residential schools

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The residential school children who rest in unmarked graves are lost to their communities. But the shared knowledge of their fates has its own compelling power. That is why they top our 2022 Power List.

Here’s how some are observing the day for reflecting on the tragic history of residential schools

On his 16th birthday, Ron Ignace’s residential school allowed him to go into town unsupervised. He didn’t go back, instead hiding in his aunt and uncle’s house. ‘That was the best damn decision I ever made in my life.’

In 1987, a Cree Elder went looking for his brother’s final resting place. His quest is now a beacon in the search for residential school graves.

For decades, former students of the Shubenacadie Residential School shared accounts of deaths and at least one burial at the facility

Alicia Elliott: As we’re seeing more and more every day, this entire country is a real-life Indian burial ground—one that criminals parading as teachers, religious leaders and politicians took great care to cover up

Waubgeshig Rice: We knew that succeeding at Ryerson University, named after a man who would have never wanted us there in the first place, would be the ultimate educational triumph

Cindy Blackstock: I believe those little spirits buried on the grounds of residential schools came to ensure the work gets done to end the injustices facing survivors

Father Paul Bringleson spoke to his congregation in Flin Flon, Man., in a powerful sermon apologizing for residential schools and calling out the failures of Catholic Church leaders

Stephen Maher: We are at the beginning, not the end, of a process of reassessing our history, and filling in the silences that are needed to get at the truth