Content warning
This webpage contains information about violence related to the Indian residential school system, which may be distressing to some readers.
Safe and respectful mental health and emotional support services are available without judgment and in complete confidentiality:
- National Indian Residential School Crisis Line: 1-866-925-4419
- Hope for Wellness Help Line: 1-855-242-3310 or chat online
- Wellness Together Canada:
- call 1-888-668-6810 or text WELLNESS to 686868 for youth
- call 1-866-585-0445 or text WELLNESS to 741741 for adults
Elder Barbara Cameron
Elder Barbara Cameron, Survivor of Residential School and member of the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation’s Survivors Circle, speaks during a meeting of the Senate Committee on Indigenous Peoples on March 21, 2023.
Transcript
On one particular occasion, I had a young lady challenger, and I was really happy for her questions. She questioned why Indigenous people, why Anishinaabe people, complain. As an immigrant, she was very happy to be here. I said, “Yes, I understand what you’re saying, but if you sit where I’m sitting, where do you go? Where do you go to practise your culture, speak your language, do your ceremonies? You go to your own homeland. There you have it. You can return anytime and be home and do all of those things that you grew up with. We here, Canada is our homeland. This is where we were placed. Unfortunately, our language, our culture, our beliefs, all of that has been taken from us, and it’s very difficult just surviving day to day. There is nowhere to run. Where do we go to find that?” At once, she understood.
Kimberly Murray
Kimberly Murray, Independent Special Interlocutor for Missing Children and Unmarked Graves and Burial Sites associated with Indian Residential Schools, speaks during a meeting of the Senate Committee on Indigenous Peoples on March 21, 2023.
Transcript
The next guiding principle that I want to speak about is that Indigenous families and communities have a right to know what happened to their children who died in Indian residential schools. That right to know, that right to the truth, as you all know, is a recognized international right. Survivors, communities and Canadians have a right to the truth. That includes a right to the records and to access those records. We have an ongoing challenge in this country with getting the documentation from the federal government, the provincial governments, the universities, the municipalities — the list goes on and on — where these records are. Communities have a right to that truth, and they have the right to have sovereignty over their own data and information.
Stephanie Scott
Stephanie Scott, Executive Director of the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, speaks during a meeting of the Senate Committee on Indigenous Peoples on March 21, 2023.
Transcript
The honourable senators will be aware that the Government of Canada and various religious archives who ran the schools failed to disclose all the records to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Recent agreements with the federal government, with the religious orders, including the oblates, are starting to rectify this. It’s been a very long process and we’re going into year 8 since the mandate of the TRC ended. We know that millions of additional records will be provided to the NCTR and through us to survivors, families and communities.
