3.6 Case Study: Responding to Residential Schools: Aboriginal Healing
Case Study: Responding to Residential Schools: Search for Healing
On May 10, 2006, the Government of Canada approved the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement. This agreement included the following provisions:
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A payment to every eligible former student living on May 30, 2005, and who resided at a recognized Indian Residential School: $10,000 for each former student plus an additional $3,000 for each year of residence past the first year
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Payments not affecting social assistance payments and not subject to income tax
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A Truth and Reconciliation Commission, mandated to promote public education and awareness about the Indian Residential School system and its legacy as well as to provide former students, their families, and communities opportunities to share their Indian Residential School experiences
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Additional funding for events and memorials to commemorate the legacy of Indian Residential Schools
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An additional endowment to the Aboriginal Healing Foundation to support its healing programs and initiatives for an additional five years
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In total, $1.9 Billion for the direct benefit of former Indian Residential School students
Our mission is to encourage and support Aboriginal people in building and reinforcing sustainable healing processes that address the legacy of Physical Abuse and Sexual Abuse in the Residential School system, including inter-generational impacts.
We see our role as facilitators in the healing process by helping Aboriginal people help themselves, by providing resources for healing initiatives, by promoting awareness of healing issues and needs, and by nurturing a supportive public environment. We also work to engage Canadians in this healing process by encouraging them to walk with us on the path of reconciliation.
Aboriginal Healing Foundation
Truth and Reconciliation Commission
In order to begin the healing process The Indian Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission was established with a mandate of 5 years to act as an independent group to give former students of residential schools the ability to share their experiences.The Canadian commission was a little different than other commissions in other parts of the world because it was mainly concerned with experiences of children. Over a period of 100 years the commission focused on the legacies created by the imposition of the residential schools on First Nations people.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada wanted to create an atmosphere of reconciliation between Canada's Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people to allow the country to move foward with strong partnership between its peoples.
The process of the Commission used the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as its framework to guide reconciliation. In 2010, Canada announced that it accepted the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples without qualification. As a result, the rights of First Nations, Inuit and Métis people to self-determination and constitutional rights must be recognized.
To this end, healing began with apology and public truth sharing that would lead to acknowledgement of the harm that was done by the Residential Schools Program and move toward redressing those harms. This was conducted as a constructive process that would address the legacies of colonialism that were so destructive for Aboriginal peoples' cultures.
During the 5 years of its mandate, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission gathered hundreds of first hand testimony from former students in Indian Residential Schools. These stories were recorded and made available for all Canadians as part of the Reconciliation process for Canada.