Residential Schools in Canada: History and Heritage Education Guide

Assembly of First Nations Chief Phil Fontaine (right) watches as Prime Minister Stephen Harper (left) of cially apologizes for more than a century of abuse and cultural loss involving Indian residential schools at a ceremony in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, June 11, 2008 (courtesy of The Canadian Press/Tom Hanson). Remarks by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau apologizing on behalf of the Government of Canada to former students of Newfoundland and Labrador residential schools. November 24, 2017 (courtesy of the Office of the Prime Minister). Gordon's Indian Residential School, Punnichy, Saskatchewan, c. 1930 (Anglican Church of Canada Archives / P75- 103-S7-151). The last federally run facility, Gordon’s Indian Residential School in Punnichy, Saskatchewan, closes. 1996 Phil Fontaine, Grand Chief of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, speaks publicly of the abuse he suffered at Fort Alexander Indian Residential School. He calls for a public inquiry, which the federal government initiates in 1991. The Report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples recommends a public inquiry into the effects of residential schools, including language loss and trauma. The 4,000-page, five-volume report includes 440 recommendations calling for changes in the relationship between Indigenous peoples, non-Indigenous peoples, and all levels of government in Canada. 1990 1996 After years of meetings and advocacy by Survivors and their families, the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement comes into effect. The government provides compensation to Survivors, including the Common Experience Payment, and a focus on funding and supporting Indigenous health and healing services. The Agreement establishes funds for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (the TRC). The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls reveals that persistent and deliberate human rights violations are the source of Canada’s staggering rates of violence against Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people. The report gives 231 calls for justice to governments, police forces, and institutions. After hearing thousands of testimonies across Canada, the TRC releases a summary of its findings on the residential school system and the experiences of its Survivors, characterizing Canada’s treatment of Indigenous peoples as “cultural genocide.” It includes 94 Calls to Action aimed at healing relations between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in Canada. The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation opens in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The new centre holds a permanent archive of materials and testimonies about residential schools gathered during the TRC. The federal government announces a settlement of $800 million for Sixties Scoop Survivors. Survivors of these federal and provincial government policies experience lasting trauma as a result of separation from their birth families, communities, and cultures. 2007 2019 2015 2015 2017 Prime Minister Stephen Harper, on behalf of the Government of Canada, apologizes to former students, their families, and communities for Canada’s role in the operation of these institutions. Provincial and territorial apologies follow in the years to come. 2008 2017 2000 The TRC releases its final report. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who attended the ceremonial release of the report, commits his government to implementing all of the 94 Calls to Action set out in the June 2015 summary report. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau apologizes to the Survivors of residential schools in Newfoundland and Labrador . They were excluded from Stephen Harper’s 2008 apology because residential schools there were not run by the federal government and were established before Newfoundland joined Confederation in 1949. They were also excluded from both the TRC process and the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement. 2015 7