Truth and Reconciliation
Commission of Canada:
Interim Report
Truth and Reconciliation
Commission of Canada:
Interim Report
is report is in the public domain. Anyone may, without charge or request for
permission, reproduce all or part of this report.
2012
Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, 2012
1500–360 Main Street
Winnipeg, Manitoba
R3C 3Z3
Telephone: (204) 984-5885
Toll Free: 1-888-872-5554 (1-888-TRC-5554)
Fax: (204) 984-5915
E-mail: [email protected]a
Website: www.trc.ca
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada
Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada interim report.
Issued also in French under title: Commission de vérité et réconciliation
du Canada, rapport intérimaire.
Includes bibliographical references.
Electronic monograph in PDF format.
Issued also in printed form.
ISBN 978-1-100-19994-8
Cat. no.: IR4-3/1-2012E-PDF
1. Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada--Management.
2. Native peoples--Canada--Residential schools. 3. Native peoples-- Reparations--
Canada. 4. Native peoples--Civil rights--Canada. 5. Truth
commissions--Canada--Management. 6. Native peoples--Canada--Government
relations. 7. Transitional justice--Canada. I. Title.
E96.5 T78 2012 352.8’80971 C2012-980019-8
Table of Contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Purpose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Background ..................................................................................... 1
Mission Statement ............................................................................ 2
Vision Statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Setting Up the Commission: Governance and Operational Framework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Head and Regional Oces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Inuit Sub-Commission ........................................................................ 3
Stang . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3
Commissioner Activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
What People Told the Commission ................................................................ 4
Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Languages and Traditional Knowledge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Parenting Skills ............................................................................... 7
Extension and Enhancement of Health Support Services ......................................... 8
Exclusions from Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Impact and Reach of Apology from Canada ..................................................... 9
Establishing a Framework for Reconciliation .................................................... 9
e Aboriginal Healing Foundation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
e International Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Commission Activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Statement Gathering: Truth Sharing .............................................................. 12
Document Collection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Lack of Cooperation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Cost-related issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Research and Report Preparation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Missing Children and Unmarked Graves ....................................................... 17
A National Research Centre: Establishing a National Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Commemoration: Creating a Lasting Legacy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
National Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
e Winnipeg National Event, June 16–19, 2010 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
e Northern National Event, Inuvik, Northwest Territories, June 28–July 1, 2011 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Community Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Review of Past Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Residential-School Recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Reconciliation Recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Works Cited ....................................................................................... 30
1
“e road we travel is equal in importance to the destination we seek.
ere are no shortcuts. When it comes to truth and reconciliation,
we are all forced to go the distance.”
-Justice Murray Sinclair,
Chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada,
to the Canadian Senate Standing Committee on Aboriginal Peoples,
September 28, 2010
Introduction
Purpose
is interim report covers the activities of the Truth and
Reconciliation Commission of Canada since the appointment
of the current three Commissioners on July 1, 2009. e report
summarizes:
the activities of the Commissioners•
the messages presented to the Commission at hearings •
and National Events
the activities of the Commission with relation to its •
mandate
the Commission’s interim ndings•
the Commission’s recommendations. •
Background
Up until the 1990s, the Canadian government, in part-
nership with a number of Christian churches, operated a
residential school system for Aboriginal children. ese gov-
ernment-funded, usually church-run schools and residences
were set up to assimilate Aboriginal people forcibly into the
Canadian mainstream by eliminating parental and commu-
nity involvement in the intellectual, cultural, and spiritual
development of Aboriginal children.
More than 150,000 First Nations, Inuit, and Métis chil-
dren were placed in what were known as Indian residential
schools. As a matter of policy, the children commonly were
forbidden to speak their own language or engage in their
own cultural and spiritual practices. Generations of children
were traumatized by the experience. e lack of parental and
family involvement in the upbringing of their own children
also denied those same children the ability to develop par-
enting skills. ere are an estimated 80,000 former students
still living today. Because residential schools operated for well
more than a century, their impact has been transmitted from
grandparents to parents to children. is legacy from one gen-
eration to the next has contributed to social problems, poor
health, and low educational success rates in Aboriginal com-
munities today.
e 1996 Canadian Royal Commission on Aboriginal
Peoples and various other reports and inquiries have docu-
mented the emotional, physical, and sexual abuse that many
children experienced during their school years. Beginning in
the mid-1990s, thousands of former students took legal action
against the churches that ran the schools and the federal gov-
ernment that funded them. ese civil lawsuits sought com-
pensation for the injuries that individuals had sustained, and
for loss of language and culture. ey were the basis of several
large class-action suits that were resolved in 2007 with the
implementation of the Indian Residential Schools Settlement
Agreement, the largest class-action settlement in Canadian
history. e Agreement, which is being implemented under
court supervision, is intended to begin repairing the harm
caused by the residential school system.
In addition to providing compensation to former students,
the Agreement established the Truth and Reconciliation
Commission of Canada with a budget of $60-million and a
ve-year term.
e Commission’s overarching purposes are to:
reveal to Canadians the complex truth about the history •
and the ongoing legacy of the church-run residential
schools, in a manner that fully documents the indi-
vidual and collective harms perpetrated against Aborig-
inal peoples, and honours the resiliency and courage of
former students, their families, and communities; and
guide and inspire a process of truth and healing, leading •
toward reconciliation within Aboriginal families, and
between Aboriginal peoples and non-Aboriginal com-
munities, churches, governments, and Canadians gen-
2 | Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada
erally. e process will work to renew relationships on a
basis of inclusion, mutual understanding, and respect.
To guide its work, the Commission has developed a stra-
tegic plan with the following mission and vision statements.
Mission Statement
e Truth and Reconciliation Commission -
will reveal the complete story of Canada’s
residential school system, and lead the way
to respect through reconciliation … for the
child taken, for the parent left behind.
Vision Statement
We will reveal the truth about residential -
schools, and establish a renewed sense of
Canada that is inclusive and respectful,
and that enables reconciliation.
Setting Up the Commission: Governance
and Operational Framework
e Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada
(TRC) was established by Order-in-Council in June 2008. e
initial Commission consisted of Justice Harry LaForme as
chair, Claudette Dumont-Smith, and Jane Brewin Morley. Jus-
tice LaForme resigned in October 2008, stating that the Com-
mission’s independence had been compromised by political
interference, and that conict with the other two Commis-
sioners regarding his authority made the Commission unwork-
able. Commissioners Dumont-Smith and Brewin Morley
resigned in January 2009, stating that the best way forward for
a successful Truth and Reconciliation Commission process
would be with a new slate of Commissioners.
e parties to the Settlement Agreement then selected
three new Commissioners: Justice Murray Sinclair as chair,
Chief Wilton Littlechild, and Marie Wilson. eir appoint-
ments took eect on July 1, 2009. A ten-member Indian
Residential School Survivor Committee, made up of former
residential school students, also was appointed to serve as an
advisory body to the Commissioners.
e resignation of the initial Commissioners led to a loss
of time and momentum. By the time the new Commissioners
took oce, a full year of the Commission’s original ve-year
mandate had passed. From the moment they took oce, the
new Commissioners faced the challenge of restarting the
Commission and restoring its credibility with survivors and
the Canadian public.
e decision by the parties to the Settlement Agreement
to establish the Commission as a federal government depart-
ment—as opposed to a commission under the Inquiries
Act—was made prior to the appointment of the current Com-
missioners, and is not one with which they would have con-
curred. at decision has created additional challenges for the
Commission. e rules and regulations that govern large, well-
established, permanent federal government departments have
proven onerous and highly problematic for a small, newly cre-
ated organization with a time-limited mandate.
Departmental stang and other processes normally do
not apply to federal commissions or special investigations.
e requirement that the Truth and Reconciliation Commis-
sion comply with provisions that apply to the operations of a
federal department has led to signicant delays that will have
an impact on the Commission’s ability to meet its deadlines.
e Commission is required to create an entirely new federal
department, subject to, and accountable for, the complete
range of federal government statutes, regulations, policies,
directives, and guidelines. It has to do this with a compara-
tively small sta and budget. Meeting these requirements has
hampered the Commission’s ability to carry out its mandate
to implement a statement-gathering process, hold National
Events and community hearings, and establish processes for
document collection and research activities.
One of the consequences of the resignation of the original
Commissioners and the designation of the Commission as a
department of government is the discrepancy between the
original federal Treasury Board approval of the Commission
budget in 2008 and the orders-in-council appointing the cur-
rent Commissioners in 2009. e Commission expects its nal
public event to be held close to July 1, 2014. However, its cur-
rent budget authority will have expired before then, and it is
clear there will be a period of time after July 1, 2014, required
to transfer records to the National Research Centre and to
make nal decisions concerning the Commission’s nancial
records, personnel resources, and physical assets. A period of
time after July 1, 2014 also may be required for translation and
production of the Commission’s nal report. e Commission
will require orders-in-council and funding authorities to be
modied to expire at the end of the 2014–15 scal year.
R
1) e Commission recommends that the Government
of Canada issue the necessary orders-in-council and
funding authorities to ensure that the end date of
the Commission and Commissioners’ appointments
coincide, including the necessary wind-down period
after the Commission’s last public event.
Interim Report | 3
July 1, 2011, the Commission employed seventy-ve people,
including forty-eight Aboriginal employees who work at all
levels of the organization.
2) e Commission recommends that the Government
of Canada work with the Commission to ensure the
Commission has adequate funds to complete its
mandate on time.
3) e Commission recommends that the Government
of Canada ensure that Health Canada, in conjunction
with appropriate provincial, territorial, and traditional
health care partners, has the resources needed to
provide for the safe completion of the Truth and
Reconciliation Commission’s full mandate, and to
provide for continuous, high-quality mental health and
cultural support services for all those involved in Truth
and Reconciliation and other Indian Residential Schools
Settlement Agreement activities, through to completion
of these activities.
Despite these challenges, the Commission developed a
strategic framework to guide its work, established a multi-year
budget, and set about making and implementing several key
operational decisions in its rst year.
Head and Regional Oces
While the residential school system operated across
Canada, the majority of schools were located in the West and
the North. For this reason, the Commission established its
head oce in Winnipeg, Manitoba. It retained a small Ottawa
oce, and opened satellite oces in Hobbema, Alberta, and
Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. To extend the Commis-
sion’s reach into smaller centres and communities and as
required by the Settlement Agreement, seven regional liaison
workers have been hired to work in Quebec and Atlantic
Canada, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British
Columbia, and the Yukon and Northwest Territories.
Inuit Sub-Commission
In recognition of the unique cultures of the Inuit, and the
experiences and impacts of residential schools on them, the
Truth and Reconciliation Commission also established an
Inuit Sub-Commission. It is charged with ensuring that the
Commission addresses the challenges to statement gathering
and record collection in remote, isolated Inuit communities,
and among Inuit throughout Canada. e Inuit Sub-Com-
mission provides the environment and supports necessary to
earn the trust of Inuit survivors.
Stang
e Commission sta is drawn from the public service,
private sector, and non-governmental organizations. As of
4
Commissioner Activities
From the moment of their appointment, the Commis-
sioners made it a priority to meet with former residential
school students and sta. When the Commissioners took
oce, they initially travelled to events already organized
by former students. is took them to such places as Oro-
mocto, New Brunswick; Spanish, Ontario; Kamloops, British
Columbia; and Cut Knife, Saskatchewan. e Commissioners
and Commission sta also have visited hundreds of Aborig-
inal communities to talk about the Commission, the residen-
tial school legacy, and reconciliation.
In their public education work, the Commissioners have
attended numerous conferences of Aboriginal organizations
and churches, and have appeared as speakers at over 200 con-
ferences and events organized by universities, governments,
and churches, as well as by various professional and social
organizations. Initially, presentations dealt with the Com-
mission and its mandate, and the history of the residential
schools. Dialogue now has moved towards engaging Cana-
dians in discussions about the importance and meaning of
reconciliation.
Early in their mandate, the Commissioners received the
generous support of Governor General Michaëlle Jean in
raising awareness of the Commission and the residential
school legacy. e Governor General’s primary interest was in
engaging youth. In 2009, with the Commissioners, she hosted
a special event, Witnessing the Future, at Rideau Hall. In 2010
she invited the Commissioners to help engage hundreds of
Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal youth at a forum in Vancouver
immediately prior to the Vancouver Olympics. Later in the
year, she attended the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s
rst National Event in Winnipeg, where, as the Commission’s
rst Honourary Witness, she participated in a Sharing Circle
with Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal young people to discuss
the legacy of the schools.
e Commissioners also have been active in discussions
with regional and federal leaders. In July 2009, they attended
and addressed the Annual General Assembly of the Assembly
of First Nations. In January 2010, they met with the board of
the Métis National Council. In July 2010, they met with the
board of the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami. In September 2010, the
Commissioners made a formal presentation to the Canadian
Senate Standing Committee on Aboriginal Peoples as part of
the Committee’s review of Canada’s progress since the fed-
eral government’s formal apology to residential school sur-
vivors in 2008. e Commissioners also have had meetings
with various federal ministers, and provincial and territorial
premiers.
In addition, the Commissioners have been involved in
the activities that are outlined further in this report. Map 1
provides an overview of where the Commission has been
in the rst two years after the appointment of the current
Commissioners.
By the end of September 2011, the Commissioners had
met with former residential school students in every province
and territory in the country.
What People Told the Commission
Over the past two years, the Commission has made it a pri-
ority to take every opportunity to hear directly from the people
most aected by the residential school system: the students
and sta who worked in the schools. In this interim report,
it is not possible to summarize all that the Commission was
told. But, for a variety of reasons, including the advanced age
of many of the former students, the Commissioners believe
certain messages must be relayed to Canadians now.
People have come before the Commission to speak of tragic
loss and heroic recovery. eir message is powerful because
Interim Report | 5
it touches the lives of parents and children. It is important
because it connects our nation’s past and future. It is inspiring
because those who were oppressed, victimized, and silenced
have struggled to heal themselves and regain their voice.
At event after event, people spoke of parents having to send
children o to residential school against their will. ey spoke
of tearful farewells at train stations, shorelines, and in school
parlours, of children crying throughout the entire ight to
school, and of cold and impersonal receptions given to chil-
dren on arrival.
People told the Commission of being sent to school hun-
dreds and even thousands of kilometres from their homes.
Once they were there, it was impossible for their parents to
visit them. In many schools, children stayed in school over
the Christmas holidays, and, in some cases, they stayed over
the summer as well. Some did not return home for years at a
time.
People spoke of the immediate losses they experienced
at school. Traditional, and often highly valued, clothing and
footwear, handmade by loving mothers and grandmothers,
were taken from them and never seen again. Long hair, often
in traditional braids that reected sacred beliefs, was sheared
o. Many people had bitter memories of being deloused with
lye or chemicals, regardless of whether they had lice. Children
lost their identity as their names were changed—or simply
replaced with a number. e Commission has heard of how
students lost their individuality, were forced to wear uniforms,
to march in lines, to wash in communal showers—treated,
as several former students said, like they were animals in a
herd. In the words of countless students, it was a frightening,
degrading, and humiliating experience.
Former students described how they came from loving
families and were cast into loveless institutions. ey spoke
of tremendous loneliness, and of young children crying them-
selves to sleep for months. Brothers and sisters were separated
from each other within the schools, and often were punished
for hugging or simply waving at one another.
Food was strange, spoiled and rotten in many cases, poorly
prepared, and often in short supply. Many people recalled
being punished for being unable to clean their plates. Others
recalled that they were always hungry, and were punished for
taking food from the kitchen or the garden.
For many, little in the classroom related to their lives. e
only Aboriginal people they could recall from their history
books were savages and heathen, responsible for the deaths
of priests. ey told the Commission of how the spiritual
practices of their parents and ancestors were belittled and
ridiculed.
Children were separated from families to get an educa-
tion, but many of them spoke of how they spent much of
their school days doing manual labour to support the school.
Children who had lived traditional lifeways told us that after a
decade of education, they did not have the skills they needed
to survive when they returned home.
Many people came with stories of harsh discipline, of class-
room errors corrected with a crack of a ruler, a sharp tug of the
ear, hair pulling, or severe and frequent strappings. e Com-
mission heard of discipline crossing into abuse: of boys being
beaten like men, of girls being whipped for running away.
People spoke of children being forced to beat other children,
sometimes their own brothers and sisters. e Commission
was told of runaways being placed in solitary connement
with bread-and-water diets and shaven heads.
People spoke of being sexually abused within days of
arriving at residential school. In some cases, they were abused
by sta; in others, by older students. Reports of abuse have
come from all parts of the country and all types of schools.
e students felt they had no one to turn to for help. If they did
speak up, often it was impossible to nd anyone who would
believe them. ose who ran away from abuse said that in
some cases, this only made their situation worse. ose who
raised complaints often had the same experience. Many com-
pared the schools to jail (in some cases, complete with barbed
wire), and fantasized about being able to return home. ose
who ran away could nd themselves in trouble at home, at
school, and with the police.
e Commission was told of children who died of disease,
of children who killed themselves, of mysterious and unex-
plained deaths.
Many students who came to school speaking no English
lost the right to express themselves. Students repeatedly told
the Commission of being punished for speaking their tradi-
tional languages. People were made to feel ashamed of their
language—even if they could speak it, they would not, and
they did not teach it to their children.
It was made clear that not only language was lost: it was
voice. People said their mouths had been padlocked. At
school, boys and girls could not speak to each other, meaning
that brothers and sisters were cut o from one another.
If they were abused, the only people they could complain
to were the abusers. Later, as adults and parents, former stu-
dents did not want to talk about their experiences to their chil-
dren; husbands and wives did not wish to speak to one another
about their residential school experiences. Some who were
not abused or beaten said they had survived by trying to be as
inconspicuous as possible. To stay out of trouble, they trained
themselves to be silent and invisible. Students who witnessed
violence and abuse spoke of how it left them traumatized.
e Commission heard about the hopes that some
teachers had had when they started teaching in residential
6 | Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada
schools. It heard from teachers who fought on behalf of stu-
dents. Teachers spoke of how they came to question their own
work: to wonder about the lack of resources and the wisdom
of attempting to change a people’s culture.
Church representatives spoke about the dicult expe-
rience of learning such distressing truths about their own
church’s past. ey are struggling to rethink their theology
and their mission in an eort to right the relationship between
their church and Aboriginal peoples.
Many former students also expressed gratitude for the edu-
cation they received, and spoke of the long-lasting relations
that had developed between some teachers and students,
and especially among the students themselves, who became
family away from home.
e Commission also heard about the fun that children
had in school. In the presence of a dedicated teacher, some
children experienced the pleasure of learning. While tradi-
tional Aboriginal games were undermined, many told of how
they survived through their participation in sports or the arts.
In some cases, particularly in more recent years, parents had
sent them to school to learn the skills needed to make a con-
tribution on behalf of their people. e Commission heard
about how these students made, and are continuing to make,
those contributions.
Survivors described what happened after they left the
schools. People no longer felt connected to their parents or
their families. In some cases, they said they felt ashamed of
themselves, their parents, and their culture. e Commission
heard from children who found it dicult to forgive their par-
ents for sending them to residential school. Parents told the
Commission of the heartbreak of having to send their children
away, and of the diculties that emerged while they were
away and when they returned.
Some said they felt useless in their community. Still others
compared themselves to lost souls, unable to go forward,
unable to go back. Many people lost years of their lives to
alcohol, to drugs, or to the streets as they sought a way to dull
the pain of not belonging anywhere. Deprived of their own
sense of self-worth, people told us, they had spent decades
wandering in despair. People spoke of the former students
who met violent ends: in accidents, at the hands of others, or,
all too often, at their own hands.
Some people still nd themselves reliving the moments of
their victimization. For them, residential schools are not part
of the past, but vivid elements of their daily life. Sights, sounds,
foods, and even individuals can trigger painful memories.
People spoke of how the residential school left them hard-
ened. People were determined not to cry or show emotion,
not to react to discipline. People said that the prospect of
going to jail had been of little consequence to them because
they had already been through hard times at residential
school and were familiar with the feeling of being locked up
and isolated.
e government broke up families by sending children to
residential school. e people who left the schools said they
had not been given the skills needed to keep their families
together. ey had diculty in showing love. Having known
only harsh discipline, they treated their children harshly.
People spoke of incredible anger, the damage it did to them
and caused them to inict on others. e abused often became
abusers: husbands, wives, parents, children all fell victim.
People and communities have been left with the burden of
pain and the responsibility of healing. It was left to the former
students and their families to regain their voice. ousands
of them have launched what they so often refer to as healing
journeys.
e Commission heard from proud people, people who
asserted they were survivors. ey had survived mental
abuse, sexual abuse, physical abuse, and spiritual abuse. ey
were still standing. Many have reclaimed their culture, are
relearning language, and are practising traditional spirituality.
In other cases, they have remained Christians, while infusing
their beliefs with a renewed sense of Aboriginal spirituality.
People who were not able to show their children love spoke
of nding a way to love their grandchildren, and to make
amends with their grandchildren.
It is clear from the presentations that the people who have
been damaged by the residential schools—the former stu-
dents and their families—have been left to heal themselves.
It is also the former students who have led the way to recon-
ciliation, and they continue to lead the way. By regaining their
voice, they have instigated an important national conversa-
tion. All Canadians need to engage in this work.
People also came with requests.
ey want justice. People spoke about the diculties •
they have experienced in claiming compensation under
the Settlement Agreement. ey spoke of how missing
school records prevent them from being compensated.
ey spoke countless times of schools and residences
that they believe should be included in the Settlement
Agreement. ey also said that, in addition to missing
records, school-imposed variations in their names or
spellings of their names have prevented them from
being compensated for all their years at school.
ey want support for the work they have begun in •
healing. For too long, communities were left to shoulder
this burden on their own. In many of the remote com-
munities that are home to former students, health ser-
vices of any kind are scarce, and there are virtually no
mental health services available.
Interim Report | 7
R
4) e Commission recommends that each provincial
and territorial government undertake a review of the
curriculum materials currently in use in public schools
to assess what, if anything, they teach about residential
schools.
5) e Commission recommends that provincial and
territorial departments of education work in concert
with the Commission to develop age-appropriate
educational materials about residential schools for use
in public schools.
6) e Commission recommends that each provincial
and territorial government work with the Commission
to develop public-education campaigns to inform
the general public about the history and impact of
residential schools in their respective jurisdiction.
Languages and Traditional Knowledge
Residential schools suppressed Aboriginal language and
culture, contributing to the loss of culture, language, and tra-
ditional knowledge. Even when those direct attacks came to a
stop, culture remained devalued. ere is a need for the rec-
ognition of the continuing value to communities and society
of Aboriginal traditional knowledge, including spiritual, cul-
tural, and linguistic knowledge. is will require long-term
nancial investments in measures for the reclaiming and
relearning and sharing of this knowledge. e resources spent
on this should be commensurate to the monies and eorts
previously spent to destroy such knowledge.
R
7) e Commission recommends that the Government
of Canada and churches establish an ongoing cultural
revival fund designed to fund projects that promote the
traditional spiritual, cultural, and linguistic heritages of
the Aboriginal peoples of Canada.
Parenting Skills
It is clear that one of the greatest impacts of residential
schools is the breakdown of family relationships. Children
were deprived of the positive family environment necessary
for the transmission of parenting knowledge and skills. at
impact continues to be seen to this day; it is evidenced in high
rates of child apprehensions and youth involvement in crime.
e disruption of family relationships exacerbates the impact
of high mortality rates and high birth rates in the Aboriginal
community. ere is a need for the development and provi-
ey want support to allow them to improve par-•
enting skills. In particular, people asked for support in
regaining and teaching traditional parenting practices
and values.
ey want control over the way their children and •
grandchildren are educated. Reconciliation will come
through the education system.
ey want respect. People are angry at being told they •
should simply “get over it.” For them, the memories
remain, the pain remains. ey have started on their
healing journey—usually with no help and no support.
ey told the Commission they will be the ones to deter-
mine when they have reached their destination.
ey want their languages and their traditions. With •
tremendous eort, people have sought out traditional
teachings and practices, and worked at preserving
endangered languages. ey want the institutions that
invested so much over many decades in undermining
their cultures to invest now in restoring them.
ey want the full history of residential schools and •
Aboriginal peoples taught to all students in Canada at
all levels of study and to all teachers, and given promi-
nence in Canadian history texts.
As Commissioners, we have been moved, strengthened,
softened by what we have heard. We were reminded afresh
that all this happened to little children who had no control
over their lives and whose parents found themselves power-
less to prevent their children from being taken from them.
People came to the Commission in openness and honesty,
seeking to be faithful to what had happened to them. For many
people, it was an act of tremendous courage even to appear
before the Commission. Some people were so overwhelmed
by grief and emotion that they could not complete their state-
ments. In other cases, the pain was so intense that it was nec-
essary to halt the proceedings and simply hold hands. ese
Canadians have been carrying a tremendous burden of pain
for years. Finally, they are starting to be heard. eir messages
will play a crucial role in shaping the Truth and Reconciliation
Commission’s nal report.
Some issues presented to the Commission have been so
clear, urgent, important, and persistent that the Commission
is making recommendations about them in this report.
Education
ere is a need to increase public awareness and under-
standing of the history of residential schools. is will require
comprehensive public-awareness eorts by the federal gov-
ernment and in-school educational eorts by provincial and
territorial governments and educational institutions.
8 | Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada
sion of workshops aimed at reintroducing wise practices for
healthy families, and to compensate for the loss of parenting
knowledge experienced by generations of children raised in
institutional settings.
R
8) e Commission recommends that all levels of
government develop culturally appropriate early
childhood and parenting programs to assist young
parents and families aected by the impact of residential
schools and historic policies of cultural oppression in
the development of parental understanding and skills.
Extension and Enhancement of
Health Support Services
Survivors have told the Commission repeatedly of their
urgent need for specialized health supports available near
where they live. is need is especially acute in the northern
and more isolated regions of Canada. In those regions, the
per-capita number of residential school survivors and the
critical need for health support are higher than in the rest of
the country. In many cases, a single mental-health nurse in
the North is expected to service a region that is the geographic
size of an entire province. ey do this without the benet of
road transportation or colleagues. In some communities, there
may be no such nurse at all. e suicide rates in Aboriginal
communities are epidemic in some regions of the country.
Many survivors increasingly are angry and outspoken about
the need for more long-term help for themselves and their
children, including the creation of a specialized treatment
centre in the North.
rough its work supporting the Commission’s commu-
nity hearings, Health Canada has been able to assess and
rene its approach to providing mental-health support in
keeping with its obligations under the Settlement Agreement.
Ideally, Aboriginal health professionals who can combine
their Western medical training with knowledge of their own
healing traditions and culture should be found to do this work.
However, given the lack of sucient numbers of such profes-
sionals, the current ideal formula appears to be a balanced
team approach: specially trained cultural supports and tradi-
tional knowledge keepers from within the respective Aborig-
inal communities, working together with academically trained
health specialists from the non-Aboriginal community.
e loss of knowledge about, and access to, traditional
spiritual practices, language, and culture are among the most
frequently named abuses experienced by students at the
residential schools. For this reason, many former students
take greater comfort and strength from those health support
workers who come from within their own culture and com-
munity, and who can help them through the use of traditional
cultural methods or languages that value that part of their lost
identity.
Long-term eorts will be needed to address the deep and
prolonged community impacts of government policies that
sent generations of Aboriginal people to residential schools.
e Commission believes in the value of investing in the long-
term capacity of Aboriginal communities. is will support
their eorts to provide more of their own internal healing
resources and to continue their healing work, following
the completion of the Commission’s work and other activi-
ties associated with the implementation of the Settlement
Agreement.
R
9) e Commission recommends that the Government
of Canada, and the federal Minister of Health, in
consultation with northern leadership in Nunavut and
the Northwest Territories, take urgent action to develop
plans and allocate priority resources for a sustainable,
northern, mental health and wellness healing centre,
with specialization in childhood trauma and long-term
grief, as critically needed by residential school survivors
and their families and communities.
10) e Commission recommends that the Government
of Canada, through Health Canada, immediately
begin work with provincial and territorial government
health and/or education agencies to establish means
to formally recognize and accredit the knowledge,
skills, and on-the-job training of Health Canada’s
community cultural and traditional knowledge
healing team members, as demonstrated through
their intensive practical work in support of the Truth
and Reconciliation Commission and other Settlement
Agreement provisions.
11) e Commission recommends that the Government
of Canada develop a program to establish health and
wellness centres specializing in trauma and grief
counselling and treatment appropriate to the cultures
and experiences of multi-generational residential school
survivors.
Exclusions from Indian Residential
Schools Settlement Agreement
Compensation under the Indian Residential Schools
Settlement Agreement is restricted to the former students or
residents of schools listed in the Settlement Agreement or
Interim Report | 9
those schools that have been added to the list under specic
criteria.
Former students who attended schools or residences
not included in the Settlement Agreement have told us they
underwent the same deprivation of language and culture,
imposition of religious practices, and physical and sexual mis-
conduct by teachers and boarding-home parents or supervi-
sors as experienced by students covered by the Settlement
Agreement. Because the schools they attended are not on the
list, they are not eligible for compensation under the Settle-
ment Agreement. ey say that, once again, they are being
abused, injured, or traumatized because they have been left
out and isolated.
In particular, the Commission has heard such concerns of
exclusion from specic groups of former students:
e Inuit and Innu of Labrador. None of the boarding •
schools in Labrador were included in the Settlement
Agreement.
Students who attended the same schools by day as stu-•
dents living in the residences, but who lived in home
settings. In many cases, these ‘day scholars’ did not stay
in their own homes with their own families, but in bil-
leted accommodation.
Hostel students in the northern territories. Community •
hostels provided housing for students whose parents
were away making a traditional living o the land. Some
hostels are included in the Agreement; others are not.
ere is no clearly understood reason why.
Students who attended boarding schools where the •
federal government did not have responsibility for the
operation of the residence and the care of the children
resident there.
Students who attended non-residential schools, as •
directed by the federal government, but who also were
subjected to cultural denial, and harsh emotional and
physical treatment.
e exclusion of these students is a serious roadblock to
meaningful and sincere reconciliation.
R
12) e Commission recommends that the parties to the
Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement,
with the involvement of other provincial or territorial
governments as necessary, identify and implement
the earliest possible means to address legitimate
concerns of former students who feel unfairly left out
of the Settlement Agreement, in order to diminish
obstacles to healing within Aboriginal communities and
reconciliation within Canadian society.
Impact and Reach of Apology from Canada
On June 8, 2008, the Prime Minister of Canada issued a
“Statement of Apology to Former Students of Indian Residen-
tial Schools.” While not all survivors accept the apology, many
have told the Commission that hearing the government’s
apology has been very important to their healing.
Many of the people who have addressed the Commission
have made reference to the Commission’s commitment to act
“For the Child Taken; For the Parent Left Behind.” Often, they
have mentioned their own parents, noting that no one had
ever apologized to them. For their part, some parents have
said they felt they had been left out of the apology.
e apology does talk about the impacts of the residential
schools, not just on the students, but also on their families and
communities. However, there appears to be limited awareness
of its actual wording.
e Commission continues to face huge challenges in
raising awareness, among non-Aboriginal Canadians, of the
residential school history and legacy. is presents an enor-
mous limitation to the possibility of long-term understanding
and meaningful reconciliation. e Commission believes the
Canadian school system has a major role to play in re-edu-
cating the country about this part of our long-term, shared
history, with its present-day implications. Making the apology
available to all Canadian students in their schools would be a
positive step in this direction.
R
13) e Commission recommends that, to ensure that
survivors and their families receive as much healing
benet as the apology may bring them, the Government
of Canada distribute individual copies of the “Statement
of Apology to Former Students of Indian Residential
Schools” to all known residential school survivors.
14) e Commission recommends the Government of
Canada distribute to every secondary school in Canada
a framed copy of the “Statement of Apology to Former
Students of Indian Residential Schools” for prominent
public display and ongoing educational purposes.
Establishing a Framework for Reconciliation
ere is a need for analysis, by governments at all levels
and by churches, of the United Nations Declaration on the
Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), in order to deepen
understanding of, and appreciation for, the value of the Decla-
ration as a framework for working towards ongoing reconcili-
ation between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Canadians.
10 | Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada
R
15) e Commission recommends that federal, provincial,
and territorial governments, and all parties to the
Settlement Agreement, undertake to meet and explore
the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of
Indigenous Peoples, as a framework for working towards
ongoing reconciliation between Aboriginal and non-
Aboriginal Canadians.
e Aboriginal Healing Foundation
In response to the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peo-
ples, Canada created a healing fund, administered primarily
by Aboriginal peoples, that would specically address the
residential school legacy and assist former students who were
physically and sexually abused. e Aboriginal Healing Foun-
dation (AHF), established for this purpose in 1998, delivers a
wide array of programs while conducting innovative research
on the eects of the residential system on Aboriginal peoples.
Its directors convinced the federal government to expand its
mandate to include not only those who attended the schools
but also those who were aected intergenerationally (the
parents and descendants of the students) as well. In 2010
the federal government discontinued funding for the AHF,
thus depriving former students and their families of a highly
valued and eective resource. e closing of the Aboriginal
Health Foundation will make Canada’s reconciliation journey
even more challenging in the years to come.
R
16) e Commission recommends that the Government of
Canada meet immediately with the Aboriginal Healing
Foundation to develop a plan to restore funding for
healing initiatives to the Foundation within the next
scal year.
e International Context
e Commissioners determined early on that the work of
the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada has an
international importance. is was underscored when the
United Nations proclaimed 2009 as the International Year of
Reconciliation. Over the past two decades, more than forty
truth and reconciliation commissions have been struck fol-
lowing civil conicts in countries such as South Africa, Peru,
Colombia, and Sierra Leone. Canada’s TRC is unique in that
it is the rst commission to address human-rights violations
that span over a century and focus on the treatment of Indig-
enous children.
e Commissioners also recognize it is important to place
Canada’s residential school system within the international
context, particularly now that the world community, including
Canada, has endorsed the United Nations Declaration on the
Rights of Indigenous Peoples. e residential school system
was not unique to Canada. Governments and missionary
agencies in many countries around the world established
boarding schools as part of the colonial process. e systems
varied from time to time and place to place, but they shared
many common elements and left a common legacy. For these
reasons, the Commission has participated in international
activities. Representatives from other countries that have a
history of residential schooling for Indigenous children, or
similar abuses of Indigenous peoples, also have travelled to
Canada to observe Commission events.
In April 2010, Justice Murray Sinclair made a presentation to
the Ninth Session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on
Indigenous Issues in New York on the work of Canada’s Truth
and Reconciliation Commission. In 2010 the United Nations
Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues recognized the Truth
and Reconciliation Commission of Canada as a model of best
practices and an inspiration for other countries.
In September 2010, Commissioner Wilton Littlechild
addressed the United Nations Human Rights Council’s f-
teenth session in Geneva, Switzerland, on the value that truth
commissions bring to global reconciliation eorts. ere,
he expressed the Commission’s support for an international
experts’ seminar on truth and reconciliation processes. Such
commissions can play an important role in resolving con-
ict and improving relations between states and Indigenous
peoples.
In September 2010, Commissioners Littlechild and Wilson
presented at the sixth gathering of Healing Our Spirit World-
wide, an international forum and healing initiative that
focuses on health, governance, and drug and alcohol issues
and programs in Indigenous communities across the globe.
Many former residential school students from Canada partici-
pated in this event.
In October 2010, the Commissioners co-hosted a youth
retreat in British Columbia with the International Center for
Transitional Justice. is initiative brought together Aborig-
inal and non-Aboriginal youth to learn about social justice,
the role of truth and memory projects, and the specic history
and purpose of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission
of Canada, and to identify opportunities for youth to design
and participate in truth and reconciliation activities here in
Canada.
In March 2010, the Commission participated in the Inter-
national Expert Group meeting on Indigenous Children and
Youth in Detention, Custody, Adoption and Foster Care in
Interim Report | 11
Vancouver. Commissioners Littlechild and Wilson attended
a special forum on the Native American boarding schools in
the United States that was held in Boulder, Colorado. Com-
missioner Wilson met with representatives of the Shoah
Foundation in Los Angeles to gain insight into the recording,
preservation, and educational usage of oral histories of Holo-
caust survivors. In May 2011, there was follow-up work at the
Tenth Session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on
Indigenous Issues in an international experts’ seminar on
truth and reconciliation processes.
In conclusion, the Commission has established relations
with international organizations that enable it to learn from
the work of other commissions, and to make contributions
from its own experiences.
12
Commission Activities
e Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement
sets out an extensive mandate for the Truth and Reconcilia-
tion Commission. It ranges from research and report writing,
holding national and community events, collecting statements
from Canadians about their residential schools experience,
and collecting documents from the parties to the Settlement
Agreement, to educating the public through commemorative
events. e work of the Commission to date is summarized
best under the following headings:
Statement Gathering•
Document Collection•
Research and Report Preparation•
A National Research Centre •
Commemoration•
National Events•
Community Events•
Statement Gathering: Truth Sharing
Until now, the voices of those who were directly involved
in the day-to-day life of the schools, particularly the former
students, largely have been missing from the historical record.
e Commission is committed to providing every former resi-
dential student—and every person whose life was aected by
the residential school system—with the opportunity to create
a record of that experience.
e work of other truth and reconciliation commissions
has conrmed the particular importance of the statement-
giving process as a means to restore dignity and identity to
those who have suered grievous harms. Statement gath-
ering is a central element in the Commission mandate, and
statement giving is voluntary. Since there are estimated to
be at least 80,000 living former students, the magnitude and
complexity of the Commission’s commitment are signicant.
e statements gathered will be used by the Commission in
the preparation of its report, and eventually will be housed in
the National Research Centre (NRC, to be established by the
Commission, and discussed in a following section).
Statement gathering has occurred at National Events,
community events, and at events coordinated by the Com-
mission’s regional liaisons. Trained statement gatherers now
are present in most regions across the country, with more
resources being added continually.
Statement gathering involves recording the biographies
of those providing statements to the Commission. Statement
providers are encouraged to talk about any and all aspects
of their lives they feel are important, including times before,
during, and after attending a residential school. e family
members of survivors, former sta, and others aected by
the residential schools also are encouraged to share their
experiences.
e Commission recognizes that providing a statement
to the Commission is often very emotional and extremely
dicult for individuals. For this reason, statement providers
are given the option of having a health support worker, a cul-
tural support worker, or a professional therapist attend their
session. ese health supports ensure statement providers
are able to talk to someone who can assist them if necessary
before and after providing a statement.
Individuals are given the option of having an audio or
video recording made of their experiences. If they wish, they
are given a copy of their statement immediately at the end of
the interview. ey may choose to provide their statement
in writing or over the phone if proper health supports are in
place.
Privacy considerations surrounding statement gathering
are extremely important to the Commission. All persons who
make statements to the Commission do so voluntarily.
Interim Report | 13
e Commission provides opportunities to give statements
in a number of dierent ways. ese include:
at public Sharing Circles at national and community •
events
at Commission hearings at scheduled locations across •
the country, including National Events
at private statement-gathering sessions where only •
a trained statement gatherer and health worker are
present.
At Sharing Circles and Commission hearings, statements
are made in a public setting. People who make their statement
in a private setting can choose from two levels of privacy pro-
tection. e rst option ensures full privacy according to the
standards of the federal Privacy Act. e second option allows
the statement provider to waive certain rights to privacy in the
interests of having their experiences known to, and shared
with, the greater public.
People who waive those rights are giving consent to the
Commission and to the National Research Centre to use their
statement for public education purposes or to disclose their
statement to third parties for public education purposes in
a respectful and dignied manner (such as for third-party
documentary lms). e Commission and National Research
Centre have the authority to decide whether to provide such
access.
ese options are explained carefully to the statement pro-
vider before a private statement-gathering session. To date,
over half the statement providers have chosen to have their
statements recorded for public education purposes.
e Commission also ensures that all digital information
is transmitted and protected carefully during trips in and out
of the eld.
e Commission has made it a high priority to gather state-
ments from the elderly or ill, as well as from particularly vul-
nerable and marginalized former students who are at risk. It
has undertaken a number of innovative measures, including
a day-long event facilitated by Métis Calgary Family Services
at the downtown branch of the Calgary Public Library that
focused on collecting statements from homeless individuals.
Projects designed to reach those survivors in jails also are
underway.
By the end of June 2011, the Commission had collected
1157 individual statements. An additional 649 statements
had been given in Sharing Circles and at public hearings.
One hundred and fteen material and artistic submissions
had been received. e Commission now has in place both
the mechanisms and process to ensure it is able to meet its
statement-gathering goals. Regional liaisons play a role in
coordinating and organizing a series of specic and targeted
visits to communities across the country. Future Commission
National Events and the community hearings held in conjunc-
tion with those events will continue to play a signicant role
in statement gathering. Private statement-gathering options
and Sharing Circles will be extended to communities and
individuals in ever-increasing numbers in the coming year,
with advance notice circulated to communities well before
the planned visits.
Document Collection
e Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement
commits the parties to the Agreement to providing the Com-
mission with all relevant documents in their possession or
control. is is to be done subject to the legislated privacy
interests of an individual, and in compliance with privacy and
access-to-information legislation. Exceptions are to be made
in cases where solicitor-client privilege applies.
In keeping with that Agreement, documents from the Inde-
pendent Assessment Process (IAP) established by the Indian
Residential Schools Settlement Agreement, existing resolved
litigation, and federal government dispute-resolution
processes (all processes dealing with claims of abuse at the
schools) are being sought by the Commission, to become part
of the documents collected.
In February 2011, the Commission retained a consulting
rm to assist in collecting all relevant documents from church
and government holdings. e Commission is in the process
of developing a fully functional and secure database, a team
of historical researchers to review and audit the holdings of
the various parties to the Settlement Agreement, and the tech-
nical resources to digitize the entire collection.
Each of the three main activities in document collection—
developing the database, the digitization, and research—are
extremely complex projects. e database will provide the
Commission with state-of-the-art backup and secure storage,
while delivering sophisticated search-and-report functions,
and multi-media capacity. Researchers will identify, review,
provide meta-data tagging, and report on all relevant docu-
ments. Digitization will involve the electronic conversion of
material that currently exists in a host of formats, including
photographs, glass-plate negatives, lm, video, onionskin
paper, cut-sheet paper, and microlm.
is eort will involve the records of at least eighty-eight
church archives and as many as thirty or more government
institutions. In addition, the creation of a full record also would
require the collection of relevant records held by organiza-
tions and individuals other than Canada and the churches,
such as museums, provincial and university archives, and
cultural and Aboriginal research centres.
14 | Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada
Yellowknife
Inuvik
Dawson
Whitehorse
Prince Albert
Fredericton
Charlottetown
Brandon
Iqaluit
Prince George
St. John's
Edmonton
Red Deer
Kamloops
Vancouver
Kelowna
Calgary
Saskatoon
Victoria
Lethbridge
Medicine Hat
Regina
Halifax
Winnipeg
Québec
Thunder Bay
Sherbrooke
Montréal
Sudbury
Ottawa
Sault Ste. Marie
Kingston
Peterborough
Barrie
Toronto
Guelph
Hamilton
London
Windsor
London
London
Hamilton
Hamilton
Hamilton
Hamilton
London
London
London
Toronto
Toronto
Hamilton
Hamilton
Hamilton
Hamilton
Hamilton
Hamilton
Hamilton
Hamilton
Hamilton
Hamilton
Hamilton
Guelph
Sudbury
Ottawa
Ottawa
Montréal
Ottawa
Ottawa
Ottawa
Montréal
Montréal
Montréal
Montréal
Halifax
Lethbridge
Saskatoon
Saskatoon
Saskatoon
Saskatoon
Vancouver
Kamloops
Red Deer
Red Deer
Vancouver
Vancouver
Brandon
Brandon
Sudbury
Sudbury
Vancouver
Winnipeg
Saskatoon
Edmonton
Dawson
Inuvik
Sudbury
Sudbury
Sudbury
Sudbury
Winnipeg
Winnipeg
Winnipeg
Winnipeg
Vancouver
Red Deer
Red Deer
Red Deer
Charlottetown
Edmonton
Brandon
Brandon
Brandon
Fredericton
Fredericton
Québec
Thunder Bay
Thunder Bay
Sault Ste. Marie
Sault Ste. Marie
Calgary
Calgary
Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver
Victoria
Victoria
Edmonton
Edmonton
Regina
Regina
Winnipeg
Winnipeg
Winnipeg
Winnipeg
Ottawa
Ottawa
Ottawa
Halifax
Halifax
Halifax
Yellowknife
Whitehorse
Whitehorse
Iqaluit
Saskatoon
Saskatoon
Lethbridge
Edmonton
Edmonton
Edmonton
Edmonton
Edmonton
Edmonton
Prince Albert
Prince Albert
Brandon
Brandon
Brandon
Brandon
Brandon
Brandon
Brandon
Brandon
Brandon
Brandon
Brandon
Brandon
Fredericton
Fredericton
Québec
Statement gathering events
Outreach events
Statement gathering and outreach events
From 2009-2011, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission
of Canada took part in more than 400 outreach and statement
gathering initiatives. This map illustrates the communities that
were visited during that time period.
TRC in the Community
(Map 1)
ATLANTIC OCEAN
ARCTIC OCEAN
PACIFIC OCEAN
Hudson Bay
YUKON
SASKATCHEWAN
QUEBEC
CANADA
P.E.I.
ONTARIO
NUNAVUT
NOVA SCOTIA
NORTHWEST TERRITORIES
NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR
NEW
BRUNSWICK
MANITOBA
BRITISH COLUMBIA
ALBERTA
Interim Report | 15
Yellowknife
Inuvik
Dawson
Whitehorse
Prince Albert
Fredericton
Charlottetown
Brandon
Iqaluit
Prince George
St. John's
Edmonton
Red Deer
Kamloops
Vancouver
Kelowna
Calgary
Saskatoon
Victoria
Lethbridge
Medicine Hat
Regina
Halifax
Winnipeg
Québec
Thunder Bay
Sherbrooke
Montréal
Sudbury
Ottawa
Sault Ste. Marie
Kingston
Peterborough
Barrie
Toronto
Guelph
Hamilton
London
Windsor
London
London
Hamilton
Hamilton
Hamilton
Hamilton
London
London
London
Toronto
Toronto
Hamilton
Hamilton
Hamilton
Hamilton
Hamilton
Hamilton
Hamilton
Hamilton
Hamilton
Hamilton
Hamilton
Guelph
Sudbury
Ottawa
Ottawa
Montréal
Ottawa
Ottawa
Ottawa
Montréal
Montréal
Montréal
Montréal
Halifax
Lethbridge
Saskatoon
Saskatoon
Saskatoon
Saskatoon
Vancouver
Kamloops
Red Deer
Red Deer
Vancouver
Vancouver
Brandon
Brandon
Sudbury
Sudbury
Vancouver
Winnipeg
Saskatoon
Edmonton
Dawson
Inuvik
Sudbury
Sudbury
Sudbury
Sudbury
Winnipeg
Winnipeg
Winnipeg
Winnipeg
Vancouver
Red Deer
Red Deer
Red Deer
Charlottetown
Edmonton
Brandon
Brandon
Brandon
Fredericton
Fredericton
Québec
Thunder Bay
Thunder Bay
Sault Ste. Marie
Sault Ste. Marie
Calgary
Calgary
Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver
Victoria
Victoria
Edmonton
Edmonton
Regina
Regina
Winnipeg
Winnipeg
Winnipeg
Winnipeg
Ottawa
Ottawa
Ottawa
Halifax
Halifax
Halifax
Yellowknife
Whitehorse
Whitehorse
Iqaluit
Saskatoon
Saskatoon
Lethbridge
Edmonton
Edmonton
Edmonton
Edmonton
Edmonton
Edmonton
Prince Albert
Prince Albert
Brandon
Brandon
Brandon
Brandon
Brandon
Brandon
Brandon
Brandon
Brandon
Brandon
Brandon
Brandon
Fredericton
Fredericton
Québec
Statement gathering events
Outreach events
Statement gathering and outreach events
From 2009-2011, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission
of Canada took part in more than 400 outreach and statement
gathering initiatives. This map illustrates the communities that
were visited during that time period.
TRC in the Community
(Map 1)
ATLANTIC OCEAN
ARCTIC OCEAN
PACIFIC OCEAN
Hudson Bay
YUKON
SASKATCHEWAN
QUEBEC
CANADA
P.E.I.
ONTARIO
NUNAVUT
NOVA SCOTIA
NORTHWEST TERRITORIES
NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR
NEW
BRUNSWICK
MANITOBA
BRITISH COLUMBIA
ALBERTA
16 | Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada
e document-collection process has been placed at risk
by two factors: the lack of federal government and church
cooperation, and cost-related issues.
Lack of Cooperation
e federal government has been aware of its need to
provide all relevant documents since the signing of the 2005
agreement-in-principle that preceded the nal Settlement
Agreement. Despite this, the federal government
has provided the Commission with only a very limited •
portion of the relevant documents in its possession
has taken the position that it has no obligation to iden-•
tify and provide relevant historical documents held by
Library and Archives Canada to the Commission. Under
this approach, departments would have to search and
produce records only from active and recent les. is is
inappropriate in dealing with matters dating back over
a century.
has informed the Commission that, despite the Com-•
mission’s request, it has not agreed to provide the Com-
mission with the Settlement Agreement and Dispute
Resolution (SADRE) database, which contains all the
residential school research les of Aboriginal Aairs
and Northern Development Canada.
has yet to provide the Commission with appropriate •
levels of access to federal archives—an issue that
compromises both document collection and report
preparation.
In addition, the federal government has taken the posi-
tion that it cannot disclose records in its possession if those
records were provided to it by the churches in response to
specic residential schools court cases. It maintains this posi-
tion even for records created by the federal government but
that contain information rst obtained from church records.
e federal government asserts that since it obtained the
church records and information through the litigation pro-
cess, it is subject to an implied undertaking to use or disclose
those records only in relation to the specic court decisions
to which the records relate. e federal government asserts
that the fact that the government and the churches settled
such court cases through the Settlement Agreement, which
includes an express obligation that Canada and the churches
would disclose all relevant records in their possession, does
not constitute a waiver of those implied undertakings. In the
case of a conict between the implied undertakings and the
express obligation in the Settlement Agreement to produce all
records in its possession to the Commission, the government
maintains it must give preference to the implied undertak-
ings. e Commission nds this position unacceptable.
In addition, while the Commission has received helpful
cooperation from most of the churches and archivists it has
dealt with, individual church archivists have sought to impose
conditions before they will produce records to the Commis-
sion. Such conditions include:
instructions as to how the Commission should caption •
photographs in its reports
limitations on the Commission’s use of photographs to •
a “one-time only” use
distinctions between their “internal” and “external” and •
“restricted” and “unrestricted” records
restrictions as to how the Commission can use records •
in dierent categories.
Some archivists insist that the Commission acknowledge
that the churches own copyright in the records located in their
archives. With respect to such claims, the churches make no
copyright distinctions based on who created the records or
when, and do not explain what copyright interests they are
seeking to protect.
All these issues have caused and continue to cause con-
siderable delay for the Commission in its attempt to meet its
mandated obligation and enforce compliance of the parties’
obligations to produce relevant records. It is unlikely that the
document-collection process will be completed without a sig-
nicant shift in attitude on the part of Canada and those par-
ties who have been reluctant to cooperate.
Cost-related issues
e Settlement Agreement states that Canada and the
churches must compile and produce all relevant documents
and must bear the cost of producing those documents. Where
only original documents are involved, the parties, once they
have compiled and produced the documents, may request
that the Commission pay the costs of making reproductions
of the originals. To date, no such requests have been made.
In terms of the number of documents to be collected, the
Government of Canada estimates that it has between ve- and
fty-million relevant les in its active and semi-active collec-
tions. Beyond this, it may be necessary to review over 100,000
boxes of records held by Library and Archives Canada,
including 40,000 boxes of Aboriginal Aairs and Northern
Development Canada records. In addition, there are at least
88 church archives from which the Commission must receive
records.
Aside from providing Commission researchers general
access to the federal archives, Canada has not provided any
proposal or signalled any intention of fullling its obligation
to identify, organize and produce the Library and Archives
Canada documents. Based on current project estimates, it
Interim Report | 17
is apparent that the costs of document collection would far
exceed the Commission’s $60-million budget if the Com-
mission were to assume Canada’s document compilation
obligations in respect of federal archives. is clearly was not
contemplated by the parties, given the funding and timing
limitations set out in the Settlement Agreement.
ese issues have placed the Commission’s ability to fulll
its mandate in jeopardy. ey also threaten to undermine the
National Research Centre that the parties have called on the
Commission to establish. Having tried unsuccessfully to infor-
mally resolve these issues, the Commission has determined
that it must seek judicial guidance. e Commission will be
referring these matters to the supervising court for advice and
guidance on how best to ensure timely compliance by all par-
ties with their document production obligations.
R
17) e Commission recommends that the Government
of Canada and the churches produce all their relevant
records to the Commission as quickly as possible.
18) e Commission recommends that Canada and the
churches make a dramatic change in the way they
address the funding and timeliness of document
production and digitization.
19) e Commission recommends that all agencies and
organizations that are not parties to the Settlement
Agreement, but have holdings relevant to the history
and legacy of residential schools (such as provincial and
university archives, libraries, museums, galleries, and
Aboriginal organizations), contact the Commission and
assist the Commission in receiving copies of all such
relevant documents.
Research and Report Preparation
e Commission is undertaking research into both the
history and legacy of the residential school system, and the
concepts and practices of reconciliation as they relate to the
Commission’s mandate. In December 2009, the Commission
hosted a gathering of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal scholars
and practitioners with research expertise in various areas of
relevance to the Commission’s work. ey provided advice
on the development of the research agenda. e Commis-
sion has conducted research to produce a number of public
education tools, including a brochure on the history of resi-
dential schools, a short history of the system and its legacy,
slide shows focusing on schools in regions where National
Events have taken place, posters that highlight the history
of individual schools and key themes in the history of the
system, and national and regional maps identifying the loca-
tion of residential schools. Several internal research projects
required for the Commission’s nal report are now underway,
including one dealing with the experience of residential
school sta. In August 2010, the Commission also invited
external researchers to submit proposals for work in a number
of key areas.
Missing Children and Unmarked Graves
In 2007 the Commission, at the request of Minister of Indian
and Northern Aairs Canada Jim Prentice, undertook the
Missing Children and Unmarked Graves Project. Large num-
bers of the Aboriginal children who were sent to residential
schools never returned to their home communities because
they ran away or died, or their fate is unaccounted for other-
wise. Often, their parents and families never were informed
of their disappearance or death. ese students have come to
be referred to as the Missing Children. eir fate is the focus
of a series of research projects being conducted by a team of
Commission researchers. Additional funding to carry out this
work has not been provided to the Commission.
Working with the signatories to the Settlement Agreement,
the federal government, the churches, and Aboriginal orga-
nizations, the Missing Children research projects will pro-
duce as complete a list as possible of children who died at the
schools and the cause of their deaths. It will document the fate
of those children who never returned to their home commu-
nities, and locate school burial sites and cemeteries where it is
likely that many of these children are buried.
A research strategy and plans for a series of projects have
been developed, and the Commission has begun to imple-
ment this strategy. e research team is mindful that this
research must be carried out in a way that is respectful of cul-
tural and traditional practices in each part of the country.
A National Research Centre:
Establishing a National Memory
e Commission is mandated to establish a National
Research Centre that is accessible to former students, their
families and communities, the general public, researchers,
and educators.
To assist the Commission in developing plans for the
National Research Centre, the Commission hosted an inter-
national forum in March 2011 in Vancouver, British Columbia.
e forum brought together representatives of truth and
memory projects from sixteen countries, former students,
academics, archivists, representatives of international, fed-
18 | Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada
school commemorations before the completion of the
Commission’s mandate.
National Events
e Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement
requires the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to hold
seven National Events within the rst two years of the launch
of the Commission, and a closing ceremony at the end of the
Commission’s mandate. However, the Commission, in con-
sultation with the parties to the Settlement Agreement, has
determined to hold the events over its full ve-year mandate.
e rst National Event was held in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in
June 2010; the second in Inuvik, Northwest Territories, in June
and July 2011; the third in Halifax, Nova Scotia, in October
2011. Subsequent National Events are planned for Saskatch-
ewan, Quebec, Alberta, and British Columbia, with the Com-
mission’s closing ceremony taking place in Ontario.
e National Events provide the Commission with its
greatest opportunities to reach out and connect with Cana-
dians of all cultures and backgrounds. Intended to focus
national attention on the residential school issue, they stim-
ulate public engagement and education. Former students,
families, and communities have been able to share their expe-
riences in a context that allows for serious examination of the
issues associated with residential schools. Simultaneously,
the events have been dened by public acknowledgements
of the schools’ legacy and history, and by celebrations and
appreciation of Aboriginal culture.
e Winnipeg National Event, June 16–19, 2010
e Winnipeg National Event, whose theme was It’s About
Respect—A Journey of Survival, Strength and Resilience, com-
menced with a sunrise ceremony on June 16, 2010, at the Forks
National Historic Site. Located where the Red and Assiniboine
rivers meet, the Forks has a long history as a gathering site.
Much of the event was staged in tents during a very rainy week.
Despite this, an average of more than 10,000 Aboriginal and
non-Aboriginal people per day came together in the spirit of
understanding and respect, to learn about residential schools
and honour the experiences of survivors. For many, the event
was their rst exposure to the residential school story. For
many survivors, it was their rst opportunity to speak publicly
about their experiences.
Many former students came to the Winnipeg event so
they could provide a statement about their residential school
experience. In the weeks leading up to the event, the Commis-
sion coordinated a signicant volunteer eort that brought
former students to Winnipeg and housed them at a variety
eral, and provincial governments, members of the media, and
Commission sta. e participants discussed the benets and
drawbacks associated with approaches for the development
of a centre that will both house and make accessible the per-
manent record of the residential school system in Canada.
In November 2011, the Commission issued a Call for Pro-
posals from organizations and agencies interested in working
with the Commission to establish the National Research
Centre.
Commemoration: Creating a Lasting Legacy
Under the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agree-
ment, the federal government is committed to funding com-
memoration initiatives that address the residential school
experience. Former students, their families, communities,
and groups of former students are eligible to submit pro-
posals for regional or national commemoration projects to
the Commission.
e Commission’s ten-member Indian Residential School
Survivor Committee reviews the proposals and makes recom-
mendations on funding. e Commission then forwards the
recommended proposals to the federal government, which
administers the $20-million commemoration fund.
e rst of two calls for proposals was issued in 2011. It
provided for the allocation of $10-million.
e rst call for proposals set broad categories that would
allow individuals and communities to explore a wide range
of commemoration initiatives, each intended to honour, vali-
date, heal, or memorialize the residential school experience.
A funding limit of $50,000 was established for individual
community commemoration projects. If communities collab-
orate on a single project, the amount of funding can increase
by $50,000 per community to a maximum of $500,000. e
limit for any individual national commemoration project was
set at $2-million.
Over 200 proposals were received in response to the rst
call for proposals. e recommendations have been reviewed
by the Indian Residential School Survivor Committee and for-
warded to the federal government.
e Commission believes there should be formal residen-
tial school commemorations in every province and territory
in Canada. It encourages all governments, educational insti-
tutions, and churches to ask themselves what they will do to
commemorate the residential schools system.
R
20) e Commission recommends that governments,
educational institutions, and churches consult,
design, announce, and publicly unveil residential
Interim Report | 19
of residences. e people who walked the 1200 kilometres
from Cochrane, Ontario, to Winnipeg epitomized the deter-
mination of the former students and their families. In addi-
tion, over 400 volunteers contributed their time and energy to
ensure the event’s success.
Sharing Circles throughout the Winnipeg event provided
participants with an opportunity to enter their experience
into the public record, and to share it with others. Private
statement-gathering opportunities were oered as well.
Representatives of the Roman Catholic, Anglican, United,
and Presbyterian churches held a luncheon for former stu-
dents immediately after the ocial opening. At the close of
each day, a Gestures of Reconciliation event was held at a
large gathering tent.
One of the key public education activities was “Prairie
Perspectives on Indian Residential Schools,” a one-day con-
ference sponsored by the University of Manitoba Centre
for Human Rights Research Planning Initiative. It brought
together prairie-based researchers, politicians, academics,
and researchers who made presentations on the schools and
their legacy. An evening panel discussion explored the inter-
national impact of truth and reconciliation commissions.
In a more informal way, learning took place in a series of
tents where various aspects of the residential school experi-
ence were explored.
e Learning Tent presented Commission-produced •
educational materials. Church and government archi-
vists made photographs of Manitoba and north-
western Ontario residential schools available to former
students.
In the Interfaith Tent church representatives and •
Aboriginal people discussed reconciliation eorts in
their communities.
e Athletes Tent highlighted Aboriginal contributions •
to amateur and professional sport.
e Inuit Tent showcased Inuit art and entertainment, •
and depicted the residential school experience from the
Inuit perspective.
e Métis Tent reected the experience of residential •
schools in cultural activities such as music, dance, pho-
tographs, documents, and video.
e Legacy of Hope’s photo exhibit • Where are the chil-
dren depicted the national residential school experi-
ence. (e Legacy of Hope is a national Aboriginal
charitable organization dedicated to raising awareness
and understanding of the legacy of residential schools.)
Two outdoor concerts featured a wide range of Aboriginal
and non-Aboriginal musicians. Performers included Buy
Sainte-Marie, Susan Aglukark, Inez, and Blue Rodeo. Other
cultural events included:
a lm festival featuring lms such as • Older than America,
a lm about the residential school experience by
Georgina Lightning, recipient of the 2010 White House
Project Epic Award for Emerging Artist
an exhibition at the Winnipeg Art Gallery of • We Are
Sorry, a work by Cathy Busby that contrasts the formal
apologies issued to Aboriginal peoples by Canadian
Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Australian Prime
Minister Kevin Rudd
the world première of the play • Fabric of the Sky by Ian
Ross
an evening of readings by Aboriginal writers Beatrice •
Culleton Mosionier, Rosanna Deerchild, Joseph Boyden,
Basil Johnston, and Richard Van Camp.
On the nal day, Governor General Michaëlle Jean pre-
sided over a special Youth Forum, where Aboriginal and
non-Aboriginal youth shared their perspectives on their
understanding of residential schools. She enjoined the young
people present “to confront history together.” e event con-
cluded with a vibrant pow-wow and closing ceremonies wit-
nessed by hundreds of people.
e Northern National Event, Inuvik,
Northwest Territories, June 28–July 1, 2011
e theme of the Northern National Event was It’s about
Courage—A National Journey Home. e event was held in
Inuvik from June 28 to July 1, 2011, in the Northwest Territo-
ries. Located in the Beaufort Sea, Mackenzie Delta, Inuvik is a
cultural crossroads, with overlapping homelands of the Inuvi-
aluit (Inuit) and Gwichin (Dene), as well as signicant Métis
and non-Aboriginal populations throughout the Mackenzie
Valley to the south, and the Yukon to the southwest.
e event attracted over 2500 people in a community that
normally has a population of approximately 3500. In addition,
viewers from across Canada and ten countries observed the
proceedings via live webcast.
Former residential school students make up a large per-
centage of the population of northern Quebec (Nunavik), the
Yukon, and the Northwest and Nunavut territories. In fact,
Canada’s North has the highest ratio of residential school
survivors per capita. Until the mid-1990s, Aboriginal children
across the North still were being taken from their homes and
sent to residential schools away from their families.
Due to the vast geography of the North, and to reach as
many survivors as possible, the Commission introduced pre-
event hearings. Leading up to the Inuvik event, the Commis-
20 | Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada
sion held hearings in eighteen communities throughout the
Territories and northern Quebec (Nunavik) from March to
May 2011. e Northern Hearings were an opportunity for
residential school survivors, who otherwise might not be able
to attend the Northern National Event, to inform the Com-
mission and Canadians of the unique experiences of chil-
dren who attended the schools in Canada’s North. rough
extensive daily media coverage, the hearings helped inform
the public about the Commission’s work and statement-gath-
ering process, and provided survivors with time to reect and
share their experiences in leading up to the Northern National
Event.
During the community hearings, more than 550 survivors
in the North shared their personal experiences with the Com-
mission, and inspired the Northern National Event theme.
Prior to each future National Event, the Commission will be
holding community hearings in the region in which the event
is being held.
e Northern National Event was the largest event of its kind
ever held in Inuvik. Organizing it was no small undertaking.
One thousand survivors travelled to Inuvik by car, bus, •
boat, and plane.
Hotels and nearby camps were lled to capacity, •
while 100 families opened their homes to welcome
participants.
Simultaneous translation was provided in Chipewyan, •
Dogrib, Gwich’in, Inuktitut, Inuvialuktun, North Slavey,
South Slavey, and French.
e Department of National Defence ew 30,000 kilo-•
grams of technical equipment and essential services
from Edmonton to Inuvik in a Hercules aircraft.
e Northern National Event began with the lighting of the
Sacred Fire and the Qulliq, the traditional Inuit oil lamp. e
opening ceremony included drumming, prayers, speeches
by the representatives of the parties to the Indian Residential
Schools Settlement Agreement, and the transferring of the
ashes from the Sacred Fire from the rst National Event held
in Winnipeg.
Following the opening ceremonies, six individuals from
four continents were inducted as ocial Honourary Wit-
nesses for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. ey
observed the proceedings and accepted the responsibility
of sharing what they have learned with peoples around the
world. ey also worked with local youth to bear witness to
each day’s activities.
During the event, survivors expressed themselves through
Commissioners’ Sharing Panels, Sharing Circles, and private
statement gathering. ere were approximately 120 trained
health support workers on the ground, many of whom were
Aboriginal and former students themselves. ey worked tire-
lessly to provide support to those who needed it.
A Dialogue on Resilience was facilitated with a group of sur-
vivors who have exemplied courage and strength throughout
their lives, resulting in public achievements. It was an inspira-
tional event, and provided insight into the critical factors that
led to these successes.
A particularly touching event was the birthday party for the
former students that was held to mark all the birthdays that
went uncelebrated at residential school.
e parties to the Indian Residential Schools Settlement
Agreement took part in the Circle of Reconciliation. ese
elected leaders and senior ocials, including the premier of
the Northwest Territories, himself a former residential school
student, spoke of forging new relationships between Aborig-
inal peoples and all Canadians.
e program also provided opportunities for learning
about the residential school experience.
Expressions of Reconciliation—opportunities for indi-•
vidual organizations and representatives of the parties
to the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement
to make statements, presentations, or apologies directly
to survivors.
e Learning Place—through speakers, posters, pho-•
tographs, and videos, the history of residential schools
in Canada was explored, with a particular focus on the
northern schools that were included in the Settlement
Agreement.
e Churches’ Listening Area—survivors were provided •
with an opportunity to share their experience in one-to-
one meetings with church representatives.
Interactive Traditional Sports History and Demonstra-•
tions with Elders—dialogue on traditional sports history
and its cultural importance.
Children and Youth Programming—cultural activi-•
ties, sports, education, and artistic expression were
highlighted.
Special Film Screenings—screenings of • My Own Private
Lower Post and e Experimental Eskimos, two lms
about the residential experience impacts on northern
Aboriginal people.
Daily Call to Gather - hosted by a master of ceremonies, •
a video summary of the day’s activities, which included
the sharing of experiences by the Honourary Witnesses
for that day.
Evening activities were intended to showcase Aboriginal
cultures. ese included:
A special, historical, concert performance—acknowl-•
edging the history of northern people and residential
Interim Report | 21
schools, as told by northern singers, writers, drummers,
and other artists. All the performers had been aected
directly by the residential school experience.
A fashion show with designers from across the Arctic, •
featuring traditional styles, motifs, and materials.
A talent show that brought drums, harmonicas, ddles, •
songs, and voices to the stage for an evening of laughter,
sharing, and inspiration.
During the closing ceremonies, the mayor of Inuvik,
Denny Rodgers, announced the town would commemorate
the Northern National Event by preserving the Sacred Fire site
as a permanent memorial. e Survivor Committee gathered
ashes from the Sacred Fire, to be carried on to the Atlantic
National Event in Halifax, in October 2011.
Community Events
e Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement
also mandates organizing and supporting community events.
ese events are to be designed by communities, and respond
to the needs of the former students, their families, and those
aected by the schools. In many cases, representatives of the
churches that were involved in running the schools have par-
ticipated in these events.
ese events can provide people with an opportunity to
share their residential school experience with the Commis-
sioners and/or a statement gatherer. Communities also have
a chance to oer gestures of reconciliation that are represen-
tative of the community, and to showcase the ways in which
they have begun the work of reconciliation. To help commu-
nities prepare such events, the Commission has developed a
Community Events Guide.
22
Review of Past Reports
e Commission was established to reveal the truth about
the residential school system, and to identify pathways to rec-
onciliation for its survivors and for all Canadians. In order to
understand the current context for reconciliation in Canada,
the Commission is conducting research into previous recon-
ciliation eorts, and will report on these in future reports.
e most ambitious attempt to reconcile the relationship
between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal peoples in Canada
was the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (RCAP).
It was launched in response to the Oka crisis of 1990. at
summer, a bitter land-claim dispute led to a military siege of
the Mohawk community of Kanesatake, and galvanized many
long-standing Aboriginal grievances across Canada.
Established in 1991, the Royal Commission was mandated
to conduct hearings across the country and oer recom-
mendations on how to improve Canada’s relationships with
its original peoples. Released in 1996, its ve-volume Final
Report included over 3500 pages and oered over 400 recom-
mendations thematically organized into categories of renewed
relationships, treaties, governance, lands and resources, eco-
nomic development, family, health and healing, housing,
education, arts, and heritage. e Commission also dedicated
a volume of its Final Report to multiple Aboriginal perspec-
tives: Women, Elders, Youth, Métis, as well as Northern and
Urban. Most of RCAP’s recommendations were directed to
the federal government; many were aimed at other govern-
ments, whether Aboriginal, municipal, provincial, and ter-
ritorial, as well as other elements of civil society including
colleges and universities, industry, mass media, and labour
unions. e following two sections review the RCAP recom-
mendations that specically address 1) residential schools,
and 2) reconciliation.
Residential-School Recommendations
e Royal Commission made several recommendations
regarding residential schools. e most substantive, Recom-
mendation 1.10.1, called for a public inquiry that would:
investigate and document the origin and (a)
eects of residential school policies and
practices respecting all Aboriginal peoples,
with particular attention to the nature and
extent of eects on subsequent generations of
individuals and families, and on communities
and Aboriginal societies;
conduct public hearings across the country (b)
with sucient funding to enable the testi-
mony of aected persons to be heard;
commission research and analysis of the (c)
breadth of the eects of these policies and
practices;
investigate the record of residential schools (d)
with a view to the identication of abuse and
what action, if any, is considered appropriate;
and
recommend remedial action by govern-(e)
ments and the responsible churches deemed
necessary by the inquiry to relieve conditions
created by the residential school experience,
including as appropriate,
apologies by those responsible; -
compensation of communities to design -
and administer programs that help
the healing process and rebuild their
community life; and
Interim Report | 23
funding for treatment of aected -
individuals and their families.
1
Recommendation 1.10.3 called for the establishment of a
“national repository of records and video collections related
to residential schools.” is national repository would:
facilitate access to documentation and electronic •
exchange of research on residential schools
provide nancial assistance for the collection of testi-•
mony and continuing research
work with educators in the design of Aboriginal curric-•
ulum that explains the history and eects of residential
schools
conduct public education programs on the history and •
eects of residential schools and remedies applied to
relieve their negative eects.
Unfortunately, the majority of these recommendations
were not adopted or even acknowledged by the federal
government. In 1998 the Minister of Indian Aairs nally
responded with a “Statement of Reconciliation” that speci-
cally addressed the residential school system as part of her
government’s formal response to RCAP, entitled Gathering
Strength—Canada’s Aboriginal Action Plan.
e Government of Canada acknowledges the role
it played in the development and administration
of these schools. Particularly to those individuals
who experienced the tragedy of physical and sexual
abuse at residential schools, and who have carried
this burden believing that in some way they must
be responsible, we wish to emphasize that what
you experienced was not your fault and should
never have happened. To those of you who suered
this tragedy at residential schools, we are deeply
sorry.
2
It would take another decade of litigation and negotiation
following the release of the RCAP report before the Indian
Residential Schools Settlement Agreement was reached. In
that agreement, Canada and the churches agreed to survivors’
demands for individual compensation for all students, inde-
pendent assessment process for victims of abuse, the estab-
lishment of a truth commission, and the creation of a national
1 Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples. Report of the Royal
Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, Volume 1: Looking Forward,
Looking Back (Ottawa, Canada: Minister of Supply and Services
Canada, 1996), 385–386.
2 Indian Aairs and Northern Development Canada, Gathering
Strength—Canada’s Aboriginal Action Plan (Ottawa: Minister
of Public Works and Government, 1998), http://www.ahf.ca/
downloads/gathering-strength.pdf.
archive dealing with residential schools. is addressed, but
did not fulll, many of the elements in the RCAP residential
school recommendations. In this respect, the TRC is a living
testament to former students’ perseverance in demanding an
inquiry into the residential school system.
Reconciliation Recommendations
RCAP’s Final Report is a particularly rich resource. It invites
Canadians to participate in a national dialogue on possible
pathways to reconciliation. It oered hundreds of relevant rec-
ommendations, too numerous to be reviewed here, but their
main message was the need for a new relationship between
Canada and Aboriginal peoples. Four guiding principles for
the new relationship were proposed: mutual recognition,
mutual respect, sharing, and mutual responsibility. Aboriginal
nations would be recognized as the third order of government
in Canada alongside the federal and provincial or territorial
branches. Recognition of Aboriginal peoples’ inherent right to
self-determination would be the only pathway to Aboriginal
reconciliation with Canada.
One of the most prominent recommendations was the
issuing of what was termed a “New Royal Proclamation” to
symbolize the beginning of a new era between Aboriginal and
non-Aboriginal peoples in Canada. RCAP hoped that this ges-
ture would “establish the infrastructure for the new relation-
ship … [with] critical institutions for the shift to the nation as
the basic unit of Aboriginal government and for structuring
the negotiating process.”
3
A New Royal Proclamation should
contain:
acknowledgement of “the profoundly harmful elements •
of the past … as a means of reconciliation”
creation of a process to recognize Aboriginal nations in •
which would be vested the right of self-determination
establishment of a treaty process framework that com-•
mits the government to “respect and implement existing
treaties in accord with their spirit and intent”
clarication regarding Aboriginal Title and the removal •
of any extinguishment requirements for land-claims
settlements
recognition of Métis land rights and governance.•
4
3 Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples. Report of the Royal
Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, Volume 5: Renewal: A Twenty-
Year Commitment (Ottawa, Canada: Minister of Supply and
Services Canada, 1996), 21.
4 Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples. Report of the Royal
Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, Volume 5: Renewal: A Twenty-
Year Commitment (Ottawa, Canada: Minister of Supply and
Services Canada, 1996), 5–8.
24 | Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada
e 1998 federal response to RCAP ignored the “Royal
Proclamation” recommendation. It did include an expres-
sion of regret for past wrongs and a federal pledge to focus on
four priority areas: renewing the partnership, strengthening
Aboriginal governance, developing a new scal relationship,
and supporting strong communities.
ere have been several attempts to assess the implemen-
tation of the RCAP recommendations but their number and
scope complicate such an assessment. While the Auditor
General has produced periodic reviews of Aboriginal pro-
grams, the majority of these audits look at the performance
of existing programs. ey do not, however, assess the gov-
ernment’s progress in implementing programs that the RCAP
Final Report recommended in order to meet needs identied
by the Commission.
us far, the federal government has made little eort to
monitor its own progress in implementing RCAP’s recom-
mendations. For example, Canada committed to developing
an “Aboriginal Report Card” in 2004 but this was never com-
pleted. Treasury Board did provide two Aboriginal-specic
sections in its 2004 and 2005 “Canada’s Performance” reports.
ese reports were discontinued in 2006.
In 2006 the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) issued a
ten-year report card that looked at the RCAP Final Report’s
recommendations. is report card gave Canada a failing
grade in over half (thirty-seven of sixty-ve) the categories of
recommendations.
5
Academic as well as political assessments have been critical
of Canada’s failure to acknowledge, let alone implement, the
majority of RCAP’s recommendations. In his 2008 book A Fair
Country: Telling Truths About Canada, political philosopher
John Ralston Saul lamented the federal government’s missed
opportunity to “engage” with RCAP’s recommendations as
a “most foolish refusal.”
6
However, he pointed hopefully to
examples where Canadians have made progress in adopting
RCAP’s core principles, and he cites its Final Report directly:
“is great document is slowly making its way because it is the
most important statement we now have of our reality—one
that embraces ‘a relationship of mutual trust and loyalty’ and
deals with the real role of the Aboriginal peoples of Canada.”
He also notes that Aboriginal peoples have much to teach the
rest of the country about reconciliation.
Non-Aboriginals appear to be moving ever so
tentatively toward reconciliation, which would
be a rst step toward understanding the situation
5 Assembly of First Nations, Royal Commission on Aboriginal
Peoples at 10 Years: A Report Card (Ottawa: AFN, 2006), http://
www.cbc.ca/news/background/aboriginals/pdf/afn_rcap.pdf.
6 John Ralston Saul, A Fair Country: Telling Truths About Canada
(Toronto: Viking Canada, 2008), 25–26.
dierently. As always in our history, the elegance
and generosity when it is a matter of reconciliation
comes largely from the indigenous side, from those
who have been wronged. All around us there are
a multitude of negotiations and complaints and
concerns. As they are resolved in a pattern that
increasingly gives Aboriginals room to manoeuvre
and re-establish their role as players and leaders in
their own worlds, so they also gain the room to play
an important role in Canada as a whole.
7
e Truth and Reconciliation Commission is of the
opinion that the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples
identied the key issues to be addressed in righting the rela-
tionship between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal peoples in
Canada. Although RCAP did not identify a specic role for the
churches in addressing a reconciliation process, such partici-
pation clearly is captured by the spirit of RCAP’s recommen-
dations. Furthermore, RCAP’s guiding principles of mutual
recognition, mutual respect, sharing, and mutual responsi-
bility are critical to any reconciliation process.
7 John Ralston Saul, A Fair Country: Telling Truths About Canada
(Toronto: Viking Canada, 2008), 98–99.
25
Conclusions
ere can be no movement toward reconciliation without
an understanding of the rationale, operation, and overall
impact of the schools. rough its work, the Commission
has reached certain conclusions about the residential school
system. e truth about the residential school system will
cause many Canadians to see their country dierently. ese
are hard truths, but only by coming to grips with these truths
can we lay the foundation for reconciliation.
e Commission has concluded that:
Residential schools constituted an assault on 1)
Aboriginal children.
Residential schools constituted an assault on 2)
Aboriginal families.
Residential schools constituted an assault on 3)
Aboriginal culture.
Residential schools constituted an assault on self-4)
governing and self-sustaining Aboriginal nations.
e impacts of the residential school system were 5)
immediate, and have been ongoing since the earliest
years of the schools.
Canadians have been denied a full and proper 6)
education as to the nature of Aboriginal societies, and
the history of the relationship between Aboriginal and
non-Aboriginal peoples.
1) Residential schools constituted an
assault on Aboriginal children.
e residential school system separated children from •
their parents without providing them with adequate
physical or emotional care or supervision.
Due to this lack of care and supervision, the schools •
often were sites of institutionalized child neglect, exces-
sive physical punishment, and physical, sexual, and
emotional abuse.
Persistent underfunding left the schools dependent on •
student labour.
Several generations of children were traumatized by •
their residential school experience: by having been
abused, by having witnessed abuse, or by having been
coerced to participate in abuse.
All these factors contributed to high mortality rates, •
poor health, and low academic achievement.
Residential schools constituted an
assault on Aboriginal families.
e residential school system was established with the •
specic intent of preventing parents from exercising
inuence over the educational, spiritual, and cultural
development of their children.
e schools not only separated children from their •
parents and grandchildren, but because of the strict
separation of girls from boys, they also separated sisters
from brothers. Older siblings were also separated from
younger siblings.
As each succeeding generation passed through the •
system, the family bond weakened, and, eventually, the
strength and structure of Aboriginal family bonds were
virtually destroyed.
Given the high mortality rates that prevailed for much •
of the system’s history, many parents spent their lives
grieving, never having been given a proper descrip-
tion of how their child died or where they were buried,
and not being able to hold an appropriate ceremony of
mourning.
26 | Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada
3) Residential schools constituted an
assault on Aboriginal culture.
e residential school system was intended to “civi-•
lize” and “Christianize” Aboriginal children, replacing
Aboriginal cultural values with Euro-Canadian values.
e residential school system belittled and repressed •
Aboriginal cultures and languages. By making students
feel ashamed of who they were, the system undermined
their sense of pride and self-worth. is deprived them
of the cultural and economic advantages and benets
that come from knowing two languages.
4) Residential schools constituted an assault on self-
governing and self-sustaining Aboriginal nations.
e residential school system was intended to assimilate •
Aboriginal children into broader Canadian society. With
assimilation would come the breaking up of the reserves
and the end of treaty obligations. In this way the schools
were part of a broader Canadian policy to undermine
Aboriginal leaders and Aboriginal self-government.
5) e impacts of the residential school system
were immediate, and have been ongoing
since the earliest years of the schools.
e damage extended far beyond the numbers of chil-•
dren who attended these schools: families, communi-
ties, and cultures all suered. Students were estranged
from their families and communities; cultural, spiri-
tual, and language transmission was disrupted; educa-
tion did not prepare children for traditional lifestyles or
emerging economic opportunities (which often were
limited); parenting skills were lost; and patterns of
abuse were developed that continue to have an impact
on communities today.
e schools’ legacy shaped people’s whole life experi-•
ence, including their employment and their interactions
with social service agencies, the legal system, and the
health care system. e system’s impact does not stop
with the survivors; it aects their interactions with their
children and grandchildren—the intergenerational sur-
vivors. e impact of the schools is felt in every Aborig-
inal community in the country.
6) Canadians have been denied a full and proper
education as to the nature of Aboriginal societies,
and the history of the relationship between
Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal peoples.
Canadians generally have been led to believe—by •
what has been taught and not taught in schools— that
Aboriginal people were and are uncivilized, primitive,
and inferior, and continue to need to be civilized. Cana-
dians have been denied a full and proper education as
to the nature of Aboriginal societies. ey have not been
well informed about the nature of the relationship that
was established initially between Aboriginal and non-
Aboriginal peoples and the way that relationship has
been shaped over time by colonialism and racism. is
lack of education and misinformation has led to mis-
understanding and, in some cases, hostility between
Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Canadians on matters of
importance.
It will take time and commitment to reverse this legacy.
e schools operated in Canada for well over a century. In
the same way, the reconciliation process will have to span
generations. It will take time to re-establish respect. Eective
reconciliation will see Aboriginal people regaining their sense
of self-respect, and the development of relations of mutual
respect between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people. In
future reports, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission will
be making specic recommendations as to how reconcilia-
tion can be furthered.
ere are three points we would like to leave with all
readers.
e rst is that this story has heroes. e work of truth
telling, healing, and reconciliation was commenced well over
two decades ago by the people who, as children, had been vic-
timized by this system. ey continue to do the heavy labour
of sharing their stories, and, by so doing, educating their chil-
dren, their communities, and their country.
e second is obvious: a commission such as this cannot
itself achieve reconciliation. Reconciliation implies rela-
tionship. e residential schools badly damaged relationships
within Aboriginal families and communities, between Aborig-
inal peoples and churches, between Aboriginal peoples and
the government, and between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal
peoples within Canadian society. e Commissioners believe
these relationships can and must be repaired. e Indian
Residential Schools Settlement Agreement is a positive step in
this process since it formally recognized the need to come to
terms with the past. e process of reconciliation will require
the passionate commitment of individuals and the genuine
engagement of society. ere are people today who are living
with the direct impacts of the schools: the survivors and their
families. Specic attention will have to be paid to their needs.
e conicts that have arisen within communities as a result
of the school system must be recognized and addressed.
Interim Report | 27
Churches have to dene their role in this process as Aboriginal
people reclaim what is of value to them.
Reconciliation also will require changes in the relationship
between Aboriginal people and the government of Canada.
e federal government, along with the provincial govern-
ments, historically has taken a social welfare approach to its
dealings with Aboriginal people. is approach fails to rec-
ognize the unique legal status of Aboriginal peoples as the
original peoples of this country. Without that recognition, we
run the risk of continuing the assimilationist policies and the
social harms that were integral to the residential schools.
Finally, there is no reason for anyone who wants to
contribute to the reconciliation process to wait until the
publication of the Commission’s nal reports. ere is an
opportunity now for Canadians to engage in this work, to
make their own contributions to reconciliation, and to create
new truths about our country. As Assembly of First Nations
National Chief Phil Fontaine observed when he accepted
Canada’s apology in June 2008, “Together we can achieve the
greatness our country deserves.” Our challenge and opportu-
nity will be to work together to achieve that greatness.
Justice Murray Sinclair
Chair, Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada
Chief Wilton Littlechild
Commissioner, Truth and Reconciliation Commission of
Canada
Marie Wilson
Commissioner, Truth and Reconciliation Commission of
Canada
28
Recommendations
1) e Commission recommends that the Government
of Canada issue the necessary orders-in-council and
funding authorities to ensure that the end date of
the Commission and Commissioners’ appointments
coincide, including the necessary wind-down period
after the Commission’s last public event.
2) e Commission recommends that the Government
of Canada work with the Commission to ensure the
Commission has adequate funds to complete its
mandate on time.
3) e Commission recommends that the Government
of Canada ensure that Health Canada, in conjunction
with appropriate provincial, territorial, and traditional
health care partners, has the resources needed to
provide for the safe completion of the Truth and
Reconciliation Commission’s full mandate, and to
provide for continuous, high-quality mental health and
cultural support services for all those involved in Truth
and Reconciliation and other Indian Residential Schools
Settlement Agreement activities, through to completion
of these activities.
4) e Commission recommends that each provincial
and territorial government undertake a review of the
curriculum materials currently in use in public schools
to assess what, if anything, they teach about residential
schools.
5) e Commission recommends that provincial and
territorial departments of education work in concert
with the Commission to develop age-appropriate
educational materials about residential schools for use
in public schools.
6) e Commission recommends that each provincial
and territorial government work with the Commission
to develop public-education campaigns to inform
the general public about the history and impact of
residential schools in their respective jurisdiction.
7) e Commission recommends that the Government
of Canada and churches establish an ongoing cultural
revival fund designed to fund projects that promote the
traditional spiritual, cultural, and linguistic heritages of
the Aboriginal peoples of Canada.
8) e Commission recommends that all levels of
government develop culturally appropriate early
childhood and parenting programs to assist young
parents and families aected by the impact of residential
schools and historic policies of cultural oppression in
the development of parental understanding and skills.
9) e Commission recommends that the Government
of Canada, and the federal Minister of Health, in
consultation with northern leadership in Nunavut and
the Northwest Territories, take urgent action to develop
plans and allocate priority resources for a sustainable,
northern, mental health and wellness healing centre,
with specialization in childhood trauma and long-term
grief, as critically needed by residential school survivors
and their families and communities.
10) e Commission recommends that the Government
of Canada, through Health Canada, immediately
begin work with provincial and territorial government
health and/or education agencies to establish means
to formally recognize and accredit the knowledge,
skills, and on-the-job training of Health Canada’s
community cultural and traditional knowledge
healing team members, as demonstrated through
Interim Report | 29
their intensive practical work in support of the Truth
and Reconciliation Commission and other Settlement
Agreement provisions.
11) e Commission recommends that the Government
of Canada develop a program to establish health and
wellness centres specializing in trauma and grief
counselling and treatment appropriate to the cultures
and experiences of multi-generational residential school
survivors.
12) e Commission recommends that the parties to the
Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement,
with the involvement of other provincial or territorial
governments as necessary, identify and implement
the earliest possible means to address legitimate
concerns of former students who feel unfairly left out
of the Settlement Agreement, in order to diminish
obstacles to healing within Aboriginal communities and
reconciliation within Canadian society.
13) e Commission recommends that, to ensure that
survivors and their families receive as much healing
benet as the apology may bring them, the Government
of Canada distribute individual copies of the “Statement
of Apology to Former Students of Indian Residential
Schools” to all known residential school survivors.
14) e Commission recommends the Government of
Canada distribute to every secondary school in Canada
a framed copy of the “Statement of Apology to Former
Students of Indian Residential Schools” for prominent
public display and ongoing educational purposes.
15) e Commission recommends that federal, provincial,
and territorial governments, and all parties to the
Settlement Agreement, undertake to meet and explore
the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of
Indigenous Peoples, as a framework for working towards
ongoing reconciliation between Aboriginal and non-
Aboriginal Canadians.
16) e Commission recommends that the Government of
Canada meet immediately with the Aboriginal Healing
Foundation to develop a plan to restore funding for
healing initiatives to the Foundation within the next
scal year.
17) e Commission recommends that the Government
of Canada and the churches produce all their relevant
records to the Commission as quickly as possible.
18) e Commission recommends that Canada and the
churches make a dramatic change in the way they
address the funding and timeliness of document
production and digitization.
19) e Commission recommends that all agencies and
organizations that are not parties to the Settlement
Agreement, but have holdings relevant to the history
and legacy of residential schools (such as provincial and
university archives, libraries, museums, galleries, and
Aboriginal organizations), contact the Commission and
assist the Commission in receiving copies of all such
relevant documents.
20) e Commission recommends that governments,
educational institutions, and churches consult,
design, announce, and publicly unveil residential
school commemorations before the completion of the
Commission’s mandate.
30
Works Cited
Aboriginal Healing Foundation. Final Report of the
Aboriginal Healing Foundation: Volume I: A Healing
Journey: Reclaiming Wellness. Ottawa: Aboriginal Healing
Foundation, 2006.
Assembly of First Nations. Royal Commission on Aboriginal
Peoples at 10 Years: A Report Card. Ottawa: Assembly of
First Nations, 2006.
Indian Aairs and Northern Development Canada. Gathering
Strength—Canada’s Aboriginal Action Plan. Ottawa:
Minister of Public Works and Government, 1998.
Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples. Report of the Royal
Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, Volume 1: Looking
Forward, Looking Back. Ottawa, Canada: Minister of
Supply and Services Canada, 1996.
Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples. Report of the Royal
Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, Volume 5: Renewal: A
Twenty-Year Commitment. Ottawa, Canada: Minister of
Supply and Services Canada, 1996.
Saul, John Ralston. A Fair Country: Telling Truths About
Canada. Toronto: Viking Canada, 2008.
Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada
1500–360 Main Street
Winnipeg, Manitoba
R3C 3Z3
Telephone: (204) 984-5885
Toll Free: 1-888-872-5554 (1-888-TRC-5554)
Fax: (204) 984-5915
E-mail: [email protected]a
Website: www.trc.ca
