OTTAWA — The Truth and Reconciliation Commission examining Canada’s residential-school system has released a summary of its six-volume report, the culmination of six years of study of the church-run, government-funded institutions, which operated for more than 120 years.
Highlights of its 94 recommendations:
Adopt and implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples;
Establish a Royal Proclamation of Reconciliation reaffirming the nation-to-nation relationship between Aboriginal Peoples and the Crown;
Solicit from Pope Francis an apology for the role played by the Roman Catholic Church;
Call a public inquiry into missing and murdered aboriginal women;
Establish a written federal policy reaffirming the independence of the RCMP to investigate crimes in which the federal government may be an interested party;
Change the oath of citizenship to reflect treaties with Aboriginal Peoples;
Establish national standards for foster care, through the provincial and territorial governments and the federal government, and reduce the number of aboriginal children in care;
Repeal Section 43 of the Criminal Code, the so-called spanking law, in order to outlaw corporal punishment;
Create a mandatory, age-appropriate curriculum on residential schools, treaties and the contributions of Aboriginal Peoples taught across Canada from kindergarten to grade 12;
Build a residential-schools monument in every provincial and territorial capital;
Increase CBC and Radio-Canada funding to better ensure it can support reconciliation and include the languages and perspectives of Aboriginal Peoples;
Pass a federal law establishing aboriginal education standards to ensure children going to school on reserves have access to the same resources as those outside their communities;
Develop post-secondary programs in aboriginal languages;
Establish mechanisms to narrow the health-care gap between Aboriginal Peoples and other Canadians, including building aboriginal healing practices into the health-care system and spending more on aboriginal healing centres;
Allow trial judges to exempt Aboriginal Peoples from mandatory minimum sentences and work to reduce the over-representation of Aboriginal Peoples in prisons and jails;
Settle residential-school claims with those excluded from settlement agreement, including Metis, day school students and those in Newfoundland and Labrador.
