residential school visit meaning

• Share full article

Lost Lives, Lost Culture: The Forgotten History of Indigenous Boarding Schools

Thousands of Native American children attended U.S. boarding schools designed to “civilize the savage.” Many died. Many who lived are reclaiming their identity.

Children at Fort Lewis Indian School in Colorado circa 1900. Credit... via the Center of Southwest Studies, Fort Lewis College

Supported by

By Rukmini Callimachi

Photographs by Sharon Chischilly

• Published July 19, 2021 Updated Nov. 17, 2021

DURANGO, Colo. — The last day Dzabahe remembers praying in the way of her ancestors was on the morning in the 1950s when she was taken to the boarding school.

At first light, she grabbed a small pouch and ran out into the desert to a spot facing the rising sun to sprinkle the taa dih’deen — or corn pollen — to the four directions, offering honor for the new day.

Within hours of arriving at the school, she was told not to speak her own Navajo language. The leather skirt her mother had sewn for her and the beaded moccasins were taken away and bundled in plastic, like garbage.

She was given a dress to wear and her long hair was cut — something that is taboo in Navajo culture. Before she was sent to the dormitory, one more thing was taken: her name.

“You have a belief system. You have a way of life you have already embraced,” said Bessie Smith, now 79, who continues to use the name given to her at the former boarding school in Arizona.

“And then it’s so casually taken away,” she said. “It’s like you are violated.”

The recent discoveries of unmarked graves at government-run schools for Indigenous children in Canada — 215 graves in British Columbia, 750 more in Saskatchewan — surfaced like a long-forgotten nightmare.

But for many Indigenous people in Canada and the United States, the nightmare was never forgotten. Instead the discoveries are a reminder of how many living Native Americans were products of an experiment in forcibly removing children from their families and culture.

Many of them are still struggling to make sense of who they were and who they are.

In the century and a half that the U.S. government ran boarding schools for Native Americans , hundreds of thousands of children were housed and educated in a network of institutions, created to “civilize the savage.” By the 1920s, one group estimates, nearly 83 percent of Native American school-age children were attending such schools.

“When people do things to you when you’re growing up, it affects you spiritually, physically, mentally and emotionally,” said Russell Box Sr., a member of the Southern Ute tribe who was 6 when he was sent to a boarding school in southwestern Colorado.

“We couldn’t speak our language, we couldn’t sing our prayer songs,” he said. “To this day, maybe that’s why I can’t sing.”

The discovery of the bodies in Canada led Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, the first Native American to head the department that once ran the boarding schools in the United States — and herself the granddaughter of people forced to attend them — to announce that the government would search the grounds of former facilities to identify the remains of children.

That many children died in the schools on this side of the border is not in question. Just last week, nine Lakota children who perished at the federal boarding school in Carlisle, Pa., were disinterred and buried in buffalo robes in a ceremony on a tribal reservation in South Dakota.

Many of the deaths of former students have been recorded in federal archives and newspaper death notices. Based on what those records indicate, the search for bodies of other students is already underway at two former schools in Colorado: Grand Junction Indian School in western Colorado, which closed in 1911, and the Fort Lewis Indian School, which closed in 1910 and reopened near Durango as Fort Lewis College.

“There were horrific things that happened at boarding schools,” said Tom Stritikus, the president of Fort Lewis College. “It’s important that we daylight that.”

The idea of assimilating Native Americans through education dates back to the earliest history of the colonies.

In 1775, the Continental Congress passed a bill appropriating $500 for the education of Native American youth. By the late 1800s, the number of students in boarding schools had risen from a handful to 24,000 , and the amount appropriated had soared to $2.6 million.

Throughout the decades that they were in existence, the schools were seen as both a cheaper and a more expedient way of dealing with the “Indian problem.”

Carl Schurz, the secretary of the interior in the late 1800s, argued that it cost close to $1 million to kill a Native American in warfare, versus just $1,200 to give his child eight years of schooling, according to the account of the historian David Wallace Adams in “ Education for Extinction .” “A great general has said that the only good Indian is a dead one,” Capt. Richard H. Pratt, the founder of one of the first boarding schools, wrote in 1892. “In a sense I agree with the sentiment, but only in this: That all the Indian there is in the race should be dead. Kill the Indian in him and save the man.”

Those who survived the schools described violence as routine. As punishment, Norman Lopez was made to sit in the corner for hours at the Ute Vocational School in southwestern Colorado where he was sent around age 6. When he tried to get up, a teacher picked him up and slammed him against the wall, he said. Then the teacher picked him up a second time and threw him headfirst to the ground, he said.

“I thought that it was part of school,” said Mr. Lopez, now 78. “I didn’t think of it as abusive.”

A less violent incident marked him more, he said.

His grandfather taught him how to carve a flute out of the branch of a cedar. When the boy brought the flute to school, his teacher smashed it and threw it in the trash.

He grasped even then how special the cedar flute and his native music were. “That’s what God is. God speaks through air,” he said, of the music his grandfather taught him.

He said the lesson was clear, both in the need to comply and the need to resist.

“I had to keep quiet. There’s plenty where it came from. Tree’s not going to give up,” he said of the cedar. “I’m not going to give up.”

Decades later, Mr. Lopez has returned to the flute. He carves them and records in a homemade studio, set up in his home on the Ute Mountain Ute reservation in Towaoc, Colo.

In the same boarding school, Mr. Box was punished so severely for speaking Ute that he refused to teach his children the language, in an effort to shield them the pain he endured, his ex-wife, Pearl E. Casias, said.

Years of alcoholism followed, he said. His marriage fell apart. It was not until middle age that he reached a fork in the road.

“I had been yearning in here,” he said, pointing to his heart. “My spirit had been yearning in here to stand in the lodge,” he said, referring to the medicine lodge that dancers enter during the annual Sundance, one of the most important ceremonies of the Ute people. “Then one day I said to myself, ‘Now I’m going to stand.’ And when I said that inside of me, there was a little flame.”

He went to the Sundance for the first time. He stopped drinking. This year, one of his daughters reached out to her mother, asking if she could teach her how to make beaded moccasins.

But for many, the wounds just do not heal.

Jacqueline Frost, 60, was raised by her Ute aunt, a matron at the boarding school who embraced the system and became its enforcer.

Ms. Frost said she remembered the beatings. “I don’t know if it was a broom or a mop, I just remember the stick part, and my aunt swung it at me,” she said, adding: “There was belts. There was hangers. There was shoes. There was sticks, branches, wire.”

She, too, turned to alcohol. “Even though I’ve gone to so much counseling,” she said, “I still would always say, ‘Why am I like this? Why do I have this ugly feeling inside me?’”

By the turn of the century, a debate had erupted on whether it was better to “carry civilization to the Indian” by building schools on tribal land. In 1902, the government completed the construction of a boarding school on the Southern Ute reservation in Ignacio, Colo. — the school that Mr. Box and Mr. Lopez both attended.

The impact of the school, which was shuttered decades ago, can be summed up in two statistics: In the 1800s, when federal agents were trawling the reservation for children, they complained that there were almost no adults who spoke English. Today, about 30 people out of a tribe of fewer than 1,500 people — only 2 percent — speak the Ute language fluently, said Lindsay J. Box, a tribal spokeswoman. (Mr. Box is her uncle.)

For decades, Ms. Smith barely spoke Navajo. She thought she had forgotten it, until years later at the hospital in Denver where she worked as director of patient admissions, a Navajo couple came in with their dying baby and the language came tumbling back, she said.

It marked a turn for her. She realized that the vocabulary she thought had been beaten out of her was still there. As she looked back, she recognized the small but meaningful ways in which she had resisted.

From her first day in the dormitory, she never again practiced the morning prayer to the four directions.

Unable to do it in physical form, she learned instead to do it internally: “I did it in my heart,” she said.

In her old age, she now makes jewelry using traditional elements, like “ghost beads” made from the dried berries of the juniper tree. When she started selling online, she chose the domain: www.dzabahe.com .

It is her birth name, the one that was taken from her at the boarding school, the one whose Navajo meaning endured: “woman who fights back.”

An earlier version of this article misidentified the location of Grand Junction Indian School. It was in western Colorado, not central Colorado. The error was repeated in a picture caption. Because of an editing error, the article described imprecisely the location of Fort Lewis College. While the school was outside Durango when it opened, its current campus is within the city.

How we handle corrections

Rukmini Callimachi covers Al Qaeda and ISIS and is a four-time Pulitzer Prize finalist. Before joining The Times in 2014, she spent seven years reporting from Africa for The Associated Press. More about Rukmini Callimachi

Advertisement

• HISTORY & CULTURE

Residential school survivors reflect on a brutal legacy: ‘That could’ve been me.’

The discovery of 751 unmarked graves at the Marieval Indian Residential School is the latest in Canada’s grim tally.

It’s been 51 years since Deedee Lerat, 60, attended the Marieval Indian Residential School on her home reservation of Cowessess in Saskatchewan, Canada. But the memories of the abuses the Salteaux Cree woman endured there still haunt her. “There was so much fear,” she says.

The fear came rushing back when the Cowessess First Nation announced on June 23 that it had discovered 751 unmarked graves at the site of the school. “I would like answers,” says Lerat. “Why weren’t they reported? Why wasn’t this stopped?” She was five years old when she was forced to attend Marieval. “That could’ve been me.”

The discovery at Marieval is the latest in a grim tally of newly revealed burial sites at Canada’s Indian Residential Schools. In late May, the Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation near Kamloops, British Columbia, said they’d located the remains of 215 children using ground-penetrating radar at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School. In the weeks following, several other First Nations communities made similar discoveries.

“The news that hundreds of unmarked graves have been found in Cowessess First Nation is absolutely tragic, but not surprising,” Perry Bellegarde, national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, wrote in a post on Twitter. More than 150,000 Indigenous children attended Canada’s residential schools, which were created in the 1880s to assimilate Indigenous children into the dominant culture. The result amounted to cultural genocide , as documented by the National Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), which issued its final report in 2015.

Although the last federally run school closed in 1996, the painful legacy of the schools continues today, with generations of Canada’s First Nations still wrestling with their experiences and those of their elders. “We didn’t know how to cope so we internalized all that trauma and passed it on,” former Marieval student Marcel Ellery told National Geographic Society Explorer Daniella Zalcman, whose photography project “ Signs of Your Identity ” explores the effects of this forced assimilation.

Attendance at the state schools, the majority of which were run by the Catholic Church as well as other Christian churches, was compulsory. Children as young as three were removed from their parents by police and taken to residential buildings to live in unsanitary conditions. Most lived there until they were 18.

For Hungry Minds

Rampant neglect and abuse were common. “I was so scared all the time. I remember thinking, ‘don't be noticed,’ because I saw what they did to the kids that were noticed,” said Lerat, who suffered physical, emotional, and verbal abuse at Marieval. “Whoever was killing them thought they were nothing … just little savages.”

Students' long hair was cut, and they were disciplined for speaking their mother tongue. “Cree is my identity,” Ellery told Zalcman. “How was I supposed to stop speaking it?”

Some survivors were given numbers in place of their names. Six of the schools conducted nutritional experiments on Indigenous children in the 1940s; some died of starvation. The notorious St. Anne’s residential school in northern Ontario built an electric chair to punish Indigenous students.

Sometimes children ran away but very few made it home. Ellery tried to escape 27 times but was always caught. Others died in the extremities of the wilderness , often frozen or drowned.

The TRC has identified over 4,100 children who died of disease or accident at the schools but admits that the number of undocumented deaths may never be known. After numerous survivors testified to the commission about the disappearance of classmates, being forced to dig graves or witnessing murder and coverups, the TRC petitioned the federal government for funds to investigate the whereabouts of lost children. The request was turned down, and First Nations began funding their own searches for their missing children, which resulted in the recent discoveries.

The wounds from more than a century of harm are still open. At least four Catholic churches located on reserves in British Colombia’s interior have been burned to the ground in the last few weeks. Several major cities have cancelled planned Canada Day celebrations on July 1 in solidarity with mourning Indigenous communities.

"The hurt and the trauma that you feel is Canada's responsibility to bear," Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in a recent statement. The Canadian government apologized to survivors in 2008 and 28,000 victims have received reparations .   In 2015 the federal government hired 17 investigative firms to track down people accused of abuse at the schools and found 5,315 alleged perpetrators .

Yet survivors and their families still bear much of the pain of their experiences on their own. Lerat, a mother of six, has struggled with sexual exploitation, homelessness, addictions, and trauma. Over the years she’s attended traditional ceremonies, therapy, church, and healing circles in her quest to recover. But 10 years ago, her oldest son died of a prescription drug overdose, and she relapsed after eight years of being sober. Since then, it’s been a battle to cope. “I still struggle with drugs,” she says. “But I just gotta learn to walk with the grief and not in the grief.”

The news of the children’s remains makes it even harder, but she finds solace in the thought that the lost children’s spirits have finally been released.

“My daughter was crying,” she says. “I told her, ‘Don’t cry. They’re set free. They’re not stuck there anymore.’”

Resources for Survivors

Indian Residential School Survivors Society: 1-866-925-4419

Indian Residential School Survivors and Family Hotline: 1-866-925-4419 

Crisis Services Canada: 1-833-456-4566 or text 45645 

Kids Help Phone: 1-800-668-6868 

First Nations and Inuit Hope for Wellness Help Line: 1-855-242-3310 

Native Youth Crisis Hotline: 1-877-209-1266

Brandi Morin is a French/Cree/Iroquois journalist from Treaty 6 in Alberta, Canada. She won a Human Rights Reporting award from the Canadian Association of Journalists in 2019 for her work with the CBC’s Beyond 94 project tracking the progress of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action. Her debut memoir, A Woman of Gold, is forthcoming with House of Anansi in 2022.

Daniella Zalcman is a documentary photographer based in New Orleans, LA. Her work focuses on the modern legacies of western colonization, and has been supported by the National Geographic Society, the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, and the International Women's Media Foundation, among others. She is also the founder of Women Photograph, a nonprofit working to elevate the voices of women and nonbinary visual journalists.

The photographs in this story were supported by the Pulitzer Center.

• Environment

History & Culture

• History & Culture
• History Magazine
• Mind, Body, Wonder
• Coronavirus Coverage
• Paid Content
• Terms of Use
• Privacy Policy
• Your US State Privacy Rights
• Children's Online Privacy Policy
• Interest-Based Ads
• About Nielsen Measurement
• Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information
• Nat Geo Home
• Attend a Live Event
• Book a Trip
• Inspire Your Kids
• Shop Nat Geo
• Visit the D.C. Museum
• Learn About Our Impact
• Support Our Mission
• Advertise With Us
• Customer Service
• Renew Subscription
• Manage Your Subscription
• Work at Nat Geo
• Sign Up for Our Newsletters
• Contribute to Protect the Planet

Copyright © 1996-2015 National Geographic Society Copyright © 2015-2024 National Geographic Partners, LLC. All rights reserved

Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada

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

On this page

About the truth and reconciliation commission, the truth and reconciliation commission's final report.

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

The official mandate  (PDF) Kb , 12 pages) -->of the TRC is found in Schedule "N" of the Settlement Agreement which includes the principles that guided the commission in its important work.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

• 5th anniversary of the Truth and Reconciliation final report
• Ministers Vandal, Miller, Bennett and Guilbeault mark Orange Shirt Day 2020

Related links

• Facebook: Replay our live chat with Senator Murray Sinclair
• Delivering on Truth and Reconciliation Commission Calls to Action
• Indian Residential Schools Resolution Health Support Program
• Hope for Wellness Help Line

Did you find what you were looking for?

If not, tell us why:

You will not receive a reply. Don't include personal information (telephone, email, SIN, financial, medical, or work details). Maximum 300 characters

Thank you for your feedback

Search The Canadian Encyclopedia

Enter your search term

Why sign up?

Signing up enhances your TCE experience with the ability to save items to your personal reading list, and access the interactive map.

Thank you for your submission

Our team will be reviewing your submission and get back to you with any further questions.

Thanks for contributing to The Canadian Encyclopedia.

Residential Schools

Residential schools were established by Christian churches and the federal government to assimilate Indigenous children into Euro-Canadian society.

January 01, 1620

History 

Mission Schools for Indigenous Children Established

For more than two hundred years, from the early 1600s to the 1800s, religious orders run mission schools for Indigenous children — the precursors to the Government of Canada’s residential school system.

January 01, 1831

Mohawk Institute Begins to Accept Boarders

Run by the Anglican Church, the Mohawk Institute in Brantford, Upper Canada [Ontario], becomes the first school in Canada’s residential school system. At first, the school only admits boys. In 1834, girls are admitted.

March 20, 1845

Bagot Report

The Bagot Commission (1842-1844) report is presented to the Legislative Assembly. It proposes that separating Indigenous children from their parents is the best way to assimilate them into Euro-Canadian culture. The commission also recommends that the Mohawk Institute be considered a model for other industrial schools.

June 10, 1857

The Gradual Civilization Act

The  Gradual Civilization Act   requires male Status Indians and Métis over the age of 21 to read, write and speak either English or French , and to choose a government-approved surname. It awards 50 acres of land to any “sufficiently advanced” Indigenous male, and in return removes any tribal affiliation or treaty rights .

March 29, 1867

Federal Responsibility

Under the  Constitution Act   ( British North America Act ), the federal government takes authority over First Nations and land reserved for First Nations (see Reserves ). This authority would later extend to education of Status Indians .

April 12, 1876

The Indian Act is introduced. The Act aims to eradicate First Nations culture in favour of assimilation into Euro-Canadian society.  The Act also reinforces that Status Indians must voluntarily give up status and treaty rights to vote federally. Status Indian women are barred from voting in band council elections.

July 01, 1883

Residential Schools Authorized

Based on the recommendations of the Davin Report, Sir John A. Macdonald authorizes the creation of the residential school system, designed to isolate Indigenous children from their families and cut all ties to their culture.

April 19, 1884

Creation of Residential Schools

Amendments to the  Indian Act   of 1876 provide for the creation of residential schools , funded and operated by the Government of Canada and Roman Catholic, Anglican, Methodist, Presbyterian and United churches.

January 01, 1896

Growing Number of Residential Schools

The number of schools across Canada quickly climbs to over forty. Each school was provided with an allowance per student, which led to overcrowding and an increase in illnesses within the institutions.

November 15, 1907

Health at Residential Schools

After visiting 35 residential schools, Dr.  Peter Henderson Bryce , chief medical officer for Canada’s Department of the Interior and Indian Affairs (1904–21), reveals that Indigenous children are dying at alarming rates – with the mortality rate of enrolled students as high as 25 per cent. This number climbs to 69 per cent after students leave school.

April 01, 1920

Residential Schools Become Mandatory

Deputy Superintendent General of Indian Affairs,  Duncan Campbell Scott , makes attendance at residential school mandatory for every First Nations child between 7 and 16 years of age. This policy was also inconsistently applied to Métis and Inuit children.

January 01, 1922

The Story of a National Crime Published

Dr.  Peter Henderson Bryce  publishes  The Story of a National Crime , exposing the Canadian government’s suppression of information on the health of Indigenous peoples. Bryce argues that Duncan Campbell Scott and the ministry of Indian Affairs neglected Indigenous health needs and notes a “criminal disregard for the treaty pledges.”

January 01, 1930

Residential School Network Expands

More than 80 institutions are in operation across Canada — the most at any one time — with an enrolment of over 17,000.

January 01, 1934

Inuit Education Research Conducted by Federal Government

For the first time, the Canadian government conducts research into Inuit education. J. Lorne Turner, Director of Lands, Northwest Territories and Yukon Branch, Department of the Interior urges the government to provide formal education to Inuit children.

February 15, 1936

Report of the Royal Commission Appointed to Investigate the Conditions of the Métis Population in Alberta

In December 1934, the Alberta government appoints Albert Freeman Ewing to report on Métis living conditions. The report indicates that 80 per cent of Métis children in Alberta received no education. The report suggests building schools for Métis children.

January 01, 1948

Thunderchild Indian Residential School Destroyed

Four students are investigated for arson. Others reportedly cheer as they watch the school burn. This was one of dozens of fires set by students as a form of resistance at residential schools across the country.

September 04, 1951

The Sixties Scoop

The “ Sixties Scoop ” begins after amendments to the  Indian Act   give provinces jurisdiction over child welfare on reserves. Over the following decades, more than 20,000  First Nation ,  Métis  and  Inuit  children are “scooped” from their homes and adopted into predominantly non-Indigenous families, leaving many adoptees with a lost sense of cultural identity.

January 01, 1955

Residential School System Expands in Northern Canada

The federal government takes over the administration of many church-run residential schools in the North. Over the next decades, six schools open in the Western Arctic.

September 01, 1959

Two Residential Schools Open in Inuvik, NWT

Grollier Hall and Stringer Hall open in Inuvik, housing 500 students. The majority of students are Inuvialuit children who were taken from their families.

January 01, 1960

As residential schools closed, thousands of Indigenous children were taken from their families by provincial and federal social workers and placed in foster or adoption homes. Often, these homes were non-Indigenous. Some children were even placed outside of Canada. ( See also Sixties Scoop .)

October 23, 1966

Chanie Wenjack Dies

Twelve-year-old Chanie Wenjack dies after escaping from the Cecilia Jeffrey residential school, near Shoal Lake, Ontario.

November 17, 1966

Coroner’s Inquest Into Chanie Wenjack’s Death

A coroner’s inquest into  Chanie Wenjack ’s death is held. The all-White jury finds that residential schools cause tremendous emotional and psychological problems. They recommend that “A study be made of the present Indian education & philosophy. Is it right?”

January 01, 1969

Authority for Residential Schools Transferred to Government

The Canadian government takes over responsibility for the remaining residential schools from the churches.

July 24, 1976

Île-à-la-Crosse Residential School Closes

After a series of fires in 1964 and 1972, Île-à-la-Crosse Residential School permanently closes in 1976. It is replaced by new locally administered schools — the Rossignol elementary and high schools.

January 01, 1979

28 Residential Schools Remain

Thousands of Indigenous students are enrolled at the 28 residential schools that were running in Canada at the time.

October 30, 1990

Phil Fontaine’s Testimony of Abuse at Residential Schools

Phil Fontaine , Head of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, speaks publicly of the abuse he suffered at Fort Alexander Residential School. He calls for a public inquiry into the schools, which the federal government initiates in 1991.

August 26, 1991

Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples Initiated

In the wake of the Oka Crisis, Prime Minister Brian Mulroney initiates the  Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples , with a mandate to study the evolution of the relationship between Indigenous peoples, the Government of Canada and Canadian society as a whole.

January 01, 1996

Last Federally Operated Residential School Closes

The last federally-run facility, Gordon’s Residential School in Punnichy, Saskatchewan, closes.

November 21, 1996

Final Report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples

The 1996 report of the  Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples  stated that many of the  Indian Act ’s measures were oppressive, and noted that “Recognition as ' Indian ' in Canadian law often had nothing to do with whether a person was actually of Indian ancestry.”

July 01, 1997

Grollier Hall Closes

In 1987, the Roman Catholic Church chooses not to renew its contract due to lack of “religious personnel.” Enrolment continues to decline throughout the 1990s until Grollier Hall is turned over to Aurora College in the summer of 1997, marking the end of the residential school system in the North.

September 01, 2007

Reconciliation 

Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement Comes into Effect

The  Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement  provides compensation to Survivors, including the Common Experience Payment, which is based on the number of years they attended residential school. Claims of sexual and physical abuse are assessed through an independent process. The Agreement focuses on funding and supporting Indigenous health and healing services and also establishes funds for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission  (TRC).

June 01, 2008

Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada is Established

The Canadian government authorizes the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada to document the truth of Survivors, families and communities and inform all Canadians about what happened in residential schools. It is funded by the Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement.

June 11, 2008

Formal Apology to Former Residential Schools Students

Prime Minister Stephen Harper, on behalf of the Government of Canada, delivers a formal apology in the House of Commons to former students, their families, and communities for Canada's role in the operation of residential schools. Provincial and territorial apologies follow in the years ahead.

June 16, 2010

First National Truth and Reconciliation Event

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada hosts its first national event, in Winnipeg, MB. It explores the history of the residential school system, the experience of former students and their families and the impact such institutions had on Indigenous peoples in Canada. Over the next five years, six more events follow in cities around the country, with a national closing ceremony in Ottawa.

March 27, 2014

Final National Truth and Reconciliation Event

The seventh and final national event of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) takes place over three days in Edmonton, Alberta inviting individuals, families, and communities to share their experiences at residential schools.

May 26, 2014

Residential School Monument in Winnipeg

A monument to honour the Survivors of residential schools was unveiled in Winnipeg, Manitoba, at the Peace Garden outside of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights.

June 02, 2015

Summary Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Released

The  Truth and Reconciliation Commission  releases the summary of its final report on the  residential school system  and the experiences of survivors, characterizing Canada’s treatment of  Indigenous peoples  as “cultural genocide.” The report includes 94 calls to action aimed at redressing the legacy of residential schools and assisting in the process of reconciliation.

November 03, 2015

National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation Opens

The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, a permanent archive of materials, documents and testimonies on  residential schools  gathered during the  Truth and Reconciliation Commission ,opens at the  University of Manitoba  in  Winnipeg .

December 15, 2015

Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Released

The  Truth and Reconciliation Commission  releases its final report,  Honouring the Truth, Reconciling for the Future . Prime Minister  Justin Trudeau , who attended the ceremonial release of the report,commits his government to implementing all of the 94 recommendations set out in the June 2015 summary report.

May 30, 2016

Premier Wynne Issues Residential Schools Apology

In response to the recommendations of the  Truth and Reconciliation Commission , Ontario premier  Kathleen Wynne  formally apologizes on behalf of the provincial government for the abuses committed against  Indigenous peoples  in the  residential school system , as well as for the oppressive policies and practices supported by past  Ontario  governments. The province announces a $250-million, three-year investment in several initiatives aimed at reconciliation.

October 06, 2017

Settlement for Sixties Scoop Survivors

The  federal government  announced a settlement of $800 million with  Sixties Scoop  survivors.

November 24, 2017

Trudeau Issues Newfoundland and Labrador Residential Schools Apology

Prime Minister   Justin Trudeau  apologizes to the Survivors of  residential schools  in  Newfoundland and Labrador who 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 . Survivor Toby Obed, who was instrumental in the class-action lawsuit against the federal government, accepted Trudeau’s apology on behalf of his community. However, Gregory Rich,  Innu  Nation Grand Chief, refused Trudeau’s apology on behalf of the Innu Nation, saying it was too narrow.

June 03, 2019

Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Released

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 LGBTQ2S people. The report gives 231 calls for justice to governments, police forces and institutions.

June 23, 2021

History  Reconciliation 

Hundreds of Possible Unmarked Graves Found at Saskatchewan Residential School

One month after the discovery of 200 possible unmarked graves at a former residential school in Kamloops , BC , ground-penetrating radar revealed an estimated 751 possible unmarked graves at the site of the former Marieval Indian Residential School in Cowessess First Nation territory, about 150 km east of Regina . The radar search began on 1 June. The Marieval school was open from 1899 to 1997 and was administered by the Catholic Church until 1968.

June 28, 2021

BC Commits $12 Million to Help First Nations Search More Residential School Sites

The British Columbia government committed $12 million to help First Nations in the province search the grounds of former residential schools for more unmarked children’s graves. Some of the funds were also directed toward mental health supports. The province said it would work with the First Nations Health Authority (FNHA), Indigenous Services Canada , and Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada to ensure that the funds went to projects led by First Nations.

July 12, 2021

160+ Possible Unmarked Graves Found at Another BC Residential School

Penelakut Tribe Chief Joan Brown said in a statement that more than 160 “undocumented and unmarked” graves had been found on Penelakut Island, formerly Kuper Island, off the coast of Vancouver Island southeast of Nanaimo . The possible graves were found at the site of the Kuper Island Industrial School, a residential school run by the Catholic Church from 1890 to 1969 and by the federal government from 1969 until 1975.

Related Timelines

Significant events in canadian history, indigenous peoples, politics and government, voting rights in canada.

Language selection

• Français fr

The Residential School System

From: Parks Canada

Backgrounder

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

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

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

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

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

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

Page details

Accept Cookie Policy

Special announcement..

Free admission on Sundays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Canada's residential schools Canada’s residential schools

Learn more about Canada’s residential school system.

• Resource guide
• Human rights violations

Photo: CMHR, John Woods

• Facebook facebook

More than 130 residential schools operated across Canada. The schools were a deliberate attempt to destroy Indigenous communities and ways of life. They were part of a broader process of colonization and genocide.

In this guide, you will find links to resources related to the residential school system and the stories of children who were taken from their families and sent to residential schools. Resources include websites, books, community and support organizations, and more. For further assistance, please contact the Museum’s Carte International Reference Centre at [email protected] .

Difficult subjects are discussed in some of the materials found in this guide, including but not limited to genocide, violence and sexual violence against children, and other traumatic events. If you are a residential school Survivor or family member in need of emotional support, a national crisis line is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week: 1–866-925‑4419.

The Carte International Reference Centre is not responsible for the content of external links. Inclusion of material in this resource guide does not necessarily represent an endorsement of the views expressed. Material is presented in the language in which it was originally produced.

Survivors' stories

Many residential school Survivors and their descendants have shared their stories, the stories of their families, and the stories of their communities through published memoirs. Here are a few.

• Broken circle: the dark legacy of Indian residential schools: a memoir Fontaine, Theodore. Broken circle: the dark legacy of Indian residential schools: a memoir.  Heritage House, 2010.
• Indian School Days Johnston, Basil. Indian School Days. University of Oklahoma Press, 1995.
• Ka pi icita8atc : ce qu’ils ont fait : parcours de dix‐sept élèves du pensionnat autochtone de Saint‐Marc‐de‐Figuery Sioui, Bruno, Marguerite Mowatt‐Gaudreau and Julie Mowatt. Ka pi icita8atc : ce qu’ils ont fait : parcours de dix‐sept élèves du pensionnat autochtone de Saint‐Marc‐de‐Figuery. Carte blanche, 2018.
• Out of the depths: the experiences of Mi'kmaw children at the Indian Residential School at Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia. 4th Edition. Knockwood, Isabelle. Out of the depths: the experiences of Mi'kmaw children at the Indian Residential School at Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia. 4 th Edition. Fernwood Publishing, 2015. (First published in 1992).
• Resistance and renewal: surviving the Indian residential school Haig‐Brown, Celia. Resistance and renewal: surviving the Indian residential school. Tillacum Library, 1988.
• Recueil d’histoires de vie des survivants des pensionnats indiens du Québec Recueil d’histoires de vie des survivants des pensionnats indiens du Québec.  Commission de la santé et des services sociaux des Premières Nations du Québec et du Labrador, 2010.
• Song of Rita Joe: autobiography of a Mi'kmaw poet Joe, Rita. Song of Rita Joe: autobiography of a Mi'kmaw poet.  University of Nebraska Press, 1996.
• Stolen from our embrace: the abduction of First Nations children and the restoration of Aboriginal communities Fornier, Suzanne and Ernie Cray. Stolen from our embrace: the abduction of First Nations children and the restoration of aboriginal communities. Douglas & McIntyre, 1997.
• Stoney Creek woman: the story of Mary John Moran, Bridget. Stoney Creek woman: the story of Mary John.  Arsenal Pulp Press, 1997.
• They Called Me Number One: Secrets and Survival at an Indian Residential School Sellars, Bev. They Called Me Number One: Secrets and Survival at An Indian Residential School. Talonbooks, 2013.
• Up Ghost River: a chief’s journey through the turbulent waters of Native history Metatawabin, Edmund. Up Ghost River: a chief's journey through the turbulent waters of Native history. Alfred A. Knopf Canada, 2014.

Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) was established in 2007 to facilitate first‐person testimony, historical research, and public education to acknowledge, understand and commemorate Canada's residential school system and its legacy. When the TRC concluded in 2015, it published a series of publications, including a comprehensive final report and shorter volumes that summarize the Commission’s findings and focus on the testimony of Survivors.

• Canada's Residential Schools: The Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada

Pensionnats du Canada : Rapport final de la Commission de vérité et réconciliation du Canada

Honorer la vérité, réconcilier pour l’avenir : Sommaire du rapport final de la Commission de vérité et réconciliation du Canada

• Honouring the Truth, Reconciling for the Future: Summary of the Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada

Ils sont venus pour les enfants : Le Canada, les peuples autochtones et les pensionnats

Les survivants s’expriment : Un rapport de la Commission de vérité et réconciliation du Canada

• The Survivors Speak: A Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada
• They Came for the Children: Canada, Aboriginal Peoples, and Residential Schools

National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR)

https://nctr.ca

The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR) was established in 2015 at the University of Manitoba to continue the work of the TRC. It provides access to many resources, including the experiences, photographs, and memories entrusted to the Centre by Survivors of residential schools. Here are some relevant links:

Chronologie des pensionnats autochtones

Histoire des pensionnats autochtones

• National Student Memorial Register
• NCTR Archives

Registre national commémoratif national des élèves

• Residential School History

Residential School Timeline

There is a growing collection of books on Canada’s residential schools and the experiences of residential school Survivors in the Carte International Reference Centre, located on Level 5 at the Museum. Here are a few works that provide a broad overview:

A Knock on the Door: The Essential History of Residential Schools from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada Truth and Reconciliation Commission. A Knock on the Door: The Essential History of Residential Schools from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada . University of Manitoba Press, 2016.

A National Crime: The Canadian Government and the Residential School System, 1879 to 1986 Milloy, John S.  A National Crime: The Canadian Government and the Residential School System, 1879 to 1986 . University of Manitoba Press, 1999.

Shingwauk' Vision: A History of Native Residential Schools Miller, J.R. Shingwauk's Vision: A History of Native Residential Schools . University of Toronto Press, 1996.

• We were so far away: the Inuit experience of residential schools Igloliorte, Heather. Ed. We were so far away: the Inuit experience of residential schools. Aboriginal Healing Foundation. Legacy of Hope Foundation, 2010.

Resources for children and young adults

Many books and other resources have been created for children and young adults that deal with the topic of residential schools. Here are a few titles:

A Stranger at Home Jordan‐Fenton, Margaret Pokiak‐Fenton and Liz Amini‐Holmes (Illustrator). A Stranger at Home. Annick Press, 2011.

CBC Kids – “Indigenous” topic Series of articles for youth on various subjects related to Indigenous peoples.

Étrangère chez moi : une histoire vraie Jordan‐Fenton, Christy, Margaret‐Olemaun Pokiak‐Fenton and Liz Amini‐Holmes (Illustrator). Hélène Pilotto (Translator). Étrangère chez moi : une histoire vraie. Éditions Scholastic, 2012.

Fatty Legs: A True Story Jordan‐Fenton, Christy, Margaret Pokiak‐Fenton and Liz Amini‐Holmes (Illustrator). Fatty Legs: A True Story . Annick Press, 2010.

I Am Not a Number Dupuis, Jenny Kay, Kathy Kacer and Gillian Newland (Illustrator). I Am Not a Number . Second Story Press, 2016.

Le pensionnat : Une histoire vécue par plus de 150 000 jeunes Noël, Michel, Jacques A. Néwashish and Réal Binette. Le pensionnat : Une histoire vécue par plus de 150 000 jeunes. Dominique et compagnie, Éditions Héritage, 2017.

Les bas du pensionnat : une histoire vraie Jordan‐Fenton, Christy, Margaret Pokiak‐Fenton and Liz Amini‐Holmes (Illustrator). Les bas du pensionnat : une histoire vraie . Éditions Scholastic, 2011.

MAJ – L’actualité pour les jeunes – section « Autochtones » Série de vidéos et d’articles présentés par MAJ, projet d’information jeunesse de Radio‐Canada.

Quand on était seuls Robertson, David A. and Julie Flett (Illustrator). Quand on était seuls. Éditions des Plaines, 2017.

Residential Schools: With the Words and Images of Survivors  Loyie, Larry, Wayne K. Spear and Constance Brissenden. Residential Schools: With the Words and Images of Survivors. Indigenous Education Press, 2014.

Shi‐Shi‐Etko Campbell, Nicola I. and Kim Lafave (Illustrator). Shi‐Shi‐Etko. Groundwood Books, 2005.

Shin-Chi's Canoe Campbell, Nicola I. and Kim Lafave (Illustrator). Shin-Chi's Canoe. Groundwood Books, 2008.

When We Were Alone Robertson, David A. and Julie Flett (Illustrator). When We Were Alone. HighWater Press, 2016.

Community organizations

Various community organizations support residential school Survivors and their families and raise awareness about the history and legacy of Canada’s residential schools. Many provide opportunities to get involved, give support and take action.

Circles for Reconciliation

First Nations Caring Society

Fondation autochtone de l’espoir

• Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre (UBC)

Kitikmeot Inuit Association

Kivalliq Inuit Association

• Legacy of Hope Foundation
• Orange Shirt Day
• Project of Heart

Qikiqtani Inuit Association

• Reconciliation Canada

A number of podcasts, have been created in recent years about residential schools.

• L’Église catholique et les pensionnats autochtones: vers des excuses officielles?
• Kuper Island (CBC Podcasts)
• Residential Schools (Historica Canada)
• Stolen: Surviving St. Michael’s

Video resources

Several documentaries, short news stories and films have been produced about residential schools.

Childhood denied: Indian residential schools and their legacy Canadian Museum for Human Rights. “Childhood denied: Indian residential schools and their legacy” . 2016.

Picking Up the Pieces: The Making of the Witness Blanket Graham, Cody and Carey Newman. “Picking Up the Pieces: The Making of the Witness Blanket.” Media One, 2019.

Kamloops residential school survivors recall students going missing, digging of graves in orchard (The Fifth Estate) CBC.  “Kamloops residential school survivors recall students going missing, digging of graves in orchard”, The Fifth Estate. January 13th, 2022.

Les pensionnats indiens Une sélection de films de cinéastes issus ou alliés des peuples autochtones sur les effets dévastateurs du système des pensionnats au Canada

Residential Schools A selection of films by Indigenous filmmakers and allies about the tragic impact of residential schools in Canada

Exhibitions

A variety of in‐gallery and online exhibitions dealing with the impact of residential schools have been created by museums, art galleries and other organizations.

The Witness Blanket — online exhibit

Witness Blanket: Preserving a Legacy

• Où sont les enfants? Guérir les impacts des pensionnats
• Where are the Children? Healing the impacts of Residential Schools
• Witnesses: Art and Canada’s Indian Residential Schools

The Witness Blanket

Inspired by a woven blanket, the  Witness Blanket  is a large‐scale work of art. It contains hundreds of items reclaimed from residential schools, churches, government buildings and traditional and cultural structures from across Canada.

Museums and Art Galleries

• Gardens and Nature
• Theatre and Music
• Athletics and Recreation
• Upcoming Events
• Restaurants
• Accommodation
• Campus Tours
• How to Get to UBC
• Getting Around UBC
• Travel Tips
• UBC Attractions Map
• UBC Like a Local

Residential School History and Dialogue Centre

Between the late 1800s and 1996, approximately 150,000 Indigenous children were forced to attend residential schools run by the Government of Canada in collaboration with church organizations. These children were taken from their families, removing them from their languages, lands and cultures. UBC’s Residential School History and Dialogue Centre is a space for people to gather, listen, learn and witness this history, informed by residential school Survivors and their communities. Visitors are welcome to browse the exhibit and use the interactive display to learn more about the legacy of residential schools in Canada.

Visit Website

More Information

irshdc.ubc.ca

604 822 6941

1985 Learners’ Walk, Vancouver, BC

Nearest Parking

Rose Garden Parkade

UBC’s Welcome Centre’s knowledgeable staff can answer your trip-related questions, provide maps and directions, offer helpful tips and free guided tours, and let you know what events are happening during your visit to UBC.

Contact the Welcome Centre

Back to Museums and Art Galleries

The Residential School System

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

Note on terminology: There is constant debate and reflection on the use of specific terms as umbrella categories to designate multiple Aboriginal, Indigenous, or Native peoples. For the most recent version of this article, we have decided to follow the terms Indigenous , First Nations, Métis and Inuit, or alternatively Indigenous Peoples, in the plural, following the guidelines of the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples , the most widely accepted international instrument today. The term Indigenous Peoples can also be found in UBC’s Indigenous Peoples Language Guidelines .

In this section:

What were residential schools.

• Living Conditions at the Residential Schools
• The Shift Away from the Residential School System

Ongoing Impacts

Survivors demand justice.

• Recommended Resources

Children’s dining room, Indian Residential School, Edmonton, Alberta. Between 1925-1936. United Church Archives, Toronto, From Mission to Partnership Collection. 

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

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

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

What led to the residential schools?

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

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

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

Male students in the assembly hall of the Alberni Indian Residential School, 1960s. United Church Archives, Toronto, from Mission to Partnership Collection.

Female students in the assembly hall of the Alberni Indian Residential School, 1960s. United Church Archives, Toronto, from Mission to Partnership Collection.

Living conditions at the residential schools

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

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

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

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

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

The Shift Away from Residential Schools

“Sister Marie Baptiste had a supply of sticks as long and thick as pool cues. When she heard me speak my language, she’d lift up her hands and bring the stick down on me. I’ve still got bumps and scars on my hands. I have to wear special gloves because the cold weather really hurts my hands. I tried very hard not to cry when I was being beaten and I can still just turn off my feelings…. And I’m lucky. Many of the men my age, they either didn’t make it, committed suicide or died violent deaths, or alcohol got them. And it wasn’t just my generation. My grandmother, who’s in her late nineties, to this day it’s too painful for her to talk about what happened to her at the school.” – Musqueam Nation former chief George Guerin, Kuper Island school Stolen from our Embrace , p 62

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

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

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

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

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

“So why is it important to understand the history of genocide in Canada? Because it’s not history. Today’s racist government laws, policies and actions have proven to be just as deadly for Indigenous peoples as the genocidal acts of the past.” –Pamela Palmater, Mi’kmaq lawyer, professor, activist, and politician (National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (Canada) et al. 2019, 53 ).

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

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

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

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

I have just one last thing to say. To all of the leaders of the Liberals, the Bloc and NDP, thank you, as well, for your words because now it is about our responsibilities today, the decisions that we make today and how they will affect seven generations from now. My ancestors did the same seven generations ago and they tried hard to fight against you because they knew what was happening. They knew what was coming, but we have had so much impact from colonization and that is what we are dealing with today. Women have taken the brunt of it all. Thank you for the opportunity to be here at this moment in time to talk about those realities that we are dealing with today. What is it that this government is going to do in the future to help our people? Because we are dealing with major human rights violations that have occurred to many generations: my language, my culture and my spirituality. I know that I want to transfer those to my children and my grandchildren, and their children, and so on. What is going to be provided? That is my question. I know that is the question from all of us. That is what we would like to continue to work on, in partnership. Nia:wen. Thank you. —Beverley Jacobs, President, Native Women’s Association of Canada, June 11, 2008 Read the full transcript and watch the video here.

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

It was not until the late 1980s that the Canadian legal system began to respond to allegations of abuse brought forward by Survivors, with fewer than fifty convictions coming out of more than 38,000 claims of sexual and physical abuse submitted to the independent adjudication process. 10  Notable cases include 1988’s Mowatt v. Clarke, in which eight former students of St. George’s Indian Residential School in Lytton, B.C ., sued a priest, the government, and the Anglican Church of Canada; both the Anglican Church and the government admitted fault and agreed to a settlement. In 1995, twenty-seven Survivors from the Alberni Indian Residential School filed charges of sexual abuse against Arthur Plint while also holding Canada and the United Church vicariously liable. In addition to convicting Plint, the court held the federal government and the United Church responsible for the wrongs committed .

Meanwhile, the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples had been interviewing individuals from Indigenous communities and nations across Canada about their experiences. The commission’s report, published in 1996, brought unprecedented attention to the residential school system—many non-Indigenous Canadians did not know about this chapter in Canadian history. In 1998, based on the commission’s recommendations and considering the court cases, the Canadian government publicly apologized to former students for the physical and sexual abuse they suffered in the residential schools. The  Aboriginal Healing Foundation  was established as a $350 million government plan to aid communities affected by the residential schools. However, some Indigenous people felt the government apology did not go far enough, since it addressed only the effects of physical and sexual abuse and not other damages caused by the residential school system.

The St. George and Alberni lawsuits set a precedent for future cases, proving that the churches and the government of Canada could be sued as an entity. As the number of cases grew, a National Class Action was filed in 2002 for compensation for all former Indian Residential school Survivors and family members in Canada. In 2005, Canada and nearly 80,000 Survivors reached the Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement in which Canada committed to individual compensation for Survivors, additional funding for the Aboriginal Healing Foundation, and the creation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

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

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

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

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

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

The Indian Residential School Survivors Society was formed in 1994 by the First Nations Summit in British Columbia and was officially incorporated in 2002 to provide support for survivors and communities in the province throughout the healing process and to educate the broader public. The Survivors Society provides crisis counselling, referrals, and healing initiatives, as well as acting as a resource for information, research, training, and workshops.  It was clear that a similar organization was needed at the national level, and in 2005, the National Residential School Survivors Society was incorporated. 

Recommended resources

Books & Articles

Canada. Royal Commission on Indigenous Peoples. Report of the Royal Commission on Indigenous Peoples, Volume 1: Looking Forward, Looking Back . Chapter 10, “Residential Schools.” Ottawa: Supply and Services Canada, 1996.

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

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

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

Manitoba. Public Inquiry into the Administration and Indigenous People. “Indigenous Women.” Vol. 1, chap. 13, in  Report of the Aboriginal Justice Inquiry of Manitoba. Winnipeg: Public Inquiry into the Administration and Indigenous People, 1999.

This chapter of the  Indigenous Justice Inquiry of Manitoba’s report on Indigenous people in the justice system examines how the residential school system has contributed to the abuse and discrimination that many Indigenous women face regularly.

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

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

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

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

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

• Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre
• Indian Residential Schools
• Stolen Children | Residential School Survivors Speak Out
• Where Are The Children

Apologies and Reconciliation

• Anglican Church of Canada. “ Residential Schools: The Living Apology. ”
• Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada
• Presbyterian Church in Canada. Remembering the Children: An Indigenous and Church Leaders’ Tour to Prepare for Truth and Reconciliation . This site contains the Presbyterian church’s 1994 confession here.
• Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Indigenous policing and reconciliation
• Statement of apology to former students of Indian Residential Schools
• University of British Columbia, Apology
• United Church of Canada. The Apologies

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

To Cite This Article

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

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

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

Read More | No Comments

The National Residential School Crisis Line 1-866-925-4419

The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR) is a place of learning and dialogue where the truths of Residential School Survivors, families and communities are honoured and kept safe for future generations.

The NCTR educates Canadians on the profound injustices inflicted on First Nations, Inuit and the Métis Nation by the forced removal of children to attend residential schools and the widespread abuse suffered in those schools.

We preserve the record of these human rights abuses, and promote continued research and learning on the legacy of residential schools. Our goal is to honour Survivors and to foster reconciliation and healing on the foundation of truth telling.

The NCTR was gifted the spirit name bezhig miigwan which, in Anishinaabemowin, the language of the Anishinaabe people, means “one feather.” The name’s a reminder that every Survivor needs to be shown the same respect and attention that an eagle feather deserves. The name also teaches us that we are vital to the work of reconciliation.

The NCTR is located on original lands of Anishinaabeg, Cree, Oji-Cree, Dakota, and Dene peoples, and on the homeland of the Métis Nation.

About the NCTR

The NCTR continues the work started by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC).

The TRC was established as part of a legal settlement, the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement, between Survivors, the Government of Canada, the Assembly of First Nations and Inuit representatives, and the church bodies that had run residential schools.  As part of that Agreement, the TRC was mandated to inform all Canadians about the residential school system and its legacy.

The NCTR was created through an agreement between the TRC and the University of Manitoba shortly before the conclusion of the TRC’s mandate. The Survivors’ statements, documents, and other materials collected through the TRC now form the heart of the NCTR. Five of the TRC’s Calls to Action (Calls to Action 65, 71, 72, 77 and 78) refer to the NCTR and its role as steward of these truths.

It is our responsibility to share these truths in a respectful way and work with Indigenous and non-Indigenous educators, researchers, communities, decision-makers and the general public to support the ongoing work of truth, reconciliation and healing across Canada and beyond.

The NCTR is the permanent, safe home for all statements, documents, and other materials gathered by the TRC. We also work with our network of partners and supporters to continue to expand this collection and promote ongoing research and learning.

By incorporating Indigenous perspectives, values, laws and protocols, we are creating something new — we are working on decolonizing the archive, to be built on principles of respect, honesty, wisdom, courage, humility, love and truth.

NCTR Logo 

Learn about the NCTR logo design and its enduring message for truth and reconciliation across Canada

Our Mandate 

The NCTR mandate ensures we preserve the memory of Canada’s residential school system and its legacy for all time

University of Manitoba

The University of Manitoba is the proud host of the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation

Our Partners

You can become part of our broad network of reconciliation partners at universities, colleges, museums and other organizations across the country

Covid-19  

We continue to fulfill our mandate, while taking added precautions to keep our community and staff safe

NCTR Governance

Learn about our guiding Governing Circle and Survivors Circle and access our governance reports including annual reports, meeting minutes and more

Get to know the people at the NCTR. Meet our staff and the members of our guiding structures, the Governing and Survivors Circles.

Hear from our leadership. Read the messages from the NCTR Director, President and Commissioners.

Meet the Staff

Meet the Governing Circle 

Meet the Survivors Circle

In Memoriam

Message From the Director 

Message From the President and Commissioners 

Message From the First Director

Message From the First President

History of the TRC 

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) was created through a legal settlement between Residential Schools Survivors, the Assembly of First Nations, Inuit representatives and the parties responsible for creation and operation of the schools: the federal government and the church bodies.

Sign Up for Our Newsletter

Stay informed  about NCTR and our upcoming events .

• Your name *
• Your email *
• I identify as a * Survivor Intergenerational Survivor Family member of a Survivor Educator Academic Student Ally Rather not say

NCTR’s spirit name – bezhig miigwan, meaning “one feather”.

Bezhig miigwan calls upon us to see each Survivor coming to the NCTR as a single eagle feather and to show those Survivors the same respect and attention an eagle feather deserves. It also teaches we are all in this together — we are all one, connected, and it is vital to work together to achieve reconciliation.

NCTR is located on the original lands of Anishinaabeg, Cree, Oji-Cree, Dakota, and Dene peoples, and on the homeland of the Métis Nation.

The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation sits in the heart of Turtle Island and as a national organization we strive to represent and serve all of Turtle Island’s people.

• Skip to main content
• Skip to "About government"

Language selection

• Français

Residential schools in Canada

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

On September 1, 2020, the Government of Canada announced the designation of the Residential School System as a national historic event under the National Program of Historical Commemoration.

The Residential School System has impacted multiple generations of Indigenous peoples, with long-term detrimental effects on First Nations, Inuit, and Métis communities, cultures, economies, traditional knowledge and ways of life, languages, family structures, and connections to the land.

The Government of Canada recognizes this as a tragic event in our shared history and, with Indigenous peoples and communities who are ready to do so, is committed to raising awareness of the experiences of the children who attended these schools to ensure that this history is acknowledged and better understood by all Canadians.

Designations related to Residential schools in Canada

The Residential School System National Historic Event

Residential schools for Indigenous children existed in Canada from the 17th century until the late 1990s. During the 19th and 20th centuries, a formal system for the residential schooling of Indigenous children was established and expanded throughout Canada. It is estimated that at least 150,000 First Nations, Inuit, and Métis children attended residential schools during this period. These schools were largely operated by certain churches and religious organizations and administered and funded by the federal government as a key aspect of colonialism. The system was imposed on Indigenous peoples as part of a broad set of assimilation efforts to destroy their rich cultures and identities and to suppress their histories. Throughout this period, Indigenous peoples fought against the system in many ways. The efforts of residential school survivors to tell their stories and to seek justice have been a crucial catalyst in the growing public recognition of the harm and effects of residential schools.

The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation nominated the Residential School System for consideration under the National Program of Historical Commemoration and its designation as a national historic event reflects the input of Survivors from across the country.

Backgrounder

News release.

Government of Canada recognizes the National Historic Significance of the Residential School System and former Residential School sites

Communities interested in installing a Historic Sites and Monument Board of Canada bronze plaque to mark the national historic event designation of the Residential School System at a former residential school site should contact Parks Canada at [email protected] .

Former Muscowequan Indian Residential School National Historic Site

Designated a national historic site in 2021

Located on the reserve lands of Muskowekwan First Nation in Treaty 4 Territory (southeastern Saskatchewan), the Former Muscowequan Indian Residential School is the only standing residential school in Saskatchewan, and one of the few remaining residential school buildings in Canada. The former school building was built in 1930-31 to replace residential school buildings dating to the late-19th century, and remained open until 1997. For over a century, First Nations and Métis children from Treaty 4 Territory, across Saskatchewan, and elsewhere in Canada were sent to this school.

This site was nominated for designation by Muskowekwan First Nation. Parks Canada and the nominator worked collaboratively to identify the historic values of this former residential school, and to develop the report on the history of the school and the experiences of students, which was reviewed by the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada.

Backgrounder: Former Muscowequan Indian Residential School National Historic Site

Former Shingwauk Indian Residential School National Historic Site

Located in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, on Robinson-Huron territory on the traditional homeland of the Anishinaabe and the Métis, the Shingwauk Indian Residential School was built in 1934-35 to replace the original school building which dated to the late-19th century. From 1935 to its closure in 1970, more than a thousand Indigenous children from Ontario, Quebec, the Prairies, and the Northwest Territories were sent to this school.

This site was nominated for designation by the Shingwauk Residential Schools Centre ( SRSC ). Parks Canada, the Children of Shingwauk Alumni Association, and the SRSC worked collaboratively to identify the historic values of the site, and to develop the report on the students’ experiences and the history of the school for the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada.

Backgrounder: Former Shingwauk Indian Residential School National Historic Site

Former Portage La Prairie Indian Residential School National Historic Site, Manitoba

Designated a national historic site in 2020

Built in 1914-1915, the former Portage La Prairie Indian Residential School is located on the Keeshkeemaquah Reserve, part of the reserve lands of Long Plain First Nation. Children from many First Nations and other Indigenous communities in Manitoba and elsewhere were sent to this residential school, which remained open until 1975.

This former residential school site was nominated for designation by the site owner, Long Plain First Nation. Parks Canada worked collaboratively with Long Plain First Nation to identify the historic significance of this former residential school and to develop the submission report for the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada.

Backgrounder: Former Portage La Prairie Indian Residential School National Historic Site

Former Shubenacadie Indian Residential School National Historic Site, Nova Scotia

The former Shubenacadie Indian Residential School was built in 1928-29 in the Sipekni’katik district of Mi’kma’ki, Nova Scotia and was in use from 1930 to 1967. Many Mi’kmaw and Wolastoqkew children from Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, and Quebec were forced to attend this residential school. It is also possible that children from other Indigenous communities were sent to this school.

The former Shubenacadie Indian Residential School was nominated by the co-chair of the Tripartite Culture and Heritage Working Committee of the Mi’kmaq-Nova Scotia-Canada Tripartite Forum on behalf of Survivors of the Shubenacadie Indian Residential School and their descendants. Parks Canada and the nominator worked collaboratively to identify the historic significance of this former residential school and to develop the submission report for the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada.

Backgrounder: Former Shubenacadie Indian Residential School National Historic Site

Nominate a site, person, or event

There are many historical subjects related to the histories and legacies of the Residential School System in Canada that could be eligible for designation under the National Program of Historical Commemoration.

Are you aware of a person, event or site that should be recognized by the Government of Canada for its national historic significance? Learn more about the nomination process , or contact the Secretariat for the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada at [email protected] , or toll-free phone number:  1-855-283-8730 .

Please note that for all site nominations, a letter of permission from the site owner is a necessary component of the nomination. The designation of a site is honorific in nature and does not legally protect the site, or transfer site ownership or management to Parks Canada.

Parks Canada and Call to action 79

Call to action 79 of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission asks the federal government to “commemorate residential school sites, the history and legacy of residential schools, and the contributions of Indigenous peoples to Canada’s history.”

Commemoration is not celebration — it is recognition and acknowledgement of the history that has shaped Canada.

Budget 2018 allocated $23.9 million over five years towards the implementation of Call to Action 79, and to support Parks Canada initiatives to integrate Indigenous views, histories and heritage into national parks, marine conservation areas, and historic sites administered by the Agency.

Parks Canada and the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation are working together to support the commemoration of former residential school sites, in direct response to Call to Action 79, including engagement and outreach initiatives.

Parks Canada is also advancing the implementation of the Framework for History and Commemoration: National Historic Sites System Plan 2019 . The Framework supports greater inclusion of Indigenous peoples’ history, voices and perspectives in the National Program of Historical Commemoration and other public history activities. It outlines an approach to sharing the stories of Canada through diverse, wide-ranging, and sometimes complex perspectives, including difficult and tragic periods of the country’s past. It also creates new opportunities for Indigenous communities to share their stories in their own way at heritage places administered by Parks Canada.

Parks Canada’s work is part of a commitment by the Government of Canada to respond to all of the Calls to Action. Other federal government departments are leading on related work, notably for residential school cemeteries ( Missing Children and Burials ), and special projects to recognize the histories and legacies of residential schools.

Want to see more heritage designations?

Search through over 3,600 designations listed in the Directory of Federal Heritage Designations ( DFHD )

The Directory of Federal Heritage Designations offers a complete list of federal designations stemming from various programs managed by Parks Canada. It includes information on designated persons, places, and events of national historic significance under the National Program of Historical Commemoration, as well as railway stations, lighthouses, and federal buildings that are of national historic value or interest.

Related links

• National historic designations
• National historic sites designations
• National historic events
• Submit a nomination

Want to create or adapt books like this? Learn more about how Pressbooks supports open publishing practices.

Residential School History Facts

While the  Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada Report covers the history of residential schools extensively, here are some quick facts about residential schools.

• They existed from early 1800’s to late 1900’s
• They were government funded and mainly church-run
• 150,000+ Indigenous children attended these schools (around ages 4-16)
• The purpose of these schools was to assimilate Indigenous children to Christian European ways
• Many survivors of these schools reported emotional, physical, spiritual, sexual, and mental abuse
• 1 in 25 children died in these schools due to poor conditions, not enough nutrition provided, and attempts to escape the schools
• The last residential school closed in 1996

You can also visit the  Residential Schools Timeline  on the  Canadian Encyclopaedia  website.

Skoden Copyright © 2022 by Seneca College is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

Share This Book

Articles on Indian Residential Schools

Displaying 1 - 20 of 62 articles.

Seeing histories of forced First Nations labour: the ‘Nii Ndahlohke / I Work’ art exhibition

Mary Jane Logan McCallum , University of Winnipeg and Julie Rae Tucker

We fact-checked residential school denialists and debunked their ‘mass grave hoax’ theory

Sean Carleton , University of Manitoba and Reid Gerbrandt , University of Manitoba

Residential school deaths are significantly higher than previously reported

Terri Cardinal , MacEwan University

Inside the search for the unmarked graves of children lost to Indian Residential Schools

Vinita Srivastava , The Conversation

National Day for Truth and Reconciliation: Exhibit features stolen Kainai children’s stories of resilience on Treaty 7 lands

Tiffany Dionne Prete , University of Lethbridge

Marching to Ottawa for neglected and murdered Indigenous men: One family’s fight for justice grows

Michelle Stewart , University of Regina

King Charles’s coronation: How the place of Britain and the Crown has shifted in Canadian schooling

Alan Sears , University of New Brunswick

Canada’s $2.8 billion settlement with Indigenous Day Scholars is a long time coming

Jackson Pind , Trent University

Residential school system recognized as genocide in Canada’s House of Commons: A harbinger of change

Temitayo Olarewaju , University of British Columbia

How to decolonize journalism — Podcast

Reckoning with the history of public schooling and settler colonialism

Sean Carleton , University of Manitoba

About the Queen and the Crown’s crimes (or how to talk about the unmourned) — Podcast

Reparations to Indigenous Peoples are critical after Pope’s apology for residential schools

Catherine Richardson , Concordia University

Pope Francis’s visit to Canada was full of tensions — both from what was said and what wasn’t

Christine Jamieson , Concordia University

Christianity was a major part of Indigenous boarding schools – a historian whose family survived them explains

Brenda J. Child , University of Minnesota

I survived the ’60s Scoop. Here’s why the Pope’s apology isn’t an apology at all

Lori Campbell , University of Regina

Pope’s long-awaited apology for Indian Residential Schools in Canada is a ‘first step’

Jeremy M. Bergen , University of Waterloo

The Vatican and Western Canadian missions: A brief history

Roberto Perin , York University, Canada

Why the Pope’s visit is important to all Canadians

Marie-Pierre Bousquet , Université de Montréal

Pope’s visit to Canada: Indigenous communities await a new apology — and a commitment to justice

Related topics.

• Catholic church
• Colonialism
• First Nations
• Kamloops Indian Residential School
• Listen to this article
• Pope Francis
• Residential schools
• Truth and Reconciliation in Canada

Top contributors

Assistant Professor, Departments of History and Indigenous Studies, University of Manitoba

Associate professor, McGill University

Assistant professor, Faculty of Law, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa

Assistant Professor, Sociology Department, University of Lethbridge

Assistant Professor, Indigenous Methodologies, Chanie Wenjack School of Indigenous Studies, Trent University

Professor of Political Science, University of Guelph

Director, Indigenous Initiatives, MacEwan University

Professor, Sociology & Criminology, University of Manitoba

University of British Columbia

Assistant Professor, Department of Health Sciences, Brock University

Professor, Social Studies and History Education, Queen's University, Ontario

Professor of Secondary Education, Faculty of Education, University of Alberta

Associate Professor, Performance, Toronto Metropolitan University

Associate Professor of Chemistry, University of Richmond

Cherokee Nation citizen, Professor of Critical Indigenous Studies and English, University of British Columbia

• X (Twitter)
• Unfollow topic Follow topic

• Skip to main content
• Keyboard shortcuts for audio player

Campus protests over the Gaza war

Top companies are on students' divest list. but does it really work.

A demonstrator protests outside the encampment established in support of Palestinians in Gaza at Columbia University on April 29, 2024. Columbia protesters are demanding their university sell off investments in a number of companies with business ties to Israel. Alex Kent/Getty Images hide caption

A demonstrator protests outside the encampment established in support of Palestinians in Gaza at Columbia University on April 29, 2024. Columbia protesters are demanding their university sell off investments in a number of companies with business ties to Israel.

It's become a common mantra by protesters at universities across the country: "Disclose, divest, we will not stop, we will not rest."

Broadly, the protesters want their universities to sell off their investments in companies that have businesses or investments in Israel because of the country's invasion of Gaza. That's where the term divest comes from.

College antiwar protests grow as students take over buildings on campuses

As student protesters get arrested, they risk being banned from campus too

The calls on campuses vary. Columbia University protesters, for example, have a broad list of divestment targets, demanding the Ivy League college disclose and unload investments in a broad set of companies with ties to Israel, including Google, Amazon and Airbnb .

Other protesters at universities are targeting defense-related companies and weapon manufacturers. Cornell University protesters are calling for divestments from companies including Boeing and Lockheed Martin.

Here's a look at what divestment means.

Why there's a call for divestments

Protests against university investments have a long history.

During the 1970s and 1980s, students at Columbia and other universities successfully pressed administrators to sell off investments in companies doing business with South Africa over the country's apartheid policies.

Since the 2010s, students have successfully called for some universities to divest themselves from companies tied to fossil fuels or to freeze their investments in that sector, including at Syracuse University.

Do divestments actually work?

Not really. Divesting by universities doesn't change corporate behavior, but it can provide a big moral and symbolic victory for protesters.

Most analysts agree that divestments don't usually punish the companies targeted. And some analysts argue divestments actually are worse in the long run. By staying invested, the reasoning goes, universities can have more of a say about a company's operations. Selling off their investments would likely be scooped up by other investors who are less likely to speak up.

For universities, divesting from companies that do business in Israel could also risk blowback from students, faculty or alumni who support Israel.

The University of California, for example, said it was opposed to "calls for boycott against and divestments from Israel."

"While the University affirms the right of our community members to express diverse viewpoints, a boycott of this sort impinges on the academic freedom of our students and faculty and the unfettered exchange of ideas on our campuses" the university said last week.

These are big reasons why almost no university has yet agreed to divest from investments tied to Israel, though a few have been willing to hold talks with protesters.

Protesters are pressing on, however. That's because getting a university to divest from companies with ties to Israel would not only achieve their goals, it would also likely serve as a moral victory by sparking a lot of headlines and debate.

"Divestment itself doesn't really influence the companies or the industries being targeted directly," said Prof. Todd Ely from the School of Public Affairs at the University of Colorado Denver. "It's more the stigma created and drawing attention to the issue more broadly."

A person stands among tents at an encampment set up by pro-Palestinian protesters on the campus of Columbia University on April 25, 2024. Leonardo Munoz/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

A person stands among tents at an encampment set up by pro-Palestinian protesters on the campus of Columbia University on April 25, 2024.

Can universities actually do it?

Yes, but it can be complicated.

Endowments at the nation's top universities have grown into multi-billion dollar chests, with investments in all kind of investment funds, including specialized private funds that prevent people from cashing out for a number of years.

More broadly, endowments have become a vital source of financing for universities. They allow for investments and scholarships while securing the university's financial future.

What a 1968 Columbia University protester makes of today's pro-Palestinian encampment

Some endowment chiefs have even become well known figures in finance, including the late David Swensen who served as Yale's chief investment officer and grew the university's funds massively.

Endowments "are intended to kind of preserve and grow the resources available to colleges and universities. And the number one use of those funds is to support students and student financial aid," says Prof. Ely. "So it's a complex situation where calls to change the way these funds are invested by students and other interested parties do end up kind of in a circular way going back to support the students themselves."

• columbia university
• boycott, divestment and sanctions
• college protests

Public school enrollment falling nationwide, data shows

More and more, parents are opting America’s children out of public school.

The share of children ages 5 to 17 enrolled in public schools fell by almost 4 percentage points from 2012 to 2022, an NBC News analysis of Census Bureau data found, even as the overall population grew.

NBC News’ analysis found:

• 87.0% of children were enrolled in public school in 2022, compared to 90.7% in 2012.
• In Kentucky, the share of school-age children in public schools decreased by almost 8 percentage points. 
• In South Carolina, the share of children enrolled in public schools decreased by 7.4 percentage points. 
• In Alaska, enrollment decreased by nearly 7 percentage points.

During the same period, the share of 5 to 17 year-olds enrolled in private schools increased by 2 percentage points, the Census Bureau data showed. Charter schools saw a similar increase , according to the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, a nonprofit group dedicated to advancing charter schools. 

Educators and researchers say the swing has been caused in part by laws that have targeted public schools while propping up alternatives. 

“[The rise in charter schools] is a thread of the larger campaign of privatization,” said Abbie Cohen, a Ph.D. candidate in UCLA’s School of Education and Information Studies. “Those two things are happening at the same time, and I don’t think it’s a coincidence.” 

Policies that make private, charter and homeschooling options more available to families — dubbed “school choice” by advocates — have expanded rapidly since 2022. Such policies grant families public funds for alternative schooling in the form of vouchers, tax-credit scholarships, refundable tax credits and more. In 2023, at least 146 school choice bills were introduced across 43 states, according to FutureEd, an education-focused think tank at Georgetown University. 

Nineteen school choice laws were enacted last year in 17 states, including South Carolina and Florida, which have seen some of the most dramatic declines of students enrolled in public schools. 

As part of the push for school choice, states are eliminating income limits and other eligibility requirements, allowing higher-income families to receive benefits. Eight states passed such laws or created such programs in 2023, FutureEd’s data shows, bringing the total number of states with these programs — commonly referred to as  “universal school choice” — to 10.

Though Kentucky has seen the most students leave public schools, it is one of 18 states without a school choice program, and the state doesn’t fund charters. Homeschooling and “microschooling,” where students are homeschooled together and may be supervised by someone other than their own parents, are increasingly popular alternatives. An EdChoice/Morning Consult poll reported that 15% of parents in Kentucky prefer homeschooling, compared to 9% of parents nationwide. 

Robert Enlow, the CEO of the nonprofit school choice advocacy group EdChoice, said he is “agnostic” to which options are chosen, but believes the money should follow each student wherever they go. 

“Families are saying, ‘Let me have the resources that are due to me, that I get through taxes that are set aside for my kid, and then let me choose,’” Enlow said.

At the same time that states are pushing school choice programs, public schools — already dealing with declining enrollment — have faced budget cuts, teacher shortages, and laws and fights over what is taught in the classroom. 

More than 20 states have considered bills since 2022 that would give parents more control over the curriculum in public schools, from granting parents access to course materials prior to classes, to banning instruction on sexual orientation and gender and allowing parents to opt their children out of any classes. 

One state that has pushed such laws is Florida. The state has passed several parent rights laws since 2020, including changes to make it easier for parents to ban books from classes, a ban against discussing sexuality and gender identity in younger grades and a ban on teaching critical race theory in classes .

Florida’s 5 to 17-year-old population has grown 9% since 2012, but NBC News’ analysis found that  its public school enrollment fell 7% during that span.

Andrew Spar, the president of the Florida Education Association, the state’s largest teachers union, said new laws have unclear directions and handcuff teachers’ ability to instruct without fear of retaliation for what’s discussed in class. 

“In Florida, there’s so much micromanaging of our public schools, so many bureaucratic rules and laws that get in the way, that it becomes increasingly difficult for us to do our jobs,” Spar said. “Teachers are vilified; they can’t do their jobs.”

Cohen, from UCLA, said parents are unenrolling students from public schools when they either feel the curriculum is not teaching accurate history, or hope for more conservative changes in school policies and curricula. Her research found that funding cuts are among the policies “fueling mistrust” in public schools and could be leading families to alternatives. 

The states with the largest declines in public school enrollment also have the lowest per-pupil spending, Census Bureau data shows . Educators and researchers question whether public schools will bounce back from recent enrollment declines as districts experience a wave of financial struggles and closures . 

“Who is hurting the most are the students who have been most historically marginalized in society,” Cohen said. “When more kids are leaving the public schools, that’s less funding for the public schools and those who are left, are left with less.”

Catherine Allen is an intern on the Data / Graphics team at NBC News.