Truth and Reconciliation Commission
Indian Residential School
Survivors' Interviews
Truth and Reconciliation Commission
Indian Residential School
Survivors' Interviews
Please note, the system was designed as an immersion program: in many schools, children were prohibited from and often punished for speaking their own languages or practicing their own faiths. In the 20th century, former students of the schools have claimed that officials and teachers had practiced cultural genocide and ethnocide. Because of the relatively isolated nature of the schools, there was an elevated rate of physical and sexual abuse. Details of the mistreatment of students had been published numerous times throughout the 20th century. Following the government's closure of most of the schools in the 1960s, the work of indigenous activists and historians led to greater awareness by the public of the damage which the schools had caused, as well as to official government and church apologies, and a legal settlement. This has been controversial both within indigenous and non-indigenous communities.
Reference:
"At least 3,000 died in residential schools, research shows". CBC News. 18 February 2013. Retrieved 13 May 2013.
"Natives died in droves as Ottawa ignored warnings",
Globe and Mail, April 24, 2007. Retrieved 2009-12-02.