Indian Residential Schools Survivors

Independent Special Interlocutor on Missing Children and Unmarked Graves and Burial Sites

Read the Executive Summary here.

Read the Final Report here.

Sites of Truth, Sites of Conscience is an historical report, based primarily on evidence gathered from the government and churches’ own archival records, that directly links the actions and omissions of the federal government and the churches that operated Indian Residential Schools with the crisis of the missing and disappeared children and unmarked burials. It documents the buildings, cemeteries, and burial grounds at several former Indian Residential Schools. Once places of silence and suffering, they are now sites of truth.

Read the full report here.

Office of the Independent Special Interlocutor for Missing Children and Unmarked Graves and Burial Sites

Annual Every Child Matters Truth and Reconciliation Campaign

Every September, SCO launches a month-long ‘Every Child Matters’ campaign to honour Survivors and the lost children and to draw attention to lasting and meaningful truth and reconciliation for Indian Residential School Survivors and their families.

During the month of September, you will see ‘Every Child Matters’ billboards, and bus signs in Winnipeg, Brandon, Portage la Prairie, Dauphin, Steinbach, Winkler, and Swan River.

Priorities of southern First Nation Survivors and Intergenerational Survivors

Indian Residential Schools

The Indian residential school system represents one of the darkest moments in our shared history. A network of boarding schools that were more like child labour camps, they were established by the Canadian government starting in 1831 and administered over the next 165 years by Roman Catholic, Anglican, United and Methodist and other Christian denominations. The Indian residential school system sought to ‘kill the Indian in the child’ and assimilate First Nation children by forcibly removing them from their families, communities, and cultures.

September was referred to as ‘the crying month’ by many, as it was the month that children were taken from their families and communities. It is estimated that at least 150,000 First Nation children were sent to residential schools. In Manitoba, there were 19 residential schools including: Assiniboia (Winnipeg); Birtle; Brandon; Churchill Vocational Centre; Cross Lake; Dauphin (McKay); Elkhorn (Washakada); Fort Alexander (Pine Falls); Guy Hill (Clearwater, The Pas, formerly Sturgeon Landing, SK); Norway House United Church; Notre Dame Hostel (Norway House Roman Catholic, Jack River Hostel, replaced Jack River Annex at Cross Lake); Pine Creek (Camperville); Portage La Prairie; and Sandy Bay (Marius).

Students faced harsh discipline and physical, emotional and sexual abuse at the schools. Thousands did not make it home, dying of disease, starvation and abuse, or after trying to escape to make the long journey back to their families.

Residential Schools Interactive Map

Many residential school buildings have been torn down, paved, or built over since the first one opened in Canada in the 1830s and the last one closed in the mid-1990s. 

The Indian Residential Schools Interactive Map allows users to visualize the location of the 140 former residential school sites recognized in the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement as well as provide information on the current status and historical context of the site. 

Navigating the Search for Missing Children and Unmarked Burials: An Overview for Indigenous Communities and Families (PDF)

Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada

Calls to Action Accountability: a 2023 Status Update on Reconciliation – Report by Yellowhead Institute

National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation

The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR) is a place of learning located at the University of Manitoba campus in Winnipeg. It houses the truths spoken by residential school Survivors, families and their communities.

The NCRT can connect IRS Survivors with their school records. You can email them at nctr@umanitoba.ca. The NCTR also has resources and an online shop where you can purchase the “Calls to Action” booklet, which contains all of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s 94 Calls to Action.

The National Student Memorial Register

Every Child Matters: Education Through Reconciliation

Canada’s History and the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation are pleased to share the digital edition of the publication Every Child Matters: Reconciliation Through Education and corresponding educational materials. These are designed to support teachers and students in their learning journey. The activities are intended to encourage student inquiry and investigation, while also supporting action-based learning. Each lesson is based on one of the seven teachings, reminding all of us that love, truth, wisdom, humility, courage, respect, and honesty truly matter.

You can explore their learning activities or download a PDF of the entire Educator’s Guide. 

IRS Resolution Health Support Program

The Indian Residential School Resolution Health Support Program (IRS RHSP) was created as a result of the hard fought Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement. Its purpose is to provide former students and their families with cultural, emotional, and mental health counselling services in response to the traumas they experienced in residential schools.

The IRS RHSP healing programs in Manitoba are trusted and well utilized, and in an average year the programs serve more than 40,000 Survivors and their family members.

To connect with Resolution Health Supports in Manitoba you can call their regional help line: 1-866-818-3505

For more information on the IRS RHSP, read the Assembly of First Nations’ IRS Resolution Health Support Program Continuation Report (PDF).