation of the Legacy of Hope Foundation's 100 Years of Loss Edu-kit to the TRC's Bentwood Box

Advocacy and public information program

Funded the First Nations of Quebec and Labrador Health and Social Services Commission to display the Memoire Rouge exhibit at the event. The exhibit was created by the Huron-Wendat Museum and aims to shed light on the history of the Indian residential schools in Quebec

Les Pléiades Associées received funding, through the Commemoration initiative to create a wampum belt, a traditional artifact that represents collective memory and experiences, using artifacts and testimony from former students across various communities in Quebec. AANDC funded the display of the belt at the national event, where it was presented to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Vancouver, British Columbia - September 2013:

$271,000 to support former students' travel and accommodations to attend this event. Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada partnered with the BC First Nations Health Authority to distribute these funds to former students

funding for two projects to present at the BC national event:

the Ernie Philip Residential School Healing and Reconciliation Society created a documentary entitled "The Story of Dancing Bear", the life journey of Ernie Philip, from his days as a young boy at residential school to his life as a world-class artist named Dancing Bear. The department supported this Commemoration project to attend the national event and distributed copies of the documentary at the Government of Canada booth.

the Vancouver Aboriginal Community Policing Centre Society's project "Circles of Understanding" provides educational materials and an exhibit to promote awareness of residential schools and their effects on Aboriginal communities

Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada's employees, who wok on residential schools issues, presented a written statement on reconciliation and the impacts of the work they do as Canada's representatives in the Independent Assessment Process.

Edmonton, Alberta - March 2014:

An art exhibit featuring 26 works of art from the department's art collection by 12 Aboriginal artists from Alberta. The exhibit is a partnership between the University of Alberta Museums Enterprise Square Galleries and AANDC.
Advocacy and public information program

$330,000 to support former students' travel to the event

Funds for Path to Freedom Films Ltd. and Tribal Alliance Productions to host a private film screening and panel discussion on "Older Than America", a film that delves into the lasting impact of Indian residential schools across the United States and Canada. This private screening and panel discussion with leading experts provided City of Edmonton officials and front-line service providers the opportunity to increase their knowledge and gain a better understanding of the intergenerational effects of residential schools

Funds for the Urban Society for Aboriginal Youth to reprint a special edition of its New Tribe Magazine for youth on the intergenerational impacts of residential schools

Funds for the Native Counseling Services of Alberta and Project of Heart to establish a permanent commemoration exhibit in each province and territory, made using the Project of Heart tiles created by children, youth and elders in schools across the country

Funds for the Legacy of Hope Foundation to fabricate and disseminate 1000 additional "100 Years of Loss" educational kits. These educational kits were sent to provincial school districts throughout Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, to support increased awareness and understanding of the legacy of Indian residential schools.

Remembering the past: A window to the future

In October 2012, a stained glass window was installed in the Centre Block on Parliament Hill to serve as a gesture of reconciliation from the Government of Canada and all Canadians and a lasting commemoration of the sad chapter of Indian Residential Schools in Canadian history.

Designed by renowned Métis artist Christi Belcourt, the window commemorates the legacy of Indian residential schools and the Prime Minister's Apology to former students on behalf of all Canadians.

The window was installed directly above the west entrance to Centre Block, providing a unique opportunity for Parliamentarians and visitors to Parliament to learn about the history of Indian residential schools and Canada's ongoing reconciliation efforts.

More about Remembering the Past: A Window to the Future.

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Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement

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Learn more about the history of Indian Residential Schools, as well as key milestones leading up to the present day, by visiting our online visual presentation in either HTML or Flash.

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Learn about the Indian Residential Schools (Gottfriedson) Day Scholars settlement agreement for the Survivor and Descendant classes.

Update

The claims process for the Indian Residential Schools (Gottfriedson) Day Scholars settlement is now open. Applications can be submitted until October 4, 2023. For more information on how to apply for compensation, please contact the claims administrator, Deloitte at:

Those affected by the harms associated with their attendance at an Indian Residential School as a day scholar, or the ongoing process, can access emotional and crisis intervention services 24 hours a day, 7 days a week through the toll-free:

On this page

What is included in the settlement agreement

The key elements of the Indian Residential Schools (Gottfriedson) Day Scholars settlement agreement for the Survivor and Descendant classes are:

$10,000 in individual compensation for day scholars who attended an Indian Residential School during the day, but did not sleep there at night

$50 million towards the creation of the Day Scholars Revitalization Society

$9.6 million in legal fees for past legal work and settlement implementation

$2.5 million for class counsel to support additional legal work on behalf of class members at no cost to the class members. Class counsel is committed to not seeking additional legal costs from payments made to class members so as to ensure that compensation intended for plaintiffs is preserved for them

funding for administrative costs for a court-appointed third-party claims administrator to implement the agreement

Who is eligible for compensation

The settlement agreement includes $10,000 in individual compensation for all persons who attended an Indian Residential School as a day scholar during the day, but did not sleep there overnight. A list of Indian Residential Schools included in this settlement is found in Schedule E of the agreement.

In cases where the person died on or after May 30, 2005, their estate administrator, executor, trustee, liquidator, or if none is appointed, their highest priority living heir, may apply for compensation on their loved one's behalf.

Day scholars and their children will be able to apply for grants from the Day Scholars Revitalization Society to support healing, wellness, education, language, culture, and commemoration activities. Consult Schedule F of the settlement agreement for details.

How to apply for compensation

The claims process is managed by a third-party administrator, Deloitte. For comprehensive information on the settlement and claims process, class members should contact Deloitte at:

A claim can be made:

online through the claims administrator's website

on paper, through claims forms available online or sent to class members upon request

Completed paper claim forms can be mailed, faxed, or emailed to the claims administrator.

The claims process for day scholars applying on their own behalf, and those applying for a day scholar who died on or after May 30, 2005 are different.

Applying for yourself

Day scholars who attended an Indian Residential School as a day scholar in List 1 (IRSs known to have had day scholars), do not need any supporting documentation to prove their attendance. Day scholars just need to complete the Survivor claim form.

Day scholars who attended an Indian Residential School as a day scholar in List 2 (IRSs not known to have had day scholars), need to complete a Survivor claim form and provide a sworn declaration confirming that they were a day scholar and identifying who they lived with at night when they went to the Indian Residential School during the day. The sworn declaration is included in the claim form. A guide on how to complete it is available on Indian Residential Schools Day Scholars Class Action Claims Administration.

To avoid unnecessary delays in processing a claim, the Government of Canada reminds class members to carefully review their claim forms to ensure they are complete prior to submitting them to the claims administrator.

Applying on behalf of a family member

For day scholars who died on or after May 30, 2005, there is a different form, the Estate claim form.

Family members are not eligible to receive direct compensation. However, a class member's estate executor, administrator, trustee, liquidator or if none is appointed, the highest priority living heir, can make a claim on behalf of someone who died on or after May 30, 2005, or on behalf of someone who has been determined to be incapable of managing their own legal or financial affairs.

Consult the Day scholars estates guide to find out who can submit a claim and how to complete the form. All claim forms must be submitted to the claims administrator by October 4, 2023.

What is the Day Scholars Revitalization Society

The settlement includes $50 million toward the creation of the Day Scholars Revitalization Society, an Indigenous-led organization to support healing, wellness, education, language, culture, heritage and commemoration for the benefit of the Survivor and Descendant classes. The funds will be administered by a not-for-profit organization that is independent of Canada.

The Day Scholars Revitalization Society is currently being established.

Background on the settlement agreement

Day scholars are people who attended an Indian Residential School during the day, but did not sleep there at night. While Day Scholars were eligible for compensation for serious physical and sexual abuse suffered at an Indian Residential School through the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement Independent Assessment Process , they were not eligible for the Common Experience Payment as they did not reside at an Indian Residential School. The Indian Residential Schools (Gottfriedson) Day Scholars settlement agreement ensures that Day Scholars receive compensation for the harms and experiences they suffered while attending an Indian Residential School.

On June 9, 2021, Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Carolyn Bennett, together with representative plaintiffs, announced a proposed settlement agreement to resolve the national Indian Residential Schools (Gottfriedson) Day Scholars class action outside of the courts and toward a lasting and meaningful resolution for tens of thousands of day scholars who attended an Indian Residential School during the day, but did not sleep there at night.

The Federal Court approved the settlement agreement for the Survivor and Descendant classes on September 24, 2021.

Supports available for class members

Class members who have questions about the settlement agreement, a rejected claim or the class action in general can contact class counsel (the lawyers appointed by the court to provided legal services to class members, at no cost) toll-free at 1-888-222-6845 or by email at dayscholars@waddellphillips.ca.

Class members who have questions about the claim form or want a paper copy of the claim form can contact the claims administrator (Deloitte) toll-free at 1-877-877-5786 or by email at dayscholarsclaims@deloitte.ca.

Related links

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Are you part of the Indian Residential Schools (Gottfriedson) Day Scholars class action

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Learn about the Indian Residential Schools (Gottfriedson) Day Scholars settlement agreement for the Survivor and Descendant classes. The claims process for the Indian Residential Schools (Gottfriedson) Day Scholars settlement is now open. Applications can be submitted until October 4, 2023.

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Its hard to put a price on whats "Fair" in this situation, The current compensation structure gives students compensation for going to the shcool, Compensation for sexual abuse and major abuse, Mesures to support healing and establishing the TRC. This is only for boarding students that were forced to board at these shcools. The day student compensation was 10k for day scholars, funds towards a revitalization society, legal fees

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Reference #18.172b3417.1657553110.248eb2e7

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'The closing of residential schools did not bring their story to an end,' warns the commission. 'The legacy of the schools continues to this day'

[np_storybar title="Some TRC conclusions" link=""]

Child welfare

Just as the objective of residential schools was to "civilize" aboriginal children by removing them from their homes and culture, today's provincially run system of child welfare does the same. Thousands of aboriginal children are put in "non-Aboriginal homes with little consideration of the need to preserve their culture and identity."

More Aboriginal children are placed in foster care each year than attended residential school in any one year.

"Like the schools, child welfare agencies are underfunded, often culturally inappropriate, and, far too often, put Aboriginal children in unsafe situations. The child welfare system is the residential school system of our day."

The conditions that send so many Aboriginal children into the welfare system are connected to the "intractable legacies of residential schools including poverty, addictions, and domestic and sexual violence." Reform of the child welfare system is "essential," says the TRC.

Education
One of the most devastating impacts of the residential school system was that it gave most students a poor education. For many, that led to chronic unemployment or underemployment, poverty, poor housing, substance abuse, family violence, and ill health.

"Governmental failure to meet the educational needs of Aboriginal children continues to the present day. Government funding is both inadequate and inequitably distributed. Educational achievement rates continue to be poor," says the TRC.

The former Conservative government's attempt to reform on-reserve First Nations education failed because legislation was paternalistic and did not adequately consult First Nations, says the TRC. "The inadequate funding of First Nations schools on reserves remains a national disgrace. Those classrooms today bear a shameful resemblance to the residential schools."

Language and culture
Children who attended residential schools were forced to speak English and to a lesser extent, French. If they spoke their Aboriginal language, they were severely punished. "The damage affected future generations, as former students found themselves unable or unwilling to teach their own children Aboriginal languages and cultural ways." Many of the almost 90 surviving Aboriginal languages in Canada are under "serious threat," says the TRC, adding language is central to indigenous identity, and even physical wellbeing.

"If the preservation of Aboriginal languages does not become a priority both for governments and for Aboriginal communities, then what the residential schools failed to accomplish will come about through a process of systematic neglect."

Health
The schools left a catastrophic imprint on the health of students and on later generations. "Aboriginal people in Canada suffer levels of poor health that would simply not be tolerated by other Canadians," says the report. "Aboriginal people have higher mortality rates, higher rates of disease, higher rates of accidental deaths and dramatically higher rates of suicide.

"Many of these problems stem from the intergenerational legacy of residential schools. The destructive beliefs and behaviours of many students have been passed on to their children and grandchildren as physical and mental health issues."

The TRC says students in residential schools were "powerless to take any of their own healing measures. They were refused access to traditional foods and Aboriginal healers who might have helped them.

"Their families and communities were routinely excluded from decisions related to their care. Aside from the physical and mental damage these students bore, they were the first to bear what was to become a multigenerational affliction, one that would affect the ability of Aboriginal peoples to embrace their languages, their cultures, and their trusted traditional healing practices."
Justice
Residential schools "inflicted profound injustices" on Aboriginal people. "The children who attended residential schools were treated as if they were offenders and were at risk of being physically and sexually abused," the TRC says. When they complained of abuse, the students were often ignored. Years later, when they launched civil lawsuits, they found the legal system was stacked against them "in a way that often re-victimized the survivors."

The criminal justice system also fell short. The TRC has been able to identify fewer than 50 convictions stemming from abuse at residential schools - a fraction of the more than 38,000 claims of sexual and serious physical abuse that were submitted to a compensation adjudication process established several years ago. "In many ways, the residential school experience lies at the root of the current over incarceration of Aboriginal people," says the TRC.

"Traumatized by their school experiences, many succumbed to addictions and found themselves among the disproportionate number of Aboriginal people who come into conflict with the law."

The TRC says once Aboriginal people are arrested and convicted, they are more likely to go to prison than are non-Aboriginals. Canada's prisons are disproportionately filled with Aboriginals.

"The Commission cannot ignore these facts, as uncomfortable as they may be. We also need to look beyond the statistics to hear from the (school) survivors about the reasons they committed offences."

Indigenous people are threatened by higher levels of violence than non-Aboriginals, particularly Aboriginal women. The TRC says the justice system needs to be fundamentally reformed. "A key element of that change must be a justice system, based on Aboriginal law and healing practices and under Aboriginal control."

[/np_storybar]

Modern-day Canada is perpetuating the mistakes that led to the creation of the often-abusive aboriginal residential schools more than a century ago by policies that still harm indigenous people, an exhaustive new report has concluded.

The warning comes in the final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, to be released Tuesday. The seven-volume report, a blistering indictment of Canada's current approach to aboriginal issues, puts the onus squarely on political leaders at all levels to change government policies.

"The beliefs and attitudes that were used to justify the establishment of residential schools are not things of the past: they continue to animate much of what passes for Aboriginal policy today," says the report.

"Reconciliation will require more than pious words about the shortcomings of those who preceded us. It obliges us to both recognize the ways in which the legacy of residential schools continues to disfigure Canadian life and to abandon policies and approaches that currently serve to extend that hurtful legacy."

The commission zeros in on five areas - child welfare, education, language and culture, health and justice - to paint a disturbing picture of how Canada is turning its back on the needs of indigenous people.

"Over a century of cultural genocide has left most Aboriginal languages on the verge of extinction," says the commission.

"The disproportionate apprehension of Aboriginal children by child welfare agencies and the disproportionate imprisonment and victimization of Aboriginal people are all part of the legacy of the way that Aboriginal children were treated in residential schools."

In June, the TRC released a summary of its findings, spotlighting behaviour toward aboriginal people over on past decades. The final report adds reams of detail, from the testimony of thousands of former students to archival federal government documents, laying out how the scandal of residential schools unfolded.

It also argues that many of the problems faced by aboriginals today are rooted in the residential school horrors experienced by preceding generations - right back to Confederation.

"The closing of residential schools did not bring their story to an end," warns the commission. "The legacy of the schools continues to this day. It is reflected in the significant educational, income, and health disparities between Aboriginal people and other Canadians - disparities that condemn many Aboriginal people to shorter, poorer, and more troubled lives.

"The legacy is also reflected in the intense racism some people harbour against Aboriginal people and the systemic and other forms of discrimination Aboriginal people regularly experience in Canada."

Beginning in the 1880s, more than 150,000 aboriginal children were torn from their families and sent to church-run residential schools established by the federal government. They were poorly fed, housed in badly constructed buildings that were often described as fire-traps, and neglected when their health deteriorated.

In total, seven generations of children were scarred by physical, emotional and sexual abuse in the schools, which often resembled violent prisons.

For most of the school year, they were not raised by their own parents, which meant they never learned how to become parents themselves. The intergenerational fallout was shattering and the effects are still keenly felt.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission that investigated the schools was created as part of a lawsuit agreement between residential school survivors and the federal government and churches. It has three commissioners: Manitoba Justice Murray Sinclair (chair); former journalist Marie Wilson; and Alberta Chief Willie Littlechild.

In an interview with the Citizen Monday, Sinclair called on federal and provincial governments to work together on fundamental reforms that give indigenous people "more control.

"We cannot ignore that the social conditions for indigenous people are still very poor and that they are a created, imposed set of conditions," said Sinclair. "And we need to do something about that. The governments of the country created the situation. And they need to look at the way that they are doing business in order to fix it.

"Just as it occurred in the 19th century, when every leader in this country talked about the need to suppress and indoctrinate indigenous people into European cultural and religious systems, we need now for our leadership to say that indigenous people need to have the opportunity to determine their own lives."

The commission's written report is carefully documented through thousands of footnotes. Far from focusing only on the residential schools of a past era, it has conducted sweeping work that normally would be done by a royal commission.

Pressure will now be on Canada's politicians to act on the commission's 94 recommendations, which were released last June. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has promised to implement all of them - although he can act only on those that fall within federal jurisdiction. On the others, he would need to work with provincial and territorial leaders, churches, and municipal and education officials.

"Understanding and redressing the legacy of residential schools will benefit all Canadians," says the commission, explaining how today's indigenous people are still affected by the history of the schools.

"Governments in Canada spend billions of dollars each year responding to the symptoms of the intergenerational trauma of residential schools. Much of this money is spent on crisis interventions related to child welfare, family violence, ill health, and crime.

"Despite genuine reform efforts, the dramatic overrepresentation of Aboriginal children in foster care, and among the sick, the injured, and the imprisoned continues to grow.

"Only a real commitment to reconciliation and change will reverse the trends and lay the foundation for a truly just and equitable nation."
Ottawa Citizen

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Residential schools to blame for problems plaguing aboriginals: Truth and Reconciliation Commission

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'The closing of residential schools did not bring their story to an end,' warns the commission. 'The legacy of the schools continues to this day' [np_storybar title="Some TRC conclusions" link=""] Child welfare Just as the objective of residential schools was to "civilize" aboriginal children by removing them from their homes and culture, today's provincially run system of child welfare does the same.

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Table of Contents Highlighted Reports Truth and Reconciliation Commission Reports National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation Reports Modern Reports Government Reports Legislation Aboriginal Healing Foundation Reports Highlighted Reports We would like to bring these reports to the country’s attention as there is more work to be done and more children to be found to honour

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Key Facts About Residential Schools

What were residential schools?

Residential schools were government-sponsored schools run by churches.

What was the purpose of residential schools?

The purpose of residential schools was to educate and convert Indigenous youth and to assimilate them into Canadian society.

How many students attended residential schools?

An estimated 150,000 children attended residential schools.

How many children died at residential schools?

An estimated 6,000 children died at residential schools (records are incomplete).

How many residential schools were there in Canada?

In total, over 130 residential schools operated in Canada between 1831 and 1996.
In 1931, there were 80 residential schools operating in Canada. This was the most at any one time.

When did the first residential school in Canada open?

The Mohawk Institute in Brantford, Ontario, accepted its first boarding students in 1831.

When did the last residential school in Canada close?

The Gordon Residential School in Punnichy, Saskatchewan, closed in 1996. It was the last federally-funded residential school in Canada.

Early Residential Schools in New France and Upper Canada

Residential schools have a long history in Canada. The first residential facilities were developed in New France by Catholic missionaries to provide care and schooling. However, colonial governments were unable to force Indigenous people to participate in the schools, as First Nations people were largely independent and Europeans depended on them economically and militarily for survival.

Residential Schools After 1880

Beginning in the 1870s, both the federal government and Plains Nations wanted to include schooling provisions in treaties, though for different reasons. Indigenous leaders hoped Euro-Canadian schooling would help their young to learn the skills of the newcomer society and help them make a successful transition to a world dominated by the strangers. With the passage of the British North America Act in 1867, and the implementation of the (1876), the government was required to provide Indigenous youth with an education and to assimilate them into Canadian society.

The federal government supported schooling as a way to make First Nations economically self-sufficient. Their underlying objective was to decrease Indigenous dependence on public funds. The government therefore collaborated with Christian missionaries to encourage religious conversion and Indigenous economic self-sufficiency. This led to the development of an educational policy after 1880 that relied heavily on custodial schools. These were not the kind of schools Indigenous leaders had hoped to create.

Isolation and Assimilation

Overall, students had a negative experience at the residential schools, one that would have lasting consequences. Students were isolated and their culture was disparaged or scorned. They were removed from their homes and parents and were separated from some of their siblings, as the schools were segregated according to gender. In some cases, they were forbidden to speak their first language, even in letters home to their parents. The attempt to assimilate children began upon their arrival at the schools: their hair was cut (in the case of the boys), and they were stripped of their traditional clothes and given new uniforms. In many cases they were also given new names. Christian missionary staff spent a lot of time and attention on Christian practices, while at the same time they criticized or denigrated Indigenous spiritual traditions.

Daniel Kennedy (Ochankuga'he) described his experience at the Qu'Appelle (Lebret) residential school in his memoirs, published as Recollections of an Assiniboine Chief (1972):

In 1886, at the age of twelve years, I was lassoed, roped and taken to the Government School at Lebret. Six months after I enrolled, I discovered to my chagrin that I had lost my name and an English name had been tagged on me in exchange... "When you were brought here [the school interpreter later told me], for purposes of enrolment, you were asked to give your name and when you did, the Principal remarked that there were no letters in the alphabet to spell this little heathen's name and no civilized tongue could pronounce it.

'We are going to civilize him, so we will give him a civilized name,' and that was how you acquired this brand new whiteman's name.'" ...In keeping with the promise to civilize the little pagan, they went to work and cut off my braids, which, incidentally, according to the Assiniboine traditional custom, was a token of mourning - the closer the relative, the closer the cut. After my haircut, I wondered in silence if my mother had died, as they had cut my hair close to the scalp. I looked in the mirror to see what I looked like. A Hallowe'en pumpkin stared back at me and that did it. If this was civilization, I didn't want any part of it. I ran away from school, but I was captured and brought back. I made two more attempts, but with no better luck.

Realizing that there was no escape, I resigned myself to the task of learning the three Rs. ...visualize for yourselves the difficulties encountered by an Indian boy who had never seen the inside of a house; who had lived in buffalo skin teepees in winter and summer; who grew up with a bow and arrow.

(Daniel Kennedy (Ochankuga'he), former student at Qu'Appelle residential school)

Life at Residential Schools

Until the late 1950s, residential schools operated on a half-day system, in which students spent half the day in the classroom and the other at work. The theory behind this was that students would learn skills that would allow them to earn a living as adults. However, the reality was that work had more to do with running the school inexpensively than with providing students with vocational training.

Tasks were separated by gender. Girls were responsible for housekeeping (cooking, cleaning, laundry, sewing), while boys were involved in carpentry, construction, general maintenance and agricultural labour. Funding was a pressing concern in the residential school system. From the 1890s until the 1950s, the government tried constantly to shift the burden of the system onto the churches and onto the students, whose labour contributed financially to the schools. By the 1940s, it was clear to many that the half-day system had failed to provide residential students with adequate education and training. However, the half-day system was not eliminated until the late 1950s, when more funding became available owing to a strong economy.

Daily Routine at Residential Schools

School days began early, usually with a bell that summoned students to dress and attend chapel or mass. Students then performed chores (usually referred to as "fatigue" duty) before breakfast. Breakfast, like all meals, was spartan, and eaten quickly in a refectory or dining hall. This was followed by three hours of classes or a period of work before breaking for lunch. The afternoon schedule followed a similar pattern, including either classes or work, followed by more chores before supper. Time was also set aside for recreation, usually in the afternoon or evening. Some schools had small libraries, while many schools offered organized sports as well as musical instruction, including choirs and brass bands. The evening closed with prayer, and bedtime was early. It was a highly regimented system.

On weekends there were no classes, but Sunday usually meant more time spent on religious practices. Until the 1950s, holidays for many of the students included periods of work and play at the school. Only from the 1960s on did the schools routinely send children home for holidays. Therefore, many students in the residential school system did not see their family for years.
Daily Schedule at Qu'Appelle Industrial School, 1893
(Source: Annual Report of the Department of Indian Affairs, 1893, 173-74; reproduced in Canada's Residential Schools: The Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada [2015], vol. I, p 296)

6.00

Chapel [religious service]

6.30-7.15

Bedmaking, washing, milking and pumping

7.15-7.30

Inspection of pupils in the school rooms to see if they are clean and properly dressed, their condition, health & c., a note being taken of those requiring attention, if of clothes, this is done by the sister directly after dinner

8.00-9.00

Fatigue [chores] for small boys

8.00

Trade boys go to work

9.00-12.00

School with 15 minutes recess.

12.00-12.10

Prepare for dinner [lunch]

12.10-12.40

Dinner [lunch]

2.00-4.00

School and Trades

4.45-6.00

Fatigue [chores], such as milking, carrying coal, ashes, filling tanks, wood boxes, pumping, sweeping

6.00-6.10

Prepare for supper

8.00

Prayer and retire [to bed]

Education and Vocational Training at Residential Schools

Overall, students received a poor education at the residential schools. This was true both in terms of academic subjects and vocational training. Students had to cope with teachers who were usually ill-prepared, and curricula and materials derived from and reflecting an alien culture. Lessons were taught in English or French, languages that many of the children did not speak. In the workplace, the overseers were often harsh, and the supposed training purpose of the work was limited or absent.

The final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, published in 2015, outlined several "undeniable" conclusions about the system:

First, the federal government failed to set clear goals and standards for education at the residential schools.

Second, the curriculum at residential schools was essentially an elementary curriculum, which reflected a belief that Indigenous people were intellectually inferior.

Third, the government did not develop or implement a policy regarding teacher qualification.

Fourth, the teaching staff was, in general, underqualified, overworked and poorly paid.

Fifth, the curriculum (which emphasized the "four Rs" - reading, writing, arithmetic and religion) was not only basic but also largely irrelevant to the students' needs, experiences or interests.

Sixth, students left school without the skills they needed to either succeed in their home communities or in the "broader labour market." Moreover, many of them left without completing their education.

In short, the education and vocational training provided by residential schools was inadequate.

Between Two Worlds: Assimilation and Loss of Culture

Moreover, the attempted assimilation of Indigenous students left them disoriented and insecure, with the feeling that they belonged to neither Indigenous nor settler society.

John Tootoosis, who attended the Delmas boarding school (also known as the Thunderchild school) in Saskatchewan, was blunt in his assessment of the residential school system:

[W]hen an Indian comes out of these places it is like being put between two walls in a room and left hanging in the middle. On one side are all the things he learned from his people and their way of life that was being wiped out, and on the other side are the whiteman's ways which he could never fully understand since he never had the right amount of education and could not be part of it. There he is, hanging in the middle of two cultures and he is not a whiteman and he is not an Indian.

They washed away practically everything from our minds, all the things an Indian needed to help himself, to think the way a human person should in order to survive.

(John Tootoosis, former student at Delmas school)

Abuse at Residential Schools

Many students suffered abuse at residential schools. Impatience and correction often led to excessive punishment, including physical abuse. In some cases, children were heavily beaten, chained or confined.

Some of the staff were sexual predators, and many students were sexually abused. When allegations of sexual abuse were brought forward - by students, parents or staff - the response by government and church officials was, at best, inadequate. The police were seldom contacted, and, even if government or church officials decided that the complaint had merit, the response was often simply to fire the perpetrator. At other times, they allowed the abuser to keep teaching.

Health, Death and Disease at Residential Schools

According to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), at least 3,200 Indigenous children died in the overcrowded residential schools. Due to poor record-keeping by the churches and federal government, it is unlikely that we will ever know the total loss of life at residential schools. However, according to TRC Chair, Justice Murray Sinclair, the number may be more than 6,000.

Underfed and malnourished, the students were particularly vulnerable to diseases such as tuberculosis and influenza (including the Spanish flu epidemic of 1918-19). Food was low in quantity and poor in quality, in large part due to concerns about cost. Faced with limited funding, schools were instructed to observe "the strictest economy... in all particulars." In general, school menus seem to have been both monotonous and nutritionally inadequate. According to Basil Johnston, who attended the residential school in Spanish, Ontario, he was served "mush, mush, mush, sometimes lumpy, sometimes watery, with monotonous regularity every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday."
Menu for the Qu'Appelle, North-West Territories, Industrial School, 1893
(Source: Annual Report of the Department of Indian Affairs, 1893, 174; as quoted in Canada's Residential Schools: The Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada [2015], vol. I, p. 491)

Breakfast

Four days in the week porridge of oatmeal or cornmeal with either milk or syrup, this is served with hot tea and bread; the working pupils, and those not in robust health, receive butter in addition.
On three days all the pupils receive butter and cheese with their bread instead of porridge, this is served with hot tea.

Dinner [lunch]

Soup, meat or fish, vegetables and bread ad libitum [i.e., not regulated]. For dessert, rice or stewed apples, or stewed rhubarb or syrup, or bread and milk, with cold water to drink, excepting to the weak children, and those working outside, who get hot tea.

Supper

Meat for the working pupils, hashed meat and vegetables for the rest, bread ad libitum and dessert similar to that named for dinner, hot tea.

Moreover, research by food historian Ian Mosby (published in 2013) revealed that students at some residential schools in the 1940s and 1950s were subjected to nutritional experiments without their consent or the consent of their parents. These studies were approved by various federal government departments and conducted by leading nutrition experts. They included restricting some students' access to essential nutrients and dental care in order to assess the effect of improvements made to the diet of other students. Overall, the experiments do not seem to have resulted in any long-term benefits.

Nutritional deficiencies and overcrowding led to regular outbreaks of diseases at the schools. Tuberculosis and influenza were the major killers, but students were also affected by outbreaks of smallpox, measles, typhoid, diphtheria, pneumonia and whooping cough. In the winter of 1926-27, for example, 13 children died from a combination of measles and whooping cough at the Lytton school. Louise Moine, who attended the Qu'Appelle school in the North-West Territories, remembered one year in the early 20th century when tuberculosis was "on the rampage":

There was a death every month on the girls' side and some of the boys went also. We were always taken to see the girls who had died. The Sisters invariably had them dressed in light blue and they always looked so peaceful and angelic. We were led to believe that their souls had gone to heaven, and this would somehow lessen the grief and sadness we felt in the loss of one of our little schoolmates. There would be a Requiem Mass in the chapel. We would all escort the body, which was lying in a simple handmade coffin, to the graveyard which was located close to the R.C. [Roman Catholic] Church in the village.

(Louise Moine, former student at Qu'Appelle residential school)

Although medical experts such as Dr. Peter Bryce, Dr. James Lafferty, Dr. O.I. Grain and Dr. E.L. Stone recommended measures to improve health and medical treatment, these were not implemented by the government, largely due to concerns about cost and opposition by the churches.

The schools could have helped children to reduce their vulnerability to tuberculosis by providing them with sanitary, well-ventilated living quarters, an adequate diet, warm clothing, and sufficient rest. Rather, the residential schools regularly failed to provide the healthy living conditions, nutritious food, sufficient clothing, and physical regime that would prevent students from getting sick in the first place, and would allow those who were infected a fighting chance at recovery.

( Canada's Residential Schools: The Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada [2015], vol. I, p. 451)

Resistance and Closure

Indigenous students and parents resisted and protested the harsh regime in place at most residential schools. Some children refused to co-operate and sabotaged the operations of the kitchen or classroom, stole food and supplies, or ran away (as did Chanie Wenjack in 1966). At least 25 fires were set by students as a form of protest. Their parents and political leaders protested the schools' harsh conditions and pedagogical shortcomings, though their objections were mostly ignored.

Ground-Penetrating Radar Searches

In May of 2021, Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation in British Columbia hired a team of specialists to conduct ground-penetrating radar searches on the grounds of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School. They detected ground disturbances, and later concluded that these were 200 "possible burials" at the site.

In operation by the Catholic Church from 1890 to 1969, the Kamloops Indian Residential School reported having up to 500 children registered each year, according to the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR). The 2008 TRC was told that only 50 deaths had occurred at the institution. The school officially closed in 1978 after the federal government took over control in 1969.

There have been findings using ground penetrating technologies at few residential school sites due to the sensitive process and impact on communities. It is presumed that historical records pertaining to deaths at the institutions are flawed due to some Catholic orders withholding statistics on the institutions. As a result, similar findings, such as those at the Kamloops Indian Residential School could occur in the future.

Recovery, Reparations, and Reconciliation

Indigenous communities, often with church support, and since 1998 with government financial assistance, have been carrying out the difficult work of supporting their members with the long-term impact of residential schools, including family breakdowns, violence and aimlessness. Beginning in the late 1990s, former students demanded that government and churches publicly acknowledge their role in the schools and provide compensation for their suffering.

In 2005, the federal government established a $1.9 billion compensation package for the survivors of abuse at residential schools. In 2007, the federal government and the churches that had operated the schools agreed to provide financial compensation to former students under the Residential Schools Settlement Agreement.

On 11 June 2008, Prime Minister Stephen Harper, on behalf of the Government of Canada, offered an apology to all former students of residential schools in Canada. The apology openly recognized that the assimilation policy on which the schools were established was "wrong, has caused great harm, and has no place in our country." The apology recognized the profoundly damaging and lasting impact the schools had on Indigenous culture, heritage and language and was one of the steps that the government has taken to forge a new relationship with Indigenous peoples in Canada.

Harper's apology and the compensation packages offered by the federal government excluded survivors of residential schools in Newfoundland and Labrador. Since Canada did not establish or operate residential schools in that province (Newfoundland was not part of Canada at the time the schools began operating), the federal government argued that it was not responsible for compensating former students. After survivors launched a class-action lawsuit against the government, a settlement of $50 million was reached on 10 May 2016. The settlement was approved by Newfoundland and Labrador Supreme Court Justice Robert Stack on 28 September 2016. On 24 November 2017, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau formally apologized to survivors of residential schools in Newfoundland and Labrador.

In 2020, the federal government announced it is designating two former residential schools - Shubenacadie Residential School in Nova Scotia and Portage La Prairie Residential School in Manitoba - as national historic sites. The government is also recognizing the residential school system as an event of historic significance in Canada. ( See also Reconciliation in Canada.)

On 3 June 2021, the federal government recognized every 30 September annually as the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. The day honours the survivors of residential schools as well as their families. Another commemorative day, Orange Shirt Day, is also held every year on 30 September. Orange Shirt Day began in 2013 and was inspired by residential school survivor Phyllis Webstad. On her first day of school, Webstad wore an orange shirt that was taken from her by the school authorities and never given back. Orange shirts are worn to commemorate all those children who had their culture taken from them.

In September 2021, Queen Elizabeth II commemorated Canada's first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation by saying, "I join with all Canadians on this first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation to reflect on the painful history that Indigenous peoples endured in residential schools in Canada, and on the work that remains to heal and to continue to build an inclusive society." As Canada's head of state, the Queen is being asked to formerly apologize for the Crown's role in the operation of residential schools.

Pope Francis formally apologized for the Catholic Church's involvement in residential schools in March 2022. The Pope asked forgiveness "for the deplorable conduct of those members of the Catholic Church" who were involved in the residential school system. A delegation of Indigenous peoples who went to Rome to speak with the Pope heard the historic apology in person. Cassidy Caron, the leader of the Métis National Council said that "an apology is one step forward, but there is more work to be done." In July 2022, the Pope travelled to Canada and offered an apology on Canadian soil. He said, "I humbly beg forgiveness for the evil committed by so many Christians against the Indigenous peoples." The Pope acknowledged that his apology is only a step toward making amends and that an investigation must be conducted into the events of the past. Many have called on the church for financial compensation as well as other forms of reconciliation, including the return of Indigenous artifacts, the release of school records, and the overturning of the Doctrine of Discovery.

Did You Know?
Historica Canada, using data supplied by the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation at the University of Manitoba, has created a map (see below) of all residential schools in Canada. Part of a larger effort by Historica Canada called the Residential Schools Awareness Program, the map includes the location, name, religious denomination, opening and closing dates, and any other names by which the schools were known.

Names of Children Who Died in Residential Schools Released

On 30 September 2019, the names of 2800 children who died in residential schools in Canada were released by the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation in a ceremony in Gatineau, Quebec ( see Truth and Reconciliation Commission). The ceremony was the culmination of years of archival research of government and church records dealing with Indigenous children in 80 schools across the country, with records going back as far as the 1890s. According to archivists, another 1600 children who died in residential schools remain unnamed, and researchers continue to pore over records to discover their identities.

The names and schools of the children were displayed on a huge 47-metre long, blood-red cloth banner. Tia-o-qui-aht First Nation Elder Dr. Barney Williams, a residential school survivor and member of the Indian Residential School Survivor Committee (an advisory body to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission), believes that the ceremony was important to ensure that the children who died are not forgotten: "Today is a special day not only for myself but for thousands of others, like me, across the country to finally bring recognition and honour to our school chums, to our cousins, our nephews, to our nieces that were forgotten." To Elder Williams, the unveiling of the 2800 names was a "heartwarming" and "very emotional" moment for himself and thousands of Indigenous families across Canada.

Residential Schools in Canada: A Timeline

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Residential schools were government-sponsored religious schools that were established to assimilate Indigenous children into Euro-Canadian culture. Although the...

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The discovery of what is believed to be the remains of 215 children at the site of a former residential school in Kamloops, B.C., has stunned Canadians and renewed focus on what Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called a "dark and shameful chapter of our country's history."

It is also another reminder for Indigenous peoples living in Canada of a painful history they've known about all along.

The Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation said last week that preliminary findings from a ground-penetrating radar survey at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School detected the remains, a confirmation of what the community already understood from oral history.

Since the news broke, CBC readers have reached out with questions about Canada's residential school system and its aftermath. Below are answers to some of your questions.

How many children were forced to attend these schools?

More than 150,000 First Nations, Métis and Inuit children were forced to attend church-run, government-funded schools between the 1870s and 1997.

Amendments to the Indian Act in 1894 authorized the government to remove an Indigenous child from their family if it was felt they were not being properly cared for or educated and place them in a school. Subsequent amendments to the act in 1920 further reinforced compulsory attendance at the schools.

Children were removed from their families and culture and forced to learn English, embrace Christianity and adopt the customs of the country's white majority.

The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation examining residential schools has identified the names of, or information about, more than 4,100 children who died while attending these schools, most due to malnourishment or disease.

Former senator Murray Sinclair, who chaired the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) examining residential schools, has said he believes the death count could be much higher because of the schools' poor burial records.

How many schools were there? Where are they?

The Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement (IRSSA) has recognized 139 residential schools across Canada. However, this number excludes schools that operated without federal support, such as those run solely by religious orders or provincial governments.
Click here to see a larger version of the map of residential school locations.

The 139 schools operated in all Canadian provinces and territories except Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador. (There were residential schools in N.L., but they weren't included in the IRSSA.)

In 1931, at the peak of the residential school system, there were about 80 schools operating in the country.

The last one to close, in 1997, was Kivalliq Hall in Rankin Inlet, in what's now Nunavut. (It only became a IRSSA-recognized school in 2019, which is why earlier accounts describe the last school closing in 1996.)

Who is being held accountable?

Many of the children at residential schools were physically, sexually or psychologically abused in a system described by the TRC in its landmark 2015 report as cultural genocide.

In 2008, Prime Minister Stephen Harper delivered a formal apology in the House of Commons on behalf of the government of Canada over residential schools and the damage they did to Indigenous people.
WATCH | Harper apologizes for residential schools in 2008:

The apology came nine months after the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement took effect. The comprehensive class-action settlement - which involved survivors, the federal government and churches that ran the schools - included the establishment of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

It also included financial compensation, which took two forms: a common experience payment for all students who attended the schools, and an independent assessment process to adjudicate claims from students who had suffered abuse at the schools.

More than $3 billion has been paid to 28,000 victims of residential school abuse, according to a report released this past March.

What has the Vatican said or done about this?

The Catholic Church operated roughly 70 per cent of Canada's residential schools, including the Kamloops residential school from 1890 to 1969 before it was taken over by the federal government to serve as a local day school until 1978.

While other churches, like the Anglican and United churches, have formally apologized for their roles in the residential school system, the Catholic Church has so far refused to do the same.

The closest it came was in 2009, when Pope Benedict XVI expressed "sorrow" for some of the "deplorable" conduct of church members. In 2018, the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops said Pope Francis "felt that he could not personally respond" to the request for an apology for residential schools.

However, many individual Catholic church leaders in Canada have made apologies, both before and after the discovery in Kamloops.

The Catholic Church has also refused to release many of its residential school documents, which could shed light on unmarked burial sites, citing privacy laws.

Meanwhile, NDP MP Charlie Angus, the party's critic for Indigenous youth, says the church has dodged paying survivors compensation.

As part of the IRSSA, Catholic groups were required to pay tens of millions of dollars - $29 million in cash to the now-defunct Aboriginal Healing Foundation, $25 million in "in-kind" services, and to use their "best efforts" to fundraise $25 million for healing programs. However, a controversial court ruling in 2015 let the groups off the hook after they raised only about $4 million of the $25-million goal.

Is there an inquiry?

The TRC released 94 calls to action in its landmark 2015 report, including a section on missing children and burial grounds.

It called on the federal government to work with churches, Indigenous communities and former students "to establish and maintain an online registry of residential school cemeteries, including, where possible, plot maps showing the location of deceased residential school children."

Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Carolyn Bennett said Wednesday the government already earmarked some $33 million in its 2019 budget to implement the TRC's burial-related recommendations.

However, little of that money has been spent so far, with $27 million still available. Bennett said the money "will be distributed on an urgent basis" in partnership with the Winnipeg-based National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation and Indigenous communities that have site searches planned or underway.

Are other schools being investigated now?

The TRC concluded in its 2015 report that the bodies of the majority of students who died at the schools were not returned to their home communities.

The commission has records of 51 children dying at Kamloops Indian Residential School. In light of the recent discovery, Trudeau has pledged federal support in preserving grave sites and uncovering potentially more unmarked burial grounds at other former residential schools.

However, he and his ministers have stressed the need for Indigenous communities to decide for themselves how they want to proceed.

Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller said Wednesday that Ottawa is "walking at the pace of communities" and is intent on developing culturally appropriate protocols to honour the lost children.

Where are the leaders of these schools now?

The University of British Columbia said this week it is reviewing an honorary degree given to the now-deceased Catholic bishop, John Fergus O'Grady, who served as principal of the former Kamloops residential school.

The discovery in Kamloops has also increased calls across Canada for cities and institutions to rescind honours given to those who were involved in setting up the residential school system.

In P.E.I., a statue of John A. Macdonald, Canada's first prime minister, was removed following a vote by Charlottetown city council.

Toronto's Ryerson University is being urged to change its name and remove a statue of Egerton Ryerson from its campus. The university's school of journalism has already stated it will rename two of its publications.

Meanwhile, Calgary's board of education has passed a motion to rename Langevin School, which is named after Hector-Louis Langevin, one of the Fathers of Confederation who is considered an architect of the residential school system.
Support is available for anyone affected by their experience at residential schools, and those who are triggered by the latest reports. A national Indian Residential School Crisis Line has been set up to provide support for former students and those affected. People can access emotional and crisis referral services by calling the 24-hour national crisis line: 1-866-925-4419.

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Your questions answered about Canada's residential school system | CBC News

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CBC readers have reached out with questions about Canada's residential school system and its aftermath following the discovery of what is believed to be the remains of an estimated 215 children at the site of a former residential school in Kamloops, B.C.

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Important Notice: Further to an Order of the Supreme Court of British Columbia dated July 27, 2015, no further requests to add an institution to the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement are permitted. Click on the links below to find the list of recognized residential schools and hostels. Please click here to view the decisions for institutions that have been requested to be added to the list of Indian residential schools recognized by the Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement.

Alberta Residential Schools:

British Columbia Residential Schools:

Manitoba Residential Schools:

Northwest Territories Residential Schools:

Nova Scotia Residential Schools:

Shubenacadie, Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia

Nunavut Residential Schools:

Ontario Residential Schools:

QuÃ©bec Residential Schools:

Amos (Saint-Marc-de-Figuery), Amos, QuÃ©bec

Pointe Bleue, Pointe Bleue, QuÃ©bec

La Tuque, La Tuque, QuÃ©bec

Fort George (St. Philip's), Fort George, QuÃ©bec

Fort George (St. Joseph's Mission, RÃ©sidence Couture, Sainte-ThÃ©rÃ¨se-de-l'Enfant-JÃ©sus), Fort George, QuÃ©bec

Sept-ÃŽles (Notre-Dame, Maliotenam), Sept-ÃŽles, QuÃ©bec

Federal Hostel at George River, Kangirsualujjuaq, QuÃ©bec

Federal Hostel at Great Whale River (Poste-de-la-Baleine), Kuujjuaraapik / Whapmagoostui, QuÃ©bec

Federal Hostel at Payne Bay (Bellin), Kangirsuk, QuÃ©bec

Federal Hostel at Port Harrison (Inoucdjouac, Innoucdouac), Inukjuak, QuÃ©bec

Fort George Hostels (September 1, 1975 to June 30, 1978), Fort George, QuÃ©bec

NEW Mistassini Hostels (September 1, 1971 to June 30, 1978)

Saskatchewan Residential Schools:

Yukon Residential Schools:

Carcross (Chooutla), Carcross, Yukon

Coudert Hall (Whitehorse Hostel/Student Residence - Predecessor to Yukon Hall), Whitehorse, Yukon

Shingle Point (Predecessor to All Saints, Aklavik), Shingle Point, Yukon

Whitehorse Baptist, Whitehorse, Yukon

Yukon Hall (Whitehorse/Protestant Hostel), Whitehorse, Yukon

St. Paul's Hostel (September 1920 to June 1943), Dawson City, Yukon

.
Certain documents are in Adobe Acrobat PDF format. If your computer is not already configured with the free Acrobat software to view and print these documents, you may get Acrobat by clicking the logo

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ï"¿ Important Notice: Further to an Order of the Supreme Court of British Columbia dated July 27, 2015, no further requests to add an institution to the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement are permitted. Click on the links below to find the list of recognized residential schools and hostels.

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By Erin Hanson (2009), with updates and revisions by Daniel P. Gamez & Alexa Manuel (September 2020). The original version of this article has been archived, but may be accessed here. To cite this article, we have recommendations at the bottom of the page. Note on terminology: There is constant debate and reflection on the use of specific terms as umbrella categories to designate multiple Aboriginal, Indigenous, or Native peoples. For the most recent version of this article, we have decided to follow the terms Indigenous, First Nations, Métis and Inuit, or alternatively Indigenous Peoples, in the plural, following the guidelines of the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the most widely accepted international instrument today. The term Indigenous Peoples can also be found in UBC's Indigenous Peoples Language Guidelines.
In this section:

What Were Residential Schools?

The term residential schools refers to an extensive school system set up by the Canadian government and administered by churches that had the nominal objective of educating Indigenous children but also the more damaging and equally explicit objectives of indoctrinating them into Euro-Canadian and Christian ways of living and assimilating them into mainstream white Canadian society. The residential school system officially operated from the 1880s into the closing decades of the 20th century. The system forcibly separated children from their families for extended periods of time and forbade them to acknowledge their Indigenous heritage and culture or to speak their own languages. Children were severely punished if these, among other, strict rules were broken. Former students of residential schools have spoken of horrendous abuse at the hands of residential school staff: physical, sexual, emotional, and psychological. Residential schools provided Indigenous students with inappropriate education, often only up to lower grades, that focused mainly on prayer and manual labour in agriculture, light industry such as woodworking, and domestic work such as laundry work and sewing.

Residential schools systematically undermined Indigenous, First Nations, Métis and Inuit cultures across Canada and disrupted families for generations, severing the ties through which Indigenous culture is taught and sustained, and contributing to a general loss of language and culture. Because they were removed from their families, many students grew up without experiencing a nurturing family life and without the knowledge and skills to raise their own families. The devastating effects of the residential schools are far-reaching and continue to have a significant impact on Indigenous communities. The residential school system is widely considered a form of genocide because of the purposeful attempt from the government and church to eradicate all aspects of Indigenous cultures and lifeworlds.

From the 1990s onward, the government and the churches involved-Anglican, Presbyterian, United, and Roman Catholic-began to acknowledge their responsibility for an education scheme that was specifically designed to "kill the Indian in the child." On June 11, 2008, the Canadian government issued a formal apology in Parliament for the damage done by the residential school system. In spite of this and other apologies, however, the effects remain.

What led to the residential schools?

The early origins of residential schools in Canada are found in the implementation of the mission system in the 1600s. The churches and European settlers brought with them the assumption that their own civilization was the pinnacle of human achievement. They interpreted the socio-cultural differences between themselves and Indigenous Peoples as "proof" that Canada's first inhabitants were ignorant, savage, and-like children-in need of guidance. They felt the need to "civilize" Indigenous Peoples. Education-a federal responsibility-became the primary means to this end.

Canadian Prime Minister John A. Macdonald commissioned journalist and politician Nicholas Flood Davin to study industrial schools for Indigenous children in the United States. Davin's recommendation to follow the U.S. example of "aggressive civilization" led to public funding for the residential school system. "If anything is to be done with the Indian, we must catch him very young. The children must be kept constantly within the circle of civilized conditions," Davin wrote in his 1879 Report on Industrial Schools for Indians and Half-Breeds (Davin's report can be read here.)

In the 1880s, in conjunction with other federal assimilation policies, the government began to establish residential schools across Canada. Authorities would frequently take children to schools far from their home communities, part of a strategy to alienate them from their families and familiar surroundings. In 1920, under the Indian Act, it became mandatory for every Indigenous child to attend a residential school and illegal for them to attend any other educational institution.

Living conditions at the residential schools

The purpose of the residential schools was to eliminate all aspects of Indigenous culture. Students had their hair cut short, they were dressed in uniforms, they were often given numbers, and their days were strictly regimented by timetables. Boys and girls were kept separate, and even siblings rarely interacted, further weakening family ties. Chief Bobby Joseph of the Indian Residential School Survivors Society recalls that he had no idea how to interact with girls and never even got to know his own sister "beyond a mere wave in the dining room." ¹ In addition, students were strictly forbidden to speak their languages-even though many children knew no other-or to practise Indigenous customs or traditions. Violations of these rules were severely punished.

Residential school students did not receive the same education as the general population in the public school system, and the schools were sorely underfunded. Teachings focused primarily on practical skills. Girls were primed for domestic service and taught to do laundry, sew, cook, and clean. Boys were taught carpentry, tinsmithing, and farming. Many students attended class part-time and worked for the school the rest of the time: girls did the housekeeping; boys, general maintenance and agriculture. This work, which was involuntary and unpaid, was presented as practical training for the students, but many of the residential schools could not run without it. With so little time spent in class, most students had only reached grade five by the time they were 18. At this point, students were sent away. Many were discouraged from pursuing further education.

Abuse at the schools was widespread: emotional and psychological abuse was constant, physical abuse was metred out as punishment, and sexual abuse was also common. Survivors recall being beaten and strapped; some students were shackled to their beds; some had needles shoved in their tongues for speaking their native languages. These abuses, along with overcrowding, poor sanitation, and severely inadequate food and health care, resulted in a shockingly high death toll. In 1907, government medical inspector P.H. Bryce reported that 24 percent of previously healthy Indigenous children across Canada were dying in residential schools. This figure does not include children who died at home, where they were frequently sent when critically ill. Bryce reported that anywhere from 47 percent (on the Peigan Reserve in Alberta) to 75 percent (from File Hills Boarding School in Saskatchewan) of students discharged from residential schools died shortly after returning home.

The extent to which the Department of Indian Affairs and church officials knew of these abuses has been debated by some. However, the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (RCAP) and John Milloy, among others, concluded that church and state officials were fully aware of the abuses and tragedies at the schools. Some inspectors and officials at the time expressed alarm at the horrifying death rates, yet those who spoke out and called for reform were generally met with silence and lack of support. The Department of Indian Affairs would promise to improve the schools, but the deplorable conditions persisted.

Some former students have positive memories of their time at residential schools, and certainly some might have been treated with kindness by the priests and nuns who ran the schools as best they could given the circumstances. But even these "good" experiences occurred within a system aimed at destroying Indigenous cultures and assimilating Indigenous students.

The Shift Away from Residential Schools

"Sister Marie Baptiste had a supply of sticks as long and thick as pool cues. When she heard me speak my language, she'd lift up her hands and bring the stick down on me. I've still got bumps and scars on my hands. I have to wear special gloves because the cold weather really hurts my hands. I tried very hard not to cry when I was being beaten and I can still just turn off my feelings.... And I'm lucky. Many of the men my age, they either didn't make it, committed suicide or died violent deaths, or alcohol got them. And it wasn't just my generation. My grandmother, who's in her late nineties, to this day it's too painful for her to talk about what happened to her at the school."

- Musqueam Nation former chief George Guerin,
Kuper Island school
Stolen from our Embrace, p 62

Church and state officials of the 19th century believed that Indigenous societies were disappearing and that the only hope for Indigenous people was to convert to Christianity, do away with their cultures, and become "civilized" British subjects-in short, assimilate them. By the 1950s, the same officials were doubting the viability of such project. The devastating effects of the residential schools and the needs and life experiences of Indigenous students were becoming more widely recognized. ² The government also acknowledged that removing children from their families was severely detrimental to the health of the individuals and the communities affected. In 1951, with the amendments to the Indian Act, the half-day work/school system was progressively abandoned, conceding power to the provinces to apprehend children, and transitioning from the school system to a 'child welfare system'. This time is referred to as the 'Sixties Scoop' because of the systematic removal of Indigenous children from their families without consent from their parents or authorities.

In the 1960s the drastic overrepresentation of Indigenous children in the welfare system consolidated, and authorities would constantly place Indigenous children with white middle-class families in an attempt to acculturate them. This practice, as well as the overrepresentation of Indigenous children in 'child welfare systems' continues today. In 1969, the Department of Indian Affairs took exclusive control of the system, marking an end to church involvement in residential schooling. Yet the schools remained underfunded and abuse continued, and many teachers and workers continued to lack proper credentials to carry out their responsibilities. ³

In the meantime, the government decided to phase out segregation and began incorporating Indigenous students into public schools. Although these changes saw students reaching higher levels of education, problems persisted. Many Indigenous students struggled in their adjustment to public school and to a Eurocentric system where Indigenous knowledges were excluded, fostering discrimination by their non-Indigenous peers. Post-secondary education was strongly discouraged for Indigenous students because those who wanted to attend university would have been enfranchised.

The process to phase out the residential school system and other assimilation tactics was slow and not without reversals. The residential school system in Canada lasted officially for almost 150 years, and its impacts continue on to this day. As mentioned above, the system's closure gave way to the 'Sixties Scoop,' during which thousands of Indigenous children were abducted by social services and removed from their families. The 'Scoop' spanned roughly the two decades it took to phase out the residential schools, but child apprehensions from Indigenous families continue to occur in disproportionate numbers today. In part, this is the legacy of compromised families and communities left by the residential schools.

Starting in 1969, residential schools in Canada began to decline in numbers. In 1970, the Department of Indian Affairs calculated fifty-six remaining schools, excluding the Northwest Territories. By 1980, the same institution reported sixteen, and one decade later, eleven. In 1996, Gordon Reserve Indian Residential School in Saskatchewan, the last of its kind, was closed and demolished. By 1999, the Department of Indian Affairs registered no remaining residential schools in operation. ⁴

Ongoing Impacts

"So why is it important to understand the history of genocide in Canada? Because it's not history. Today's racist government laws, policies and actions have proven to be just as deadly for Indigenous peoples as the genocidal acts of the past."

-Pamela Palmater, Mi'kmaq lawyer, professor, activist, and politician
(National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (Canada) et al. 2019, 53).

The residential school system is viewed by much of the Canadian public as part of a distant past, disassociated from today's events. In many ways, this is a misconception. The last residential school did not close its doors until 1996, and many of the leaders, teachers, parents, and grandparents of today's Indigenous communities are residential school Survivors. Although residential schools have closed, their effects remain ongoing for both Survivors and their descendants who now share in the intergenerational effects of transmitted personal trauma and loss of language, culture, traditional teachings, and mental/spiritual wellbeing.

According to the Report of the Aboriginal Justice Inquiry of Manitoba, several generations of Indigenous Peoples were denied the development of parenting skills not only through their removal from communities and families but also from the severe lack of attention paid to the issue by school officials. ⁵ In addition, children were taught that their traditional ways were inferior, including their languages and cultures. The residential schools were operational through several generations of Indigenous Peoples so the process of healing from these damages will also take several generations -a process that has already begun, but has not been easy nor has it been simple.

The historic, intergenerational, and collective oppression of Indigenous Peoples continues to this day in the form of land disputes, over-incarceration, lack of housing, child apprehension, systemic poverty, marginalization and violence against Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA peoples, and other critical issues which neither began nor ended with residential schools. Generations of oppressive government policies attempted to strip Indigenous Peoples of their identities not only through residential schools but also through other policies including but not limited to: the implementation and subsequent changes to the Indian Act; the mass removal of Indigenous children from their families into the child welfare system known as the Sixties Scoop; and legislations allowing forced sterilizations of Indigenous Peoples in certain provinces, a practice that has continued to be reported by Indigenous women in Canada as recently as 2018; and currently, through the modern child welfare systems which continue to disproportionately apprehend Indigenous children into foster care in what Raven Sinclair has called the Millennium Scoop. ⁶

In 2019, BC ended its practice of "birth alerts" in child welfare cases, which allowed child welfare agencies and hospitals to flag mothers deemed "high risk" without their consent -a practice which disproportionately targeted Indigenous mothers and was found to be "racist and discriminatory" and a "gross violation of the rights of the child, the mother, and the community". ⁷ One of the findings of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Report (MMIWG) asserts that the Canadian State "has used child welfare laws and agencies as a tool to oppress, displace, disrupt, and destroy Indigenous families, communities, and Nations. It is a tool in the genocide of Indigenous Peoples." ⁸ Child welfare laws and agencies, like the residential schools, effectively aided in the removal of Indigenous children from their families and continue to aid in the genocide of Indigenous Peoples.

Survivors Demand Justice
"...the Government of Canada now recognizes that it was wrong to forcibly remove children from their homes and we apologize for having done this. We now recognize that it was wrong to separate children from rich and vibrant cultures and traditions that it created a void in many lives and communities, and we apologize for having done this".

I have just one last thing to say. To all of the leaders of the Liberals, the Bloc and NDP, thank you, as well, for your words because now it is about our responsibilities today, the decisions that we make today and how they will affect seven generations from now.

My ancestors did the same seven generations ago and they tried hard to fight against you because they knew what was happening. They knew what was coming, but we have had so much impact from colonization and that is what we are dealing with today.

Women have taken the brunt of it all.

Thank you for the opportunity to be here at this moment in time to talk about those realities that we are dealing with today.

What is it that this government is going to do in the future to help our people? Because we are dealing with major human rights violations that have occurred to many generations: my language, my culture and my spirituality. I know that I want to transfer those to my children and my grandchildren, and their children, and so on.

What is going to be provided? That is my question. I know that is the question from all of us. That is what we would like to continue to work on, in partnership.

Nia:wen. Thank you.

-Beverley Jacobs, President, Native Women's Association of Canada, June 11, 2008

Read the full transcript and watch the video here.

The residential schools heavily contributed to educational, social, financial and health disparities between Indigenous Peoples and the rest of Canada, and these impacts have been intergenerational. ⁹ Despite the efforts of the residential school system and those who created and maintained it, Indigenous Peoples largely escaped complete assimilation and continue to work to regain what was lost, while also seeking justice for years of wrongdoing; including from the Canadian government, the churches, and the individuals responsible for specific cases of abuse.

It was not until the late 1980s that the Canadian legal system began to respond to allegations of abuse brought forward by Survivors, with fewer than fifty convictions coming out of more than 38,000 claims of sexual and physical abuse submitted to the independent adjudication process. ¹⁰ Notable cases include 1988's Mowatt v. Clarke, in which eight former students of St. George's Indian Residential School in Lytton, B.C., sued a priest, the government, and the Anglican Church of Canada; both the Anglican Church and the government admitted fault and agreed to a settlement. In 1995, twenty-seven Survivors from the Alberni Indian Residential School filed charges of sexual abuse against Arthur Plintwhile also holding Canada and the United Church vicariously liable. In addition to convicting Plint, the court held the federal government and the United Church responsible for the wrongs committed.
The Indian Residential School Survivors Society was formed in 1994 by the First Nations Summit in British Columbia and was officially incorporated in 2002 to provide support for survivors and communities in the province throughout the healing process and to educate the broader public. The Survivors Society provides crisis counselling, referrals, and healing initiatives, as well as acting as a resource for information, research, training, and workshops. It was clear that a similar organization was needed at the national level, and in 2005, the National Residential School Survivors Society was incorporated.
Meanwhile, the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples had been interviewing individuals from Indigenous communities and nations across Canada about their experiences. The commission's report, published in 1996, brought unprecedented attention to the residential school system-many non-Indigenous Canadians did not know about this chapter in Canadian history. In 1998, based on the commission's recommendations and considering the court cases, the Canadian government publicly apologized to former students for the physical and sexual abuse they suffered in the residential schools. The Aboriginal Healing Foundation was established as a $350 million government plan to aid communities affected by the residential schools. However, some Indigenous people felt the government apology did not go far enough, since it addressed only the effects of physical and sexual abuse and not other damages caused by the residential school system.
Books & Articles Canada. Royal Commission on Indigenous Peoples. Report of the Royal Commission on Indigenous Peoples, Volume 1: Looking Forward, Looking Back. Chapter 10, "Residential Schools." Ottawa: Supply and Services Canada, 1996.
The St. George and Alberni lawsuits set a precedent for future cases, proving that the churches and the government of Canada could be sued as an entity. As the number of cases grew, a National Class Action was filed in 2002 for compensation for all former Indian Residential school Survivors and family members in Canada. In 2005, Canada and nearly 80,000 Survivors reached the Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement in which Canada committed to individual compensation for Survivors, additional funding for the Aboriginal Healing Foundation, and the creation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

In September 2007, while the Settlement Agreement was being put into action, the Canadian government made a motion to issue a formal apology. The motion passed unanimously. On June 11, 2008, the House of Commons gathered in a solemn ceremony to publicly apologize for the government's involvement in the residential school system and to acknowledge the widespread impact this system has had among Indigenous Peoples. You can read the official statement and responses to it by Indigenous organizations here (scroll down to " Choose a topic" and select " Apology to former students of Indian Residential Schools"). The apology was broadcast live across Canada (watch it here). Former Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper issued a 'statement of apology to former students of Indian Residential Schools ', noting that

Echoing Stephen Harper, former Chief Justice of Ontario Warren Winkler also observed that the residential school system removed children

"from their families and communities to serve the purpose of carrying out a "concerted campaign to obliterate" the "habits and associations" of "Indigenous languages, traditions and beliefs," in order to accomplish "a radical re-socialization" aimed at instilling the children instead with the values of Euro-centric civilization"( Library and Archives Canada, RG10, volume 6113, le 351-10, part 1). ¹¹

The federal government's apology was met with a range of responses. Some felt that it marked a new era of positive federal government-Indigenous relations based on mutual respect, while many others felt that the apology was merely symbolic and doubted that it would change the government's relationship with Indigenous Peoples. Although apologies and acknowledgements made by governments and churches are important steps forward in reconciliation, Indigenous leaders have argued that such gestures are not enough without supportive action . Communities and residential school survivor societies are undertaking healing initiatives and providing opportunities for survivors to talk about their experiences and move forward to create a positive future for themselves, their families, and their communities.

Recommended resources

Erasmus, George. Notes on A History of the Indian Residential School System in Canada

Fournier, Suzanne and Ernie Crey. Stolen from our Embrace: The Abduction of First Nations Children and the Restoration of Indigenous Communities. Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre, 1997.

Haig-Brown, Celia. Resistance and Renewal: Surviving the Indian Residential School. Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp Press, 1998. First published by Tillicum Library, 1988.

Manitoba. Public Inquiry into the Administration and Indigenous People. "Indigenous Women." Vol. 1, chap. 13, in Report of the Aboriginal Justice Inquiry of Manitoba. Winnipeg: Public Inquiry into the Administration and Indigenous People, 1999.
Websites Apologies and Reconciliation
This chapter of the Indigenous Justice Inquiry of Manitoba's report on Indigenous people in the justice system examines how the residential school system has contributed to the abuse and discrimination that many Indigenous women face regularly.

Miller, J. R. Shingwauk's Vision. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1996.

Widely regarded as one of the most comprehensive, key texts on the residential school system, in Shingwauk's Vision Miller has included the perspectives of government and church officials, school staff, and students to create a rich history of the residential school system from its original inception to its phasing out. Cree scholar Winona Wheeler calls Shingwauk's Vision "the most thorough and comprehensive study of Indian residential schools in Canada to date and most noted for its good use of a wide range of Indigenous life histories and personal reminisces" (Wheeler, "Social Relations of Indigenous Oral Histories," in Walking a Tightrope: Indigenous Peoples and their Representations, 2005. 193)

Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council, Indian Residential Schools: The Nuu-Chah-Nulth Experience. Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council, 1996.

Roberts, John. First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Peoples: Exploring their Past, Present, and Future. Toronto: Emond Montgomery, 2006.

Secwepemc Cultural Education Society, Behind Closed Doors: Stories from the Kamloops Indian Residential School. Penticton: Secwepemc Cultural Education Society & Theytus, 2000.

Endnotes

[1] Milloy, John S. A National Crime: The Canadian Government and the Residential School System, 1879 to 1986.University of Manitoba Press, 1999. 91-2; Fournier and Crey, Stolen from Our Embrace. Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre, 1997. 49.

[2] Royal Commission on Indigenous Peoples, Volume 1: Looking Forward, Looking Back. Chapter 10, "1.2 Changing Policies." Ottawa: Supply and Services Canada, 1996. 344-353.

[3] Milloy, John S. A National Crime: The Canadian Government and the Residential School System, 1879 to 1986. University of Manitoba Press, 1999. Xvii, 91-2.

[4] Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. 2015. Canada's Residential Schools: The History, Part 2 1939 to 2000. The Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. Vol. 1. 2 vols. Montreal; Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press. 103.

[5] Report of the Aboriginal Justice Inquiry of Manitoba. 1999. The Justice System and Aboriginal People. Ch. 14 ( http://www.ajic.mb.ca/volumel/chapter14.html)

[6] National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (Canada), Marion Buller, Michèle Audette, Brian Eyolfson, and Qajaq Robinson. 2019. Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. 104; Longman, Nickita. 2018. "Examining the Sixties Scoop and Beyond." Discourse Magazine, 2018.

[7] National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (Canada), 355.

[8] National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (Canada), 355.

[9] Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. 2015. Canada's Residential Schools: The Legacy: The Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, Volume 5. Montréal: McGill-Queen's University Press. 3.

[10] Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. 2015. Canada's Residential Schools: The Legacy: The Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, Volume 5. Montréal: McGill-Queen's University Press. 7.

[11] Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. 2015. Canada's Residential Schools: The History, Part 2 1939 to 2000. The Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. Vol. 1. 2 vols. Montreal; Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press. 574.

To Cite This Article

MLA:
Hanson, Eric, et al."The Residential School System." Indigenous Foundations. First Nations and Indigenous Studies UBC, 2020. Website. [Date accessed].

Chicago:
Hanson, Eric, Daniel P. Games, and Alexa Manuel. "The Residential School System". Indigenous Foundations. https://indigenousfoundations.web.arts.ubc.ca/residential-school-system-2020/. (accessed Month, day, year).

APA:
Hanson, E., Gamez, D., & Manuel, A. (2020, September). The Residential School System. Indigenous Foundations. https://indigenousfoundations.web.arts.ubc.ca/residential-school-system-2020/

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
By Erin Hanson (2009), with updates and revisions by Daniel P. Gamez & Alexa Manuel (September 2020). The original version of this article has been archived, but may be accessed here. To cite this article, we have recommendations at the bottom of the page.

# data[].attributes.body
"Residential schools systematically undermined Indigenous, First Nations, Métis and Inuit cultures across Canada and disrupted families for generations, severing the ties through which Indigenous culture is taught and sustained, and contributing to a general loss of language and culture. Because they were removed from their families, many students grew up without experiencing a nurturing family life and without the knowledge and skills to raise their own families"

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
By Erin Hanson (2009), with updates and revisions by Daniel P. Gamez & Alexa Manuel (September 2020). The original version of this article has been archived, but may be accessed here. To cite this article, we have recommendations at the bottom of the page. Note on terminology: There is constant debate and reflection on the use of specific terms as umbrella categories to designate multiple Aboriginal, Indigenous, or Native peoples. For the most recent version of this article, we have decided to follow the terms Indigenous, First Nations, Métis and Inuit, or alternatively Indigenous Peoples, in the plural, following the guidelines of the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the most widely accepted international instrument today. The term Indigenous Peoples can also be found in UBC's Indigenous Peoples Language Guidelines.
In this section:

What Were Residential Schools?

The term residential schools refers to an extensive school system set up by the Canadian government and administered by churches that had the nominal objective of educating Indigenous children but also the more damaging and equally explicit objectives of indoctrinating them into Euro-Canadian and Christian ways of living and assimilating them into mainstream white Canadian society. The residential school system officially operated from the 1880s into the closing decades of the 20th century. The system forcibly separated children from their families for extended periods of time and forbade them to acknowledge their Indigenous heritage and culture or to speak their own languages. Children were severely punished if these, among other, strict rules were broken. Former students of residential schools have spoken of horrendous abuse at the hands of residential school staff: physical, sexual, emotional, and psychological. Residential schools provided Indigenous students with inappropriate education, often only up to lower grades, that focused mainly on prayer and manual labour in agriculture, light industry such as woodworking, and domestic work such as laundry work and sewing.

Residential schools systematically undermined Indigenous, First Nations, Métis and Inuit cultures across Canada and disrupted families for generations, severing the ties through which Indigenous culture is taught and sustained, and contributing to a general loss of language and culture. Because they were removed from their families, many students grew up without experiencing a nurturing family life and without the knowledge and skills to raise their own families. The devastating effects of the residential schools are far-reaching and continue to have a significant impact on Indigenous communities. The residential school system is widely considered a form of genocide because of the purposeful attempt from the government and church to eradicate all aspects of Indigenous cultures and lifeworlds.

From the 1990s onward, the government and the churches involved-Anglican, Presbyterian, United, and Roman Catholic-began to acknowledge their responsibility for an education scheme that was specifically designed to "kill the Indian in the child." On June 11, 2008, the Canadian government issued a formal apology in Parliament for the damage done by the residential school system. In spite of this and other apologies, however, the effects remain.

What led to the residential schools?

The early origins of residential schools in Canada are found in the implementation of the mission system in the 1600s. The churches and European settlers brought with them the assumption that their own civilization was the pinnacle of human achievement. They interpreted the socio-cultural differences between themselves and Indigenous Peoples as "proof" that Canada's first inhabitants were ignorant, savage, and-like children-in need of guidance. They felt the need to "civilize" Indigenous Peoples. Education-a federal responsibility-became the primary means to this end.

Canadian Prime Minister John A. Macdonald commissioned journalist and politician Nicholas Flood Davin to study industrial schools for Indigenous children in the United States. Davin's recommendation to follow the U.S. example of "aggressive civilization" led to public funding for the residential school system. "If anything is to be done with the Indian, we must catch him very young. The children must be kept constantly within the circle of civilized conditions," Davin wrote in his 1879 Report on Industrial Schools for Indians and Half-Breeds (Davin's report can be read here.)

In the 1880s, in conjunction with other federal assimilation policies, the government began to establish residential schools across Canada. Authorities would frequently take children to schools far from their home communities, part of a strategy to alienate them from their families and familiar surroundings. In 1920, under the Indian Act, it became mandatory for every Indigenous child to attend a residential school and illegal for them to attend any other educational institution.

Living conditions at the residential schools

The purpose of the residential schools was to eliminate all aspects of Indigenous culture. Students had their hair cut short, they were dressed in uniforms, they were often given numbers, and their days were strictly regimented by timetables. Boys and girls were kept separate, and even siblings rarely interacted, further weakening family ties. Chief Bobby Joseph of the Indian Residential School Survivors Society recalls that he had no idea how to interact with girls and never even got to know his own sister "beyond a mere wave in the dining room." ¹ In addition, students were strictly forbidden to speak their languages-even though many children knew no other-or to practise Indigenous customs or traditions. Violations of these rules were severely punished.

Residential school students did not receive the same education as the general population in the public school system, and the schools were sorely underfunded. Teachings focused primarily on practical skills. Girls were primed for domestic service and taught to do laundry, sew, cook, and clean. Boys were taught carpentry, tinsmithing, and farming. Many students attended class part-time and worked for the school the rest of the time: girls did the housekeeping; boys, general maintenance and agriculture. This work, which was involuntary and unpaid, was presented as practical training for the students, but many of the residential schools could not run without it. With so little time spent in class, most students had only reached grade five by the time they were 18. At this point, students were sent away. Many were discouraged from pursuing further education.

Abuse at the schools was widespread: emotional and psychological abuse was constant, physical abuse was metred out as punishment, and sexual abuse was also common. Survivors recall being beaten and strapped; some students were shackled to their beds; some had needles shoved in their tongues for speaking their native languages. These abuses, along with overcrowding, poor sanitation, and severely inadequate food and health care, resulted in a shockingly high death toll. In 1907, government medical inspector P.H. Bryce reported that 24 percent of previously healthy Indigenous children across Canada were dying in residential schools. This figure does not include children who died at home, where they were frequently sent when critically ill. Bryce reported that anywhere from 47 percent (on the Peigan Reserve in Alberta) to 75 percent (from File Hills Boarding School in Saskatchewan) of students discharged from residential schools died shortly after returning home.

The extent to which the Department of Indian Affairs and church officials knew of these abuses has been debated by some. However, the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (RCAP) and John Milloy, among others, concluded that church and state officials were fully aware of the abuses and tragedies at the schools. Some inspectors and officials at the time expressed alarm at the horrifying death rates, yet those who spoke out and called for reform were generally met with silence and lack of support. The Department of Indian Affairs would promise to improve the schools, but the deplorable conditions persisted.

Some former students have positive memories of their time at residential schools, and certainly some might have been treated with kindness by the priests and nuns who ran the schools as best they could given the circumstances. But even these "good" experiences occurred within a system aimed at destroying Indigenous cultures and assimilating Indigenous students.

The Shift Away from Residential Schools

"Sister Marie Baptiste had a supply of sticks as long and thick as pool cues. When she heard me speak my language, she'd lift up her hands and bring the stick down on me. I've still got bumps and scars on my hands. I have to wear special gloves because the cold weather really hurts my hands. I tried very hard not to cry when I was being beaten and I can still just turn off my feelings.... And I'm lucky. Many of the men my age, they either didn't make it, committed suicide or died violent deaths, or alcohol got them. And it wasn't just my generation. My grandmother, who's in her late nineties, to this day it's too painful for her to talk about what happened to her at the school."

- Musqueam Nation former chief George Guerin,
Kuper Island school
Stolen from our Embrace, p 62

Church and state officials of the 19th century believed that Indigenous societies were disappearing and that the only hope for Indigenous people was to convert to Christianity, do away with their cultures, and become "civilized" British subjects-in short, assimilate them. By the 1950s, the same officials were doubting the viability of such project. The devastating effects of the residential schools and the needs and life experiences of Indigenous students were becoming more widely recognized. ² The government also acknowledged that removing children from their families was severely detrimental to the health of the individuals and the communities affected. In 1951, with the amendments to the Indian Act, the half-day work/school system was progressively abandoned, conceding power to the provinces to apprehend children, and transitioning from the school system to a 'child welfare system'. This time is referred to as the 'Sixties Scoop' because of the systematic removal of Indigenous children from their families without consent from their parents or authorities.

In the 1960s the drastic overrepresentation of Indigenous children in the welfare system consolidated, and authorities would constantly place Indigenous children with white middle-class families in an attempt to acculturate them. This practice, as well as the overrepresentation of Indigenous children in 'child welfare systems' continues today. In 1969, the Department of Indian Affairs took exclusive control of the system, marking an end to church involvement in residential schooling. Yet the schools remained underfunded and abuse continued, and many teachers and workers continued to lack proper credentials to carry out their responsibilities. ³

In the meantime, the government decided to phase out segregation and began incorporating Indigenous students into public schools. Although these changes saw students reaching higher levels of education, problems persisted. Many Indigenous students struggled in their adjustment to public school and to a Eurocentric system where Indigenous knowledges were excluded, fostering discrimination by their non-Indigenous peers. Post-secondary education was strongly discouraged for Indigenous students because those who wanted to attend university would have been enfranchised.

The process to phase out the residential school system and other assimilation tactics was slow and not without reversals. The residential school system in Canada lasted officially for almost 150 years, and its impacts continue on to this day. As mentioned above, the system's closure gave way to the 'Sixties Scoop,' during which thousands of Indigenous children were abducted by social services and removed from their families. The 'Scoop' spanned roughly the two decades it took to phase out the residential schools, but child apprehensions from Indigenous families continue to occur in disproportionate numbers today. In part, this is the legacy of compromised families and communities left by the residential schools.

Starting in 1969, residential schools in Canada began to decline in numbers. In 1970, the Department of Indian Affairs calculated fifty-six remaining schools, excluding the Northwest Territories. By 1980, the same institution reported sixteen, and one decade later, eleven. In 1996, Gordon Reserve Indian Residential School in Saskatchewan, the last of its kind, was closed and demolished. By 1999, the Department of Indian Affairs registered no remaining residential schools in operation. ⁴

Ongoing Impacts

"So why is it important to understand the history of genocide in Canada? Because it's not history. Today's racist government laws, policies and actions have proven to be just as deadly for Indigenous peoples as the genocidal acts of the past."

-Pamela Palmater, Mi'kmaq lawyer, professor, activist, and politician
(National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (Canada) et al. 2019, 53).

The residential school system is viewed by much of the Canadian public as part of a distant past, disassociated from today's events. In many ways, this is a misconception. The last residential school did not close its doors until 1996, and many of the leaders, teachers, parents, and grandparents of today's Indigenous communities are residential school Survivors. Although residential schools have closed, their effects remain ongoing for both Survivors and their descendants who now share in the intergenerational effects of transmitted personal trauma and loss of language, culture, traditional teachings, and mental/spiritual wellbeing.

According to the Report of the Aboriginal Justice Inquiry of Manitoba, several generations of Indigenous Peoples were denied the development of parenting skills not only through their removal from communities and families but also from the severe lack of attention paid to the issue by school officials. ⁵ In addition, children were taught that their traditional ways were inferior, including their languages and cultures. The residential schools were operational through several generations of Indigenous Peoples so the process of healing from these damages will also take several generations -a process that has already begun, but has not been easy nor has it been simple.

The historic, intergenerational, and collective oppression of Indigenous Peoples continues to this day in the form of land disputes, over-incarceration, lack of housing, child apprehension, systemic poverty, marginalization and violence against Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA peoples, and other critical issues which neither began nor ended with residential schools. Generations of oppressive government policies attempted to strip Indigenous Peoples of their identities not only through residential schools but also through other policies including but not limited to: the implementation and subsequent changes to the Indian Act; the mass removal of Indigenous children from their families into the child welfare system known as the Sixties Scoop; and legislations allowing forced sterilizations of Indigenous Peoples in certain provinces, a practice that has continued to be reported by Indigenous women in Canada as recently as 2018; and currently, through the modern child welfare systems which continue to disproportionately apprehend Indigenous children into foster care in what Raven Sinclair has called the Millennium Scoop. ⁶

In 2019, BC ended its practice of "birth alerts" in child welfare cases, which allowed child welfare agencies and hospitals to flag mothers deemed "high risk" without their consent -a practice which disproportionately targeted Indigenous mothers and was found to be "racist and discriminatory" and a "gross violation of the rights of the child, the mother, and the community". ⁷ One of the findings of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Report (MMIWG) asserts that the Canadian State "has used child welfare laws and agencies as a tool to oppress, displace, disrupt, and destroy Indigenous families, communities, and Nations. It is a tool in the genocide of Indigenous Peoples." ⁸ Child welfare laws and agencies, like the residential schools, effectively aided in the removal of Indigenous children from their families and continue to aid in the genocide of Indigenous Peoples.

Survivors Demand Justice
"...the Government of Canada now recognizes that it was wrong to forcibly remove children from their homes and we apologize for having done this. We now recognize that it was wrong to separate children from rich and vibrant cultures and traditions that it created a void in many lives and communities, and we apologize for having done this".

I have just one last thing to say. To all of the leaders of the Liberals, the Bloc and NDP, thank you, as well, for your words because now it is about our responsibilities today, the decisions that we make today and how they will affect seven generations from now.

My ancestors did the same seven generations ago and they tried hard to fight against you because they knew what was happening. They knew what was coming, but we have had so much impact from colonization and that is what we are dealing with today.

Women have taken the brunt of it all.

Thank you for the opportunity to be here at this moment in time to talk about those realities that we are dealing with today.

What is it that this government is going to do in the future to help our people? Because we are dealing with major human rights violations that have occurred to many generations: my language, my culture and my spirituality. I know that I want to transfer those to my children and my grandchildren, and their children, and so on.

What is going to be provided? That is my question. I know that is the question from all of us. That is what we would like to continue to work on, in partnership.

Nia:wen. Thank you.

-Beverley Jacobs, President, Native Women's Association of Canada, June 11, 2008

Read the full transcript and watch the video here.

The residential schools heavily contributed to educational, social, financial and health disparities between Indigenous Peoples and the rest of Canada, and these impacts have been intergenerational. ⁹ Despite the efforts of the residential school system and those who created and maintained it, Indigenous Peoples largely escaped complete assimilation and continue to work to regain what was lost, while also seeking justice for years of wrongdoing; including from the Canadian government, the churches, and the individuals responsible for specific cases of abuse.

It was not until the late 1980s that the Canadian legal system began to respond to allegations of abuse brought forward by Survivors, with fewer than fifty convictions coming out of more than 38,000 claims of sexual and physical abuse submitted to the independent adjudication process. ¹⁰ Notable cases include 1988's Mowatt v. Clarke, in which eight former students of St. George's Indian Residential School in Lytton, B.C., sued a priest, the government, and the Anglican Church of Canada; both the Anglican Church and the government admitted fault and agreed to a settlement. In 1995, twenty-seven Survivors from the Alberni Indian Residential School filed charges of sexual abuse against Arthur Plintwhile also holding Canada and the United Church vicariously liable. In addition to convicting Plint, the court held the federal government and the United Church responsible for the wrongs committed.
The Indian Residential School Survivors Society was formed in 1994 by the First Nations Summit in British Columbia and was officially incorporated in 2002 to provide support for survivors and communities in the province throughout the healing process and to educate the broader public. The Survivors Society provides crisis counselling, referrals, and healing initiatives, as well as acting as a resource for information, research, training, and workshops. It was clear that a similar organization was needed at the national level, and in 2005, the National Residential School Survivors Society was incorporated.
Meanwhile, the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples had been interviewing individuals from Indigenous communities and nations across Canada about their experiences. The commission's report, published in 1996, brought unprecedented attention to the residential school system-many non-Indigenous Canadians did not know about this chapter in Canadian history. In 1998, based on the commission's recommendations and considering the court cases, the Canadian government publicly apologized to former students for the physical and sexual abuse they suffered in the residential schools. The Aboriginal Healing Foundation was established as a $350 million government plan to aid communities affected by the residential schools. However, some Indigenous people felt the government apology did not go far enough, since it addressed only the effects of physical and sexual abuse and not other damages caused by the residential school system.
Books & Articles Canada. Royal Commission on Indigenous Peoples. Report of the Royal Commission on Indigenous Peoples, Volume 1: Looking Forward, Looking Back. Chapter 10, "Residential Schools." Ottawa: Supply and Services Canada, 1996.
The St. George and Alberni lawsuits set a precedent for future cases, proving that the churches and the government of Canada could be sued as an entity. As the number of cases grew, a National Class Action was filed in 2002 for compensation for all former Indian Residential school Survivors and family members in Canada. In 2005, Canada and nearly 80,000 Survivors reached the Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement in which Canada committed to individual compensation for Survivors, additional funding for the Aboriginal Healing Foundation, and the creation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

In September 2007, while the Settlement Agreement was being put into action, the Canadian government made a motion to issue a formal apology. The motion passed unanimously. On June 11, 2008, the House of Commons gathered in a solemn ceremony to publicly apologize for the government's involvement in the residential school system and to acknowledge the widespread impact this system has had among Indigenous Peoples. You can read the official statement and responses to it by Indigenous organizations here (scroll down to " Choose a topic" and select " Apology to former students of Indian Residential Schools"). The apology was broadcast live across Canada (watch it here). Former Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper issued a 'statement of apology to former students of Indian Residential Schools ', noting that

Echoing Stephen Harper, former Chief Justice of Ontario Warren Winkler also observed that the residential school system removed children

"from their families and communities to serve the purpose of carrying out a "concerted campaign to obliterate" the "habits and associations" of "Indigenous languages, traditions and beliefs," in order to accomplish "a radical re-socialization" aimed at instilling the children instead with the values of Euro-centric civilization"( Library and Archives Canada, RG10, volume 6113, le 351-10, part 1). ¹¹

The federal government's apology was met with a range of responses. Some felt that it marked a new era of positive federal government-Indigenous relations based on mutual respect, while many others felt that the apology was merely symbolic and doubted that it would change the government's relationship with Indigenous Peoples. Although apologies and acknowledgements made by governments and churches are important steps forward in reconciliation, Indigenous leaders have argued that such gestures are not enough without supportive action . Communities and residential school survivor societies are undertaking healing initiatives and providing opportunities for survivors to talk about their experiences and move forward to create a positive future for themselves, their families, and their communities.

Recommended resources

Erasmus, George. Notes on A History of the Indian Residential School System in Canada

Fournier, Suzanne and Ernie Crey. Stolen from our Embrace: The Abduction of First Nations Children and the Restoration of Indigenous Communities. Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre, 1997.

Haig-Brown, Celia. Resistance and Renewal: Surviving the Indian Residential School. Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp Press, 1998. First published by Tillicum Library, 1988.

Manitoba. Public Inquiry into the Administration and Indigenous People. "Indigenous Women." Vol. 1, chap. 13, in Report of the Aboriginal Justice Inquiry of Manitoba. Winnipeg: Public Inquiry into the Administration and Indigenous People, 1999.
Websites Apologies and Reconciliation
This chapter of the Indigenous Justice Inquiry of Manitoba's report on Indigenous people in the justice system examines how the residential school system has contributed to the abuse and discrimination that many Indigenous women face regularly.

Miller, J. R. Shingwauk's Vision. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1996.

Widely regarded as one of the most comprehensive, key texts on the residential school system, in Shingwauk's Vision Miller has included the perspectives of government and church officials, school staff, and students to create a rich history of the residential school system from its original inception to its phasing out. Cree scholar Winona Wheeler calls Shingwauk's Vision "the most thorough and comprehensive study of Indian residential schools in Canada to date and most noted for its good use of a wide range of Indigenous life histories and personal reminisces" (Wheeler, "Social Relations of Indigenous Oral Histories," in Walking a Tightrope: Indigenous Peoples and their Representations, 2005. 193)

Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council, Indian Residential Schools: The Nuu-Chah-Nulth Experience. Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council, 1996.

Roberts, John. First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Peoples: Exploring their Past, Present, and Future. Toronto: Emond Montgomery, 2006.

Secwepemc Cultural Education Society, Behind Closed Doors: Stories from the Kamloops Indian Residential School. Penticton: Secwepemc Cultural Education Society & Theytus, 2000.

Endnotes

[1] Milloy, John S. A National Crime: The Canadian Government and the Residential School System, 1879 to 1986.University of Manitoba Press, 1999. 91-2; Fournier and Crey, Stolen from Our Embrace. Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre, 1997. 49.

[2] Royal Commission on Indigenous Peoples, Volume 1: Looking Forward, Looking Back. Chapter 10, "1.2 Changing Policies." Ottawa: Supply and Services Canada, 1996. 344-353.

[3] Milloy, John S. A National Crime: The Canadian Government and the Residential School System, 1879 to 1986. University of Manitoba Press, 1999. Xvii, 91-2.

[4] Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. 2015. Canada's Residential Schools: The History, Part 2 1939 to 2000. The Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. Vol. 1. 2 vols. Montreal; Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press. 103.

[5] Report of the Aboriginal Justice Inquiry of Manitoba. 1999. The Justice System and Aboriginal People. Ch. 14 ( http://www.ajic.mb.ca/volumel/chapter14.html)

[6] National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (Canada), Marion Buller, Michèle Audette, Brian Eyolfson, and Qajaq Robinson. 2019. Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. 104; Longman, Nickita. 2018. "Examining the Sixties Scoop and Beyond." Discourse Magazine, 2018.

[7] National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (Canada), 355.

[8] National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (Canada), 355.

[9] Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. 2015. Canada's Residential Schools: The Legacy: The Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, Volume 5. Montréal: McGill-Queen's University Press. 3.

[10] Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. 2015. Canada's Residential Schools: The Legacy: The Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, Volume 5. Montréal: McGill-Queen's University Press. 7.

[11] Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. 2015. Canada's Residential Schools: The History, Part 2 1939 to 2000. The Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. Vol. 1. 2 vols. Montreal; Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press. 574.

To Cite This Article

MLA:
Hanson, Eric, et al."The Residential School System." Indigenous Foundations. First Nations and Indigenous Studies UBC, 2020. Website. [Date accessed].

Chicago:
Hanson, Eric, Daniel P. Games, and Alexa Manuel. "The Residential School System". Indigenous Foundations. https://indigenousfoundations.arts.ubc.ca/residential-school-system-2020/. (accessed Month, day, year).

APA:
Hanson, E., Gamez, D., & Manuel, A. (2020, September). The Residential School System. Indigenous Foundations. https://indigenousfoundations.arts.ubc.ca/residential-school-system-2020/

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By Erin Hanson (2009), with updates and revisions by Daniel P. Gamez & Alexa Manuel (September 2020). The original version of this article has been archived, but may be accessed here. To cite this article, we have recommendations at the bottom of the page.

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"It is estimated that at least 150,000 First Nation, Inuit, and Métis children attended residential schools during this period"

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Warning!
The Residential School System is a topic that may cause trauma invoked by memories of past abuse. The Government of Canada recognizes the need for safety measures to minimize the risk associated with triggering. A National Residential School Crisis Line has been set up to provide support for former residential school students. You can access information on the website or access emotional and crisis referral services by calling the 24-Hour National Crisis Line: 1-866-925-4419.

The Residential School System was designated a national historic event in 2019.

Commemorative plaque: No plaque installed Footnote 1

The Residential School System

Residential schools for Indigenous children existed in Canada from the 17th century until the late 1990s. During the 19th and 20th centuries, a formal system for the residential schooling of Indigenous children was established and expanded throughout Canada. Concerted federal government involvement in Residential Schools began in the 1880s. It is estimated that at least 150,000 First Nation, Inuit, and Métis children attended residential schools during this period. These schools were largely operated by certain churches and religious organizations and administered and funded by the federal government as a key aspect of colonialism. The system was imposed on Indigenous peoples as part of a broad set of assimilation efforts to destroy their rich cultures and identities and to suppress their histories. The accounts of residential school survivors provide critical insight into the devastating experiences children had at residential schools, and the long-term impact of these experiences not only on survivors, but also on their families and communities. Throughout the system’s history, Indigenous peoples fought against the system in many ways. The efforts of residential school survivors to tell their stories and to seek justice have been a crucial catalyst in the growing public recognition of the harm and effects of residential schools.

The first boarding schools for Indigenous children in what would become Canada were established by Roman Catholic missionaries in 17th century colonial New France. In the first half of the 19th century, residential schools for Indigenous children were established under British colonial rule in Upper Canada (southern Ontario). Founded on notions of racial, cultural, and spiritual superiority, these schools attempted to convert Indigenous children to Christianity and separate them from their traditional cultures.

With the colonization of Indigenous territories in the years following Confederation, the Canadian government established and expanded a formal system of residential schooling through legislation and policies with the goal of accelerating the assimilation of Indigenous peoples into settler society. The system expanded west and north, and in time government-sponsored residential schools existed in almost every province and territory in Canada, with most of the schools in the north and Quebec opening after 1950. In general, schools focused on providing instruction in trades and agriculture for boys, and in domestic tasks for girls. Residential schools operated in addition to federally-funded day schools, which were often run by religious organizations. In the 1950s and 1960s, the federal government began to pursue a policy of integration in southern Canada, whereby some First Nations children would attend schools in the provincial school system, especially for the higher grades. In the North, the government administered a system of hostels and day schools for First Nation, Inuit, and Métis children. Many Métis students were already attending provincial schools. In practice, the process of integrating students and then closing residential schools took decades, only ending in the late 1990s.

During the years that the system was in place, children were forcibly removed from their homes and, at school, were often subjected to harsh discipline, malnutrition and starvation, poor healthcare, physical, emotional, and sexual abuse, neglect, and the deliberate suppression of their cultures and languages. Thousands of children died while attending residential schools, and the burial sites of many remain unknown. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada described the residential school system as a cultural genocide. The intergenerational effects of the trauma include lower levels of educational and social attainment, interpersonal violence, and broken relationships between parents and children. Residential schools undermined fundamental aspects of Indigenous cultures by separating Indigenous peoples from their traditional knowledge and ways of life, languages, family structures, and connections to the land.

From the earliest days of the schools, objections were raised by students, their families, and Indigenous leaders. They protested everything from attendance to poor conditions, mistreatment, and the inadequate quality of schooling itself. Children fought against the system by refusing to let go of their languages and identities. Some children ran away from the schools in an effort to return home. Some died in the process. In the decades when the schools were shutting down, Indigenous peoples fought for official acknowledgement of the harms inflicted by the schools. Survivors advocated for recognition and reparations, and demanded that governments and churches be held accountable for the lasting legacy of harms caused. These efforts ultimately culminated in the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement, apologies by the government, and the establishment of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which ran from 2008 to 2015.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Call to Action 79 in part called on the federal government to commemorate the history and legacy of residential schools. The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation and their Survivors Circle, Parks Canada, and the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada have co-developed this designation and worked collaboratively to determine the national historic significance of this important and defining event in Canadian history that continues to have a significant impact today.

Backgrounder last update: 2020-09-01

Other national historic designations associated with this one:

Former Shubenacadie Indian Residential School National Historic Site

Former Muscowequan Indian Residential School National Historic Site

Former Portage La Prairie Indian Residential School National Historic Site

Former Shingwauk Indian Residential School National Historic Site

The National Program of Historical Commemoration relies on the participation of Canadians in the identification of places, events and persons of national historic significance. Any member of the public can nominate a topic for consideration by the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada.

Get information on how to participate in this process

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The Residential School System National Historic Event

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In this live special broadcast from CBC Newsworld on June 11, 2008, then-prime minister Stephen Harper is heard recognizing the wrongs of the past.

"The government of Canada sincerely apologizes and asks the forgiveness of the Aboriginal peoples of this country for failing them so profoundly. We are sorry," Harper says, delivering the apology in the House of Commons.

Harper's apology was followed by remarks from Stéphane Dion, then the Liberal leader, who acknowledged his party's complicity in the residential schools policy, having governed Canada for 70 years in the 20th century.

Two more federal party leaders, Gilles Duceppe of the Bloc Québecois and Jack Layton of the NDP, reflected on the apology and rebuked the Harper government for not endorsing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

From a circle of 11 chairs on the floor of the House of Commons for five Indigenous leaders and six residential school survivors, Phil Fontaine, national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, responded to the apology to cheers from the viewing galleries.

"Never again will we be the 'Indian problem,'" said Fontaine. "Today is the result of the righteousness of our struggle."

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Government apologizes for residential schools in 2008 | CBC Archives

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In this live special broadcast from CBC Newsworld on June 11, 2008, then-prime minister Stephen Harper is heard recognizing the wrongs of the past. "The government of Canada sincerely apologizes and asks the forgiveness of the Aboriginal peoples of this country for failing them so profoundly.

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A committed called the TRC was formed to create "Calls to Actions", these are things that the government can do to help reconcile with the indigenous people about residential schools

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Despite the efforts to destroy and colonize Indigenous peoples’ culture, Indigenous livelihood has persisted.

However, residential schools have created a detrimental intergenerational effect. Residential schools laid the foundation for the epidemic we see within Indigenous communities today. Children at the schools grew up without nurturing and loving homes that uplifted them to partake in their culture, leading them to have misconstrued ways of living. Many of them, as adults, lacked parenting skills and utilized tactics of abuse on their children. Similar to the abuse they experienced within the schools. This has created a perpetuating cycle of domestic abuse within Indigenous homes.

Also, nearly fifty percent of the children who attended the schools did not benefit from the education. They often lacked basic reading and writing skills, leading to lower paying jobs, and a lower standard of living.

The trauma of the school’s colonization tactics has often led to self-abuse in an attempt to cope. According to the University of British Columbia, “Among First Nations people aged 10 to 44, suicide and self-inflicted injury is the number one cause of death, responsible for almost 40 percent of mortalities. First Nations women attempt suicide eight times more often than other Canadian women, and First Nations men attempt suicide five times more often than other Canadian men. Some communities experience what have been called suicide epidemics.”

Also, simply being a descendant of a parent who attended residential schools, increases your chances of being sexually assaulted by 2.35 times.

All in all, residential schools have negatively impacted the community. Indigenous peoples are still fighting to re-learn and practice their culture. Overcoming such a mass genocide has posed many challenges, but none that we as a community can not overcome!

"

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Residential Schools and its Lasting Impacts on Indigenous Communities Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes
(TW: Violence, genocide, sexual violence)

What are Residential Schools?

Residential Schools were "schools" that were set up by the Canadian government but administered by churches. The Mohawk Institute in Brantford, Ontario, was the first to open in 1831, and the Gordon Indian Residential School in Saskatchewan, being the last to close in 1996. Nearly 130 schools were placed throughout Canada and sought to have housed 150,000+ Indigenous children throughout the years of operation.

However, these children didn't just go to the residential schools by choosing. They were taken from their families and forced into the schools. The main goals of the schools were to remove the children from their homes in order to assimilate them into the Euro-Canadian and Christian ways of living, isolating them from their own culture.

Why did they want to assimilate Indigenous Children?

Statements like "Kill the Indian, Save The Man" or "Kill the Indian in Child" were common slogans that perfectly explain the veracity of the school's intentions. Indigenous children were not allowed to speak their own language, use their own names, or practice anything of their own religion and culture.

To detach the children from their culture, they would give them new names, cut their hair short, and force them to wear uniforms. Every aspect of their identity was suppressed, they had to abandon their way of life due to the belief that their culture was inferior to the mainstream white man's ways.

For example, in 1920, Duncan Campbell Scott, the Canadian Deputy Superintendent General of Indian Affairs said of his government's policy: "Our objective is to continue until there is not an Indian that has not been absorbed into the body politic, and there is no Indian question, and no Indian Department."

The government's goal was to erase Indigenous Peoples and the easiest way for them to do so was mass genocide. They believed Indigenous peoples as ignorant, savages, a burden to society, and in need of guidance on the "right way to live".

Therefore, they assimilated Indigenous youth with similar tactics that the United States used. A tactic called "aggressive civilization", which also led to the public funding of residential schools in Canada. The major key of aggressive civilization was the use of religious instruction and skills training that would help Natives catch up with western society.

How Were Indigenous Peoples Treated at the schools? What were the treatments they used?

Given that the schools were meant for indigenous erasure, treatment was clearly not good-natured. The schools were breeding grounds for suffering and foul treatment. They had strict rules and often their days were regimented by timetables.

Family was not allowed to interact with other family members, for fear they would practice their customs and traditions. The interactions were not allowed for the same reason the children were taken away from their traditional home, to limit their culture. For example, Prime Minister Macdonald, "When the school is on the reserve, the child lives with his parents who are savages; he is surrounded by savages, and though he may learn to read and write, his habits and training and mode of thought are Indian. He is simply a savage who can read and write." Also, boys and girls were separated the majority of the time.

In terms of the education factor of the schools, children often learned practical skills instead of the standard grade school curriculum. Girls would learn how to cook, clean, sew, and do laundry. Meanwhile, boys would learn things like carpentry and farming. They made the children involuntarily complete these tasks, unpaid child labor. The labor distracted them from their actual schoolwork, meaning some students would only reach grade levels five or six at the age of eighteen.

Aside from the neglect of a proper education, the schools also abused many of the students. Many students were sexually assaulted by the priest and nuns who abused their positions of power. Nearly twenty-eight percent of the young women were assaulted and 5% of the assaults recurring every six months. The schools are often referred to as a place of institutionalized pedophilia.

A majority of the children were also beaten and tormented. Some beaten and strapped or tied and shackled to their beds. Needles piercing their tongues or electric shocks were also a recurring punishment for speaking their native language. Often they were neglected meals and had poor nutrition along with poor sanitation. Nuns and priests used the teachings of Christianity to scare the children, creating and using the fear of God to make them embrace Christianity.

Nearly one in twenty-five students lost their life to residential schools and the pain and suffering continues to torment many of the former students and their communities.

What are the Lasting Impacts of Residential Schools?

Despite the efforts to destroy and colonize Indigenous peoples' culture, Indigenous livelihood has persisted.

However, residential schools have created a detrimental intergenerational effect. Residential schools laid the foundation for the epidemic we see within Indigenous communities today. Children at the schools grew up without nurturing and loving homes that uplifted them to partake in their culture, leading them to have misconstrued ways of living. Many of them, as adults, lacked parenting skills and utilized tactics of abuse on their children. Similar to the abuse they experienced within the schools. This has created a perpetuating cycle of domestic abuse within Indigenous homes.

Also, nearly fifty percent of the children who attended the schools did not benefit from the education. They often lacked basic reading and writing skills, leading to lower paying jobs, and a lower standard of living.

The trauma of the school's colonization tactics has often led to self-abuse in an attempt to cope. According to the University of British Columbia, "Among First Nations people aged 10 to 44, suicide and self-inflicted injury is the number one cause of death, responsible for almost 40 percent of mortalities. First Nations women attempt suicide eight times more often than other Canadian women, and First Nations men attempt suicide five times more often than other Canadian men. Some communities experience what have been called suicide epidemics."

Also, simply being a descendant of a parent who attended residential schools, increases your chances of being sexually assaulted by 2.35 times.

All in all, residential schools have negatively impacted the community. Indigenous peoples are still fighting to re-learn and practice their culture. Overcoming such a mass genocide has posed many challenges, but none that we as a community can not overcome!

Remembrance

In honor of those who lost their lives to residential schools: Full List of Known Names

And to those of us who continue to work through the intergenerational suffering and trauma,

Here's to Indigenous healing and prosperity

I am of both Mohawk and Algonquin descent. My grandma and grandpa are both survivors of residential schools. My grandpa and many of his siblings, cousins, etc, attended the Mohawk residential school. On that list there are five people with his same last name, "Beaver", I know some of his siblings passed away in that school.

Growing up with little knowledge of my culture has been a challenging journey. My grandpa died before I was born and my grandma is reluctant to tell her stories, the few she remembers. It is due to the residential schools that causes separation in my culture and its understanding. Yet I will continue to fight and strive to keep my cultural practice alive.

Sources
https://indigenousfoundations.arts.ubc.ca/the_residential_school_system/ https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-49884387 https://www.facinghistory.org/stolen-lives-indigenous-peoples-canada-and-indian-residential-schools/chapter-3/role-churches#:~:text=The%20stated%20purpose%20of%20the,almost%20inseparable%20at%20the%20time https://www.facinghistory.org/stolen-lives-indigenous-peoples-canada-and-indian-residential-schools/chapter-3/killing-indian-child https://www.historytoday.com/history-matters/canada%E2%80%99s-first-nations https://www.jstor.org/stable/44030407 https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/truth-and-reconciliation-commission-by-the-numbers-1.3096185 https://www.spph.ubc.ca/children-of-residential-school-survivors-and-victims-of-childhood-sexual-abuse-are-at-increased-risk-of-sexual-assault/

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Residential Schools and their Lasting Impacts - The Indigenous Foundation

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Cover illustration by Lakeisha Marie Residential Schools and its Lasting Impacts on Indigenous Communities Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes (TW: Violence, genocide, sexual violence) What are Residential Schools? Residential Schools were "schools" that were set up by the Canadian gov

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"A phenomenon in which the descendants of a person who has experienced a terrifying event show adverse emotional and behavioral reactions to the event that are similar to those of the person himself or herself. These reactions vary by generation but often include shame, increased anxiety and guilt, a heightened sense of vulnerability and helplessness, low self-esteem, depression, suicidality, substance abuse, dissociation, hypervigilance, intrusive thoughts, difficulty with relationships and attachment to others, difficulty in regulating aggression, and extreme reactivity to stress. The exact mechanisms of the phenomenon remain unknown but are believed to involve effects on relationship skills, personal behavior, and attitudes and beliefs that affect subsequent generations. Also called "historical trauma; multigenerational trauma; secondary traumatization.” (American Psychological Association, https://dictionary.apa.org/intergenerational-trauma)"

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The Lasting Impact of Native American Residential Schools | KQED Education

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How are Indigenous youth of today healing from the painful legacy of residential schools and demanding accountability?

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Aboriginal survivors of Canada's residential school era have mixed emotions about the Canadian federal government's November 23 decision to pay $2 billion in reparations to survivors. Although satisfying to some, the financial compensation has left other survivors feeling insulted, if not infuriated.

The unprecedented reparations deal includes a $10,000 "common experience" payment to the approximately 90,000 living students who attended the residential schools; an additional $3,000 for every year the students attended; nearly $200 million in funding for healing and educational programs; and the option of pursuing individual claims of abuse through the courts. Survivors 65 years and older can apply for an early payment of $8,000.

"You can't put a price tag on the lost cultural languages or the people being taken from their homes for years [at a time]," said Mike Benson, Executive Director of the National Residential School Survivor Society (NRSSS). "But for some of the elderly survivors, they are finally getting acknowledgement [that this happened]."

The residential school system in Canada operated from the 1870s through the 1950s and '60s, with the last school closing late into the 20th century, according to the Indian Residential Schools Resolution website. Residential schools, which were funded by the federal government and often operated by churches, were designed to transform aboriginal Canadians into mainstream Christians, and have been blamed for the disappearance of aboriginal languages, as well as the physical and sexual abuse of the children who attended.

Benson said that under the agreement, it should now be "easier for survivors to prove their claims" of abuse, which will be settled in addition to the common experience payment. The application forms have been shortened from their original length of 56 pages, making it "easier to put claims forward," Benson said.

Beyond the physical and sexual abuse, the Truth Commission into Genocide in Canada accuses the residential schools of the death and disappearance of nearly 50,000 children during the years of the schools' operation, although no other organizations could confirm that number.

The Commission, which could not be reached for comment, released a public statement on November 26 in response to the government's compensation plan, calling it a "gag order" and a "paltry bribe."

"This bribe and legal gagging is being presented as a final 'resolution' of the claims of residential school survivors, as if such unspeakable crimes as mass sterilizations, gang rape, ritualistic torture and murder are resolvable by or reducible to an issue of money," the Commission said in its statement.

The Commission is calling on all victims to refuse payments from the government and is demanding that the churches and the government be taken to an international War Crimes Tribunal for their "crimes against humanity."

Benson said that although a war tribunal would make the world more aware of what Canada had done, he does not think a war tribunal would change anything, asking, "What would it do for the survivors?"

However, Benson said that he was not completely satisfied with the reparations deal, either. "It does not address all the artifacts, records, and archival records that the Churches and government has," said Benson. "The archives should be turned over to survivors and survivors' organizations."

Benson also said he was disappointed that none of the survivors who died prior to May 30, when the agreement was first signed, will receive any recognition.

Assembly of First Nations National Chief Phil Fontaine said in a press release that "no amount of money will ever heal the emotional scars," though he believes that the reparations package "will contribute to the journey on the path to healing."

Both the AFN and the NRSSS said they will continue to pursue the public apology that had been a part of the original agreement, but that the Minister Premier has not yet issued.

Don Kelly, communications director for the AFN, explained that the public apology was not released in conjunction with the reparations deal because there was no "legal mechanism" for the Minister Premier to apologize within the court-ordered deal.

Benson, disappointed about the lack of apology, said he suspects Minister Premier Paul Martin is waiting until the conclusion of this year's federal elections before finally releasing a formal statement of apology.

"The government of Canada wants closure on this," said Benson. "They want to close this file, this chapter of history. It reflects on them in the international community that it's Canada-guardian of human rights-and [its] natives are still fighting for compensation."

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Canada Arrives at Controversial Reparations Agreement

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Aboriginal survivors of Canada's residential school era have mixed emotions about the Canadian federal government's November 23 decision to pay $2 billion in reparations to survivors. Although satisfying to some, the financial compensation has left other survivors feeling insulted, if not infuriated.

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The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) provided those directly or indirectly affected by the legacy of the Indian Residential Schools system with an opportunity to share their stories and experiences.

About the Truth and Reconciliation Commission

The Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement, the largest class-action settlement in Canadian history, began to be implemented in 2007. One of the elements of the agreement was the establishment of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada to facilitate reconciliation among former students, their families, their communities and all Canadians.

The official mandate (PDF) of the TRC is found in Schedule "N" of the Settlement Agreement which includes the principles that guided the commission in its important work.

Between 2007 and 2015, the Government of Canada provided about $72 million to support the TRC's work. The TRC spent 6 years travelling to all parts of Canada and heard from more than 6,500 witnesses. The TRC also hosted 7 national events across Canada to engage the Canadian public, educate people about the history and legacy of the residential schools system, and share and honour the experiences of former students and their families.

The TRC created a historical record of the residential schools system. As part of this process, the Government of Canada provided over 5 million records to the TRC. The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation at the University of Manitoba now houses all of the documents collected by the TRC.

In June 2015, the TRC held its closing event in Ottawa and presented the executive summary of the findings contained in its multi-volume final report, including 94 "calls to action" (or recommendations) to further reconciliation between Canadians and Indigenous Peoples.

In December 2015, the TRC released its entire 6-volume final report. All Canadians are encouraged to read the summary or the final report to learn more about the terrible history of Indian Residential Schools and its sad legacy.

To read the reports, please visit the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation website.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission's final report

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission's Final Report is a testament to the courage of each and every Survivor and family member who shared their story.

As part of the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accepted the Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission on behalf of Canada.

The Government of Canada continues to be committed to a renewed nation-to-nation relationship with Indigenous Peoples based on recognition of rights, respect, co-operation and partnership. The Government of Canada will work closely with provinces, territories, First Nations, the Métis Nation, Inuit groups and church entities to implement recommendations of the TRC and further reconciliation to the benefit of all Canadians. This will include the implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

The Government of Canada also recognizes that true reconciliation goes beyond the scope of the commission's recommendations. The Prime Minister announced that Canada will work with leaders of First Nations, the Métis Nation, Inuit, provinces and territories, parties to the Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement, and other key partners, to design a national engagement strategy for developing and implementing a national reconciliation framework, informed by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's recommendations.

As an important step in rebuilding Canada's relationship with Indigenous Peoples, the Prime Minister of Canada met with leaders of the National Indigenous Organizations on December 16, 2015, in Ottawa to continue the dialogue on reconciliation. At that meeting, the Prime Minister committed to National Indigenous Organizations that he would meet with them annually in order to sustain and advance progress on shared priorities.

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Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada

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The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) provided those directly or indirectly affected by the legacy of the Indian Residential Schools system with an opportunity to share their stories and experiences. The Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement, the largest class-action settlement in Canadian history, began to be implemented in 2007.

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Trudeau sorry for ‘incredibly harmful’ residential schools as advocates call for accountability | Globalnews.ca

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“Specifically to the members of the Cowessess community and Treaty Four communities, we are sorry,” said Trudeau, speaking Friday.

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Hundreds gathered in Yellowknife Friday afternoon to honour the lost children discovered at Kamloops Indian Residential School in B.C. in late May.

The smell of burning sage filled the air as residents marched to the beat of the drum, the Dene way.

Dene National Chief Norman Yakeleya said residents have awakened upon hearing this tragedy as a collective to grieve and heal together.

The question becomes how do we move forward, he says.

The memorial kicked off with a walk around town, stopping at several checkpoints, including the former Akaitcho Hall location, St. Patricks Church, Holy Trinity Anglican Church, the RCMP headquarters and lastly, the Somba K'e amphitheatre.

Several chiefs were present, including, Edward Sangris and Ernest Betsina of Yellowknives Dene First Nation, Wilbert Kochon of Behdzi Ahda First Nation, Tłı̨chǫ Grand Chief George Mackenzie and Gerry Cheezie of Smith Landing First Nation.

"The discovery of these graves and graves yet to be discovered, are a reminder of the deep, unhealed wounds, which continue to inflict pain through the ongoing systemic racism towards our people," said Betsina who attended residential school for three years in Inuvik.

Both sets of territorial leaders want further acknowledgement of this tragedy and action into the search for potentially more lost souls in the NWT.

Part of that means access to records from the Catholic Church to help identify the missing children.

Leaders are holding the Church accountable for this unmarked mass burial and they want names.

"Enough talk, it is time for action,"he says,"It is time we find out who the children's names are that were found and bring them home."

Pope Francis in a tweet has acknowledged the recent discovery with no formal apology on June 6.

Echoed across the North

Nathalie Taylor and her two younger daughters are from Rankin Inlet, NU.

This recent discovery, although not surprising to Taylor, brought her to tears.

She says she wants her children "to know how important they are . . . and how important this is for our history and our culture."

Taylor also demands recognition from the federal government and wants all former residential school sites searched.

She believes there are still people out there living and breathing this reality and "they need to be recognized, they need to be heard."

Taylor says it's hard to recognize herself as Canadian at this time and plans on educating her children on Canada's dark legacy.

Natasha Harris is a residential school survivor and she brought her granddaughter and son to the event.

Upon hearing the discovery of the missing children, she says she felt old trauma and anger from her experience attending Grollier Hall Roman Catholic School in Inuvik.

She asks her territorial leaders, to "find the rest of the children and bring them home."

A few territorial authorities were in attendance including Premier Caroline Cochrane, Katrina Nokelby, and Paulie Chinna, minister responsible for Municipal and Community Affairs.

"Whatever the (Indigenous governments) decide to do the GNWT will support them," said Cochrane to CKLB at the march.

"The history is true and it cannot be denied anymore," she adds.

The memorial ended with a powerful drum dance, fire feeding ceremony and a closing prayer by Ruth Mercredi.

Emotional and crisis support is available by calling the 24-hour national line at 1-866-925-4419.

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'A nation awakened': Hundreds honour 215 children lost at Kamloops residential school - CKLB Radio

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Hundreds gathered in Yellowknife Friday afternoon to honour the lost children discovered at Kamloops Indian Residential School in B.C. in late May. The smell of burning sage filled the air as residents marched to the beat of the drum, the Dene way.