Canada's national Truth and Reconciliation Commission, established in 2008 under the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement among the Government of Canada, the Assembly of First Nations and the churches that operated the schools. It documented the residential school system, which separated First Nations, Metis and Inuit children from their families from 1831 until the last school closed in 1996. Its final report, released 15 December 2015, found that more than 150,000 children passed through the system, documented at least 3,200 student deaths while stating that incomplete and destroyed records leave the true toll unknown, and concluded that the system amounted to what the Commission itself termed a cultural genocide.
Facts
Documented Findings
Allegations DocumentedClaims of sexual and serious physical abuse submitted to the Independent Assessment Process, the adjudication mechanism created alongside the TRC by the 2007 Settlement Agreement; a wider figure than the Commission's own statement-gathering mandate. Victim Estimate23,431 claimants awarded compensation by IAP adjudicators plus 4,415 who received compensation directly from the federal government (23,431 + 4,415 = 27,846), reported in the press as approximately 28,000. Key FindingThe Commission documented at least 3,200 residential school student deaths from its own research, while stating that incomplete and destroyed institutional records mean the true number is unknown and likely higher. It concluded that the residential school system was a systematic, government-sponsored attempt to destroy Indigenous cultures and languages and assimilate Indigenous peoples, terming this a cultural genocide. 1 Inquiry Profile
Kind of Record JurisdictionCanada (the residential school system, administered by the federal government and operated in day-to-day partnership with the Roman Catholic, Anglican, Presbyterian and United Churches of Canada) 1 Commissioned ByGovernment of Canada, established under the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement, chaired by Justice Murray Sinclair 1 Publication Year Period Covered, From Cross-Tradition Connections
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