The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC; []) was a truth and reconciliation commission active in Canada from 2008 to 2015, organized by the parties of the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement.
The commission was officially established on June 1, 2008, with the purpose of documenting the history and lasting impacts of the Canadian Indian residential school system on Indigenous students and their families. It provided residential school survivors an opportunity to share their experiences during public and private meetings held across the country. The TRC emphasizes that it has a priority of displaying the impacts of the residential schools to the Canadians who have been kept in the dark from these matters.
In June 2015, the TRC released an executive summary of its findings along with 94 "calls to action" regarding reconciliation between Canadians and Indigenous Peoples. The commission officially concluded in December 2015 with the publication of a multi-volume final report that concluded the school system amounted to cultural genocide. The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, which opened at the University of Manitoba in November 2015, is an archival repository home to the research, documents, and testimony collected during the course of the TRC's operation.
Background
The TRC was established in June 2008 as one of the mandated aspects of the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement (IRSSA). As part of the negotiated IRSSA, a $60 million budget over five years was established for the work of the TRC to take place. A one-year extension was granted in January 2014 to allow for the completion of the TRC's mandate, extending the conclusion of the commission to June 2015.
The commission was founded as an arms-length organization with a mandate of documenting the history and impacts of the residential school system. About 70 percent of the schools were administered, with government funds, by the Catholic Church. As explained in the 2013 Spring Report of the Auditor General of Canada, a key part of the TRC mandate included "creating as complete a historical record as possible of the residential school system and legacy." It was also tasked with preserving collected records documenting the residential school system and those created over the course of the commission's work for future management at a national research centre. While undertaking this task the TRC spent six years travelling to different parts of Canada to hear the testimony of more than 6,500 witnesses including residential school survivors and others impacted by the school system.
The mandate of the TRC included hosting seven national reconciliation events, collecting all relevant archival documents relating to the residential schools from church and government bodies, collecting statements from survivors, and overseeing a commemoration fund to support community reconciliation events. The TRC's mandate emphasized preserving and exposing the true history of residential schools.Mark Kennedy, "At least 4,000 aboriginal children died in residential schools, commission finds", Ottawa Citizen, Canada.com, January 3, 2014, accessed October 18, 2015
In March 2008, Indigenous leaders and church officials embarked on a multi-city Remembering the Children tour to promote activities of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. On January 21–22, 2008, the King's University College of Edmonton, Alberta, held an interdisciplinary studies conference on the subject of the Truth and Reconciliation Committee. On June 11 of the same year, Prime Minister Stephen Harper apologized for the role of past governments in administration of the residential schools. Later, in 2017, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also vocalized an apology to those who were victims of the residential schools.
The commission's mandate was originally scheduled to end in 2014, with a final event in Ottawa. However, it was extended to 2015 as numerous records related to residential schools were provided to the commission in 2014 by Library and Archives Canada following a January 2013 order of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice. The commission needed additional time to review these documents. The commission held its closing event in Ottawa from May 31 to June 3, 2015, including a ceremony at Rideau Hall with Governor General David Johnston.
Testimonies
The mandate of IRSSA required the TRC to gather testimonies from the residential school's survivors. The testimonies were claimed to be necessary in order for the mandate to create a historical record of the legacy and impacts of the residential schools. The historical record was also important in educating the public on "the truth of what happened" in Canada. The records of the testimonies and documents of the residential schools are open to the public in a National Research Centre.
Between 2008 and 2014 the TRC gathered what is estimated to be around 7000 testimonies from the survivors, most from those who had attended the schools after the 1940s. The testimonies were gathered in both public and private settings, such as community hearings, sharing circles, Commissioners Sharing Panels, etc. The Commissioners Panels often brought large audiences, drawing hundreds of audience members and reporters with testimonies regularly being recorded and posted online. During the public testimonies, survivors detailed their experiences surrounding the residential schools. These regularly consisted of memories of being stripped of their language and culture as well as experiences of abuse, sexual assault and malnutrition.
Commission name
The Canadian Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was named in a similar fashion to the commission by the same name in South Africa in 1996 and was similar in function to that of Chile in 1990. In this context, reconciliation refers to the act of restoring a once harmonious relationship. The commission came under criticism for using the term in their name, however, as it implies that there was once a harmonious relationship between settlers and Indigenous Peoples that is being restored, while that relationship may never have existed in Canada. The use of reconciliation thereby perpetuates such myth by continuing to deny "the existence of pre-contact Aboriginal sovereignty."
Commissioners
Justice Harry S. Laforme of the Ontario Court of Appeal was named to chair the commission. He resigned on October 20, 2008, citing insubordination by the two other commissioners, Claudette Dumont-Smith and Jane Brewin Morley. Laforme said they wanted to focus primarily on uncovering and documenting truth while he wanted to also have an emphasis on reconciliation between aboriginal and non-aboriginal Canadians. In addition: "The two commissioners are unprepared to accept that the structure of the commission requires that the commission's course is to be charted and its objectives are to be shaped ultimately through the authority and leadership of its chair." Although Dumont-Smith and Morley denied the charge and initially stayed on, both resigned in January 2009.
On June 10, 2009, Murray Sinclair was appointed to replace Laforme as chairperson of the TRC. Marie Wilson, a senior executive with the Workers' Safety and Compensation Commission of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut, and Wilton Littlechild, former Conservative Member of Parliament and Alberta regional chief for the Assembly of First Nations, were appointed to replace commissioners Dumont-Smith and Morley.
Sandy White Hawk, a Sicangu Lakota adoptee from the Rosebud Reservation, South Dakota Honorary Witness of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Residential Schools in Canada.
Missing Children Project The TRC contributed to not only educating the public about the reality of the residential schools, but also led to creating organizations such as the Missing Children Project. Over the course of the residential schools, thousands of children died as a result of diseases, suicide, malnutrition, etc. In 1917, the death rates stopped from being documented by the Department of Indian Affairs. The Missing Children Project is an organization that is dedicated to identifying the children who died during their time at the residential schools. The documentation is done through intensive research as well as analyzing the different conditions the students were facing.
Calls to action
In June 2015, the TRC released a summary report of its findings and "94 Calls to Action" to "redress the legacy of residential schools and advance the process of Canadian reconciliation." The calls to action were divided into two categories: "Legacy" and "Reconciliation."
Legacy The Legacy section of the calls to action focused on redressing the harms resulting from the Indian residential schools (IRS), the proposed actions are identified in the following sub-categories:
Child welfare: Residential schools often served as foster homes rather than educational settings. According to a 1953 survey, 4,313 children of 10,112 residential school children were described as either orphans or originated from broken homes.TRC, NRA, INAC – Resolution Sector – IRS Historical Files Collection – Ottawa, file 6-21-1, volume 2 (Ctrl #27-6), H. M. Jones to Deputy Minister, December 13, 1956. [NCA-001989-0001] The sole residential school in Canada's Atlantic Provinces, in Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia, was one such school, taking in children whom child welfare agencies believed to be at risk. There is an ongoing legacy of state intervention in Indigenous children lives via the child welfare system. By 2011, 3.6 percent of all First Nations children under the age of 14 were in foster care, compared to 0.3 percent for non-lndigenous children.Canada, Statistics Canada, Aboriginal People in Canada, 19 In 2012, the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child voiced concern on Canada's removal of Indigenous children from their families as a 'first resort'.United Nations, Convention on the Rights of the Child, Concluding observations, 12–13 Education: Due to limited funds, a shortage of trained teachers, and an emphasis on manual labour, many students in the IRS system did not progress beyond a rudimentary education. When residential schools were phased out, Indigenous youth enrolled in provincial schools dropped out in large numbers. The education focused calls to action are to address the current school completion rates and the income gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous students. In addition, the calls to actions request the elimination of the ongoing discrepancy in funding of Indigenous education. Language and Culture: Children in residential schools were not allowed to speak their native languages or practice their culture. According to UNESCO, 36 percent of Canada's Indigenous languages are listed as being critically endangered.Moseley and Nicolas, Atlas of the World's Languages, 117 The calls to action request increased funding for educating children in Indigenous languages and also request that post-secondary institutions provide degrees and diplomas in Indigenous languages. Health: Healthcare for IRS students varied considerably between schools and between different decades. After the 1940s, health facilities and health care workers became more prevalent. Some schools had a nurse on staff and an infirmary, with doctors who paid visits. Testimony before the TRC reveals that a great many children were subjected to sexual and physical abuse while attending a residential school. It is often claimed that the effects of the trauma have been passed on to the children of those students. The calls to action in this connection connect the poor healthcare provided at residential school to the current gap in health outcomes for Indigenous people in Canada.