2022 Year in Review

children between the ages of 4 and 16 were placed into the residential schools,
with an estimated 4,100 students dying in their custody. Testimonies from
students revealed that they were routinely prohibited from practising their
culture and made to live in substandard conditions. In some cases, students
were abused at these institutions. The last of these schools was shut down in
1996.
WHAT IS RECONCILIATION AND HOW HAS IT BEEN
ATTEMPTED IN CANADA?
Reconciliation is a broad concept
that encompasses a variety of
measures. Many groups and
individuals have their own ideas and
perspectives on what is needed to
reconcile past wrong-doings,
ranging from the material to the
symbolic. Since the final closure of
the schools by the late 1990s,
multiple lawsuits have been
pursued to seek monetary
compensation for survivors of these
institutions. In 2006, for example, a
class action lawsuit provided
settlements of CAD 10,000 to
survivors of Indian Residential
Schools (IRS) who had spent one
year at a school, and CAD 3,000 for
each subsequent year.
However, indigenous activist groups
have argued for other approaches
that supplement monetary
compensation yet also deliver
emotional and cultural restitution
via recognition of past wrongdoings.
This has been particularly salient
following the discovery of a mass
grave at the Kamloops IRS in British
Columbia that contained the remains
of 215 children. Activist groups have
called on the churches who operated
the schools, the Canadian
government who financed the
schools, and the British Royal Family
to make a formal and sincere
apology to the survivors and the
families of the deceased who
suffered at IRSs across Canada.
Indeed, in May of this year during
then-Prince Charles’ tour of Canada,
the National Chief of the Assembly of
the First Nations, RoseAnne
Archibald, made a direct appeal to
the former Prince of Wales to
petition Queen Elizabeth II to issue
an apology on behalf of the Church
of England. The former Prince
responded that he “acknowledged”
the suffering, but refrained from
offering a formal apology.
P A G E 1 0 3