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The Government’s “Statement of Reconciliation”
Learn about the 1980s response of the Canadian government to the long-lasting effects of residential schools on indigenous communities.
Prime Minister Harper's Apology
As part of the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement, a Truth and Reconciliation Commission was established. Before its work got under way, Prime Minister Stephen Harper issued a public apology on June 11, 2008, on behalf of the Canadian government. The apology is part of the process arranged by the government and the First Nations as parties to the agreement, part of an overall attempt to address the government’s role in the history of the Indian Residential Schools.
Truth and Reconciliation
Since the beginning of its work in 2010, the commission has been collecting information about what was done to survivors in the residential schools and has worked to make this information public. From this process, the survivors receive public, communal acknowledgement and support for years of injustice and suffering.
The Charge of Genocide
In the 1990s, residential schools scholars and many indigenous leaders began to argue that the efforts of the Canadian government to assimilate the Indigenous Peoples in the residential schools embodied the principle of cultural genocide: assimilation was intended to destroy the Indigenous Peoples as culturally distinct group.
Prime Minister Harper’s Apology
The apology is part of the process arranged by the government and the First Nations as parties to the agreement, part of an overall attempt to address the government’s role in the history of the Indian Residential Schools.
Indigenous Canadian Woman on a Reserve
A portrait of an indigenous Canadian woman on a reserve, 1930.
Sewing Class at Shubenacadie Indian Residential School
Mi’kmaq girls are in a sewing class at Shubenacadie Indian Residential School in Nova Scotia in 1929.
Students at Fort Simpson Residential School
Students at the Fort Simpson School in the Northwest Territories in 1922 hold up letters that spell “Goodbye.”
Sun Dance Ceremony
The annual Sun Dance ceremony at the Blood Indian Reserve, near Cardston, Alberta.
Stolen Lives: The Charge of Genocide and the Residential Schools
Various scholars, indigenous and non-indigenous, discuss the charge of genocide regarding the Residential School system in Canada and its effects. This video is a part of the resource Stolen Lives: The Indigenous Peoples of Canada and The Indian Residential Schools.