residential schools

The Survivors’ Flag hangs to honour Indigenous Peoples who were forced to attend residential schools, on the grounds of the legislature in Victoria, B.C., on Wednesday, September 28, 2022. (Chad Hipolito/Canadian Press)

Feds pause $2M residential school unmarked grave consultant contract

Decision to hire international firm criticized by those who say project should be Indigineous-led

 

Federal Justice Minister Arif Virani holds a press conference at the National Press Theatre in Ottawa on Thursday, Oct. 5, 2023. Virani is “considering the options,” raised by the independent adviser on unmarked graves, who says Indigenous leaders want Canada to move on criminalizing residential school denialism. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

Special interlocutor ‘waiting’ for bill criminalizing residential school denialism

Feds made Holocaust denialism illegal last year

 

FILE -Russell Eagle Bear, with the Rosebud Sioux Reservation Tribal Council, talks to U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland during a meeting about Native American boarding schools at Sinte Gleska University in Mission, S.D., Saturday, Oct. 15, 2022. Haaland plans to be in Bozeman, Mont. Sunday to wrap up her nationwide tour confronting the legacy of the institutions where students were often abused. (AP Photo/Matthew Brown, File)

Survivors say trauma from abusive Native American boarding schools continues

An report released by the Interior Department identified 408 government-backed schools in 37 states

 

In this historic photo from the Archives Deschâtelets-NDC, children gather in front of the old Christie Residential School on Meares Island off the west coast of Vancouver Island near Tofino. The date the photo was taken is unknown. (Archives Deschâtelets-NDC)

Scholar debunks residential school denialism and so-called `mass grave hoax’

A Q&A with historian and Indigenous studies professor Sean Carleton

  • Oct 22, 2023
In this historic photo from the Archives Deschâtelets-NDC, children gather in front of the old Christie Residential School on Meares Island off the west coast of Vancouver Island near Tofino. The date the photo was taken is unknown. (Archives Deschâtelets-NDC)
Conservative Party of BC leader John Rustad speaks at a meet-and-greet in Vernon on Friday, July 7, 2023. Rustad is being criticized for making a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation that compared gender education to residential schools. (Black Press Media file photo)

B.C. Conservative leader compares gender education to residential schools

Rustad criticized for pushing parental rights movement on National Day for Truth and Reconciliation

Conservative Party of BC leader John Rustad speaks at a meet-and-greet in Vernon on Friday, July 7, 2023. Rustad is being criticized for making a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation that compared gender education to residential schools. (Black Press Media file photo)
People march together at the University of British Columbia for National Day for Truth and Reconciliation in Vancouver, B.C., Saturday, Sept. 30, 2023. The federal statutory holiday recognizes abuses suffered by Inuit, First Nations and Metis people at hundreds of state and church-run residential schools. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ethan Cairns

‘A shared responsibility’: quotes from the 3rd Day for Truth and Reconciliation

Hundreds gathered across Canada to mark the day on Saturday

People march together at the University of British Columbia for National Day for Truth and Reconciliation in Vancouver, B.C., Saturday, Sept. 30, 2023. The federal statutory holiday recognizes abuses suffered by Inuit, First Nations and Metis people at hundreds of state and church-run residential schools. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ethan Cairns
Karlene Harvey is the illustrator of the new Every Child Matters children’s book. (Medicine Wheel Publishing photo)

Indigenous artist teams with Orange Shirt Day founder for new children’s book

Phyllis Webstad, Tsilhqot’in artist to bring Every Child Matters to life for children 6 and up

Karlene Harvey is the illustrator of the new Every Child Matters children’s book. (Medicine Wheel Publishing photo)
The Yukon territorial flag flies in Ottawa, Monday July 6, 2020.An investigation into unmarked graves and missing children who attended the former Chooutla Residential School in Carcross, Yukon, has found 15 “potential” gravesites at or near the school. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

Yukon First Nation says 15 potential graves found at residential school site

Findings released in probe at Chooutla Residential School in Carcross, south of Whitehorse

The Yukon territorial flag flies in Ottawa, Monday July 6, 2020.An investigation into unmarked graves and missing children who attended the former Chooutla Residential School in Carcross, Yukon, has found 15 “potential” gravesites at or near the school. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
BC Green party Leader Sonia Furstenau, (left to right) BC United MLA Michael Lee, Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, Minister of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation Murray Rankin, MLA Joan Phillips and MLA Raj Chouhan raise the Survivors’ Flag to honour the hundreds of children who never returned home from residential schools, during a ceremony at the legislature in Victoria, B.C., on Monday, Sept. 25, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito

B.C. raises Survivors’ Flag to honour National Day for Truth and Reconciliation

Speaker says Survivors’ Flag welcome at a building that has been a physical symbol of colonialism

BC Green party Leader Sonia Furstenau, (left to right) BC United MLA Michael Lee, Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, Minister of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation Murray Rankin, MLA Joan Phillips and MLA Raj Chouhan raise the Survivors’ Flag to honour the hundreds of children who never returned home from residential schools, during a ceremony at the legislature in Victoria, B.C., on Monday, Sept. 25, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito
English River First Nation Chief Jenny Wolverine, centre, says it’s believed 79 areas at the Beauval Indian Residential School could be the size of possible children’s graves and 14 are the size of infants, Saskatoon, Wednesday, August 29, 2023.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Kelly Geraldine

Residential school radar finds 93 Saskatchewan ‘areas of interest’

Findings at Beauval Indian Residential School could be graves of children and infants

English River First Nation Chief Jenny Wolverine, centre, says it’s believed 79 areas at the Beauval Indian Residential School could be the size of possible children’s graves and 14 are the size of infants, Saskatoon, Wednesday, August 29, 2023.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Kelly Geraldine
A key chain dangles from a fence as part of a memorial outside the former Kamloops Indian Residential School in Kamloops, B.C., Thursday, June 1, 2023. A Guatemala-based forensic anthropology organization is extending its hand to Indigenous Peoples in Canada looking to potentially recover bodies of children on the grounds of former residential schools. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh

Guatemala-based group extends hand on First Nations’ residential school searches

Fredy Peccerelli says his Indigenous-led excavations identify the remains of as many as 125 people per year

A key chain dangles from a fence as part of a memorial outside the former Kamloops Indian Residential School in Kamloops, B.C., Thursday, June 1, 2023. A Guatemala-based forensic anthropology organization is extending its hand to Indigenous Peoples in Canada looking to potentially recover bodies of children on the grounds of former residential schools. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh
Traditional dancer Odeshkun Thusky performs during a commemorative ceremony, Raising the Survivors’ Flag, on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Wednesday, June 21, 2023. The ceremony is “in memory of the thousands of children who were sent to residential schools, of those who never returned, and in honour of the families whose lives were forever changed.” THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

Trudeau raises flag honouring residential school survivors on Parliament Hill

PM: Survivors’ Flag serves as reminder that some kids never returned home from the schools

Traditional dancer Odeshkun Thusky performs during a commemorative ceremony, Raising the Survivors’ Flag, on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Wednesday, June 21, 2023. The ceremony is “in memory of the thousands of children who were sent to residential schools, of those who never returned, and in honour of the families whose lives were forever changed.” THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
Kwakiutl master carver Stan Hunt blesses the monument during the June 16 ceremony at Carrot Park in Port Hardy. (Tyson Whitney - North Island Gazette)

Island master carver unveils monument for residential school children

Kwakiutl carver Stan Hunt’s work wrapping up Island tour before Vancouver installation

Kwakiutl master carver Stan Hunt blesses the monument during the June 16 ceremony at Carrot Park in Port Hardy. (Tyson Whitney - North Island Gazette)
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Governor General Mary Simon look on as First Nations Artis Alicia Kayley performs during the site selection ceremony of the Residential Schools National Monument on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Tuesday, June 20, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

Monument to residential school survivors, victims to be built on Parliament Hill

Governor general called monument is a ‘significant’ step towards reconciliation

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Governor General Mary Simon look on as First Nations Artis Alicia Kayley performs during the site selection ceremony of the Residential Schools National Monument on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Tuesday, June 20, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
Community members, joined by Six Nations Police, conduct a search for unmarked graves using ground-penetrating radar on the 500 acres of the lands associated with the former Indian Residential School, the Mohawk Institute, in Brantford, Ont., Tuesday, Nov. 9, 2021. Indigenous communities searching for unmarked graves have seen a rise in individuals denying the disappearances and deaths of Indigenous children in the residential school system, according to a new report from the federal government’s special interlocutor on unmarked graves. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nick Iwanyshyn

How ground-penetrating radar is used to find unmarked graves at residential schools

The basic principle is that ground-penetrating radar sends an electromagnetic wave into the ground

Community members, joined by Six Nations Police, conduct a search for unmarked graves using ground-penetrating radar on the 500 acres of the lands associated with the former Indian Residential School, the Mohawk Institute, in Brantford, Ont., Tuesday, Nov. 9, 2021. Indigenous communities searching for unmarked graves have seen a rise in individuals denying the disappearances and deaths of Indigenous children in the residential school system, according to a new report from the federal government’s special interlocutor on unmarked graves. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nick Iwanyshyn
Kimberly Murray speaks after being appointed as Independent Special Interlocutor for Missing Children and Unmarked Graves and Burial Sites associated with Indian Residential Schools, at a news conference in Ottawa, on Wednesday, June 8, 2022. Murray says “urgent consideration” should be given to legal mechanisms as a way for Canada to combat residential school denialism.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang

Canada should consider legal solution to fight residential school denialism: report

Report says increasing number of ‘denialists’ challenging communities that announce unmarked graves

Kimberly Murray speaks after being appointed as Independent Special Interlocutor for Missing Children and Unmarked Graves and Burial Sites associated with Indian Residential Schools, at a news conference in Ottawa, on Wednesday, June 8, 2022. Murray says “urgent consideration” should be given to legal mechanisms as a way for Canada to combat residential school denialism.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang
Carey Newman is one of the driving forces behind a project that will add sounds of Indigenous cultures to the Witness Blanket he first began working on in 2012. (University of Victoria/Photo Services)

Indigenous artist collects sounds for virtual Witness Blanket

Carey Newman, creator of world renowned Witness Blanket, seeks sounds from residential schools

Carey Newman is one of the driving forces behind a project that will add sounds of Indigenous cultures to the Witness Blanket he first began working on in 2012. (University of Victoria/Photo Services)
Susan Cairns (left) and Cecelia Reekie, a former Langley school trustee, with the 215 crosses bedecked with children’s clothes placed in memory of the Kamloops residential school victims at the Derek Doubleday Arboretum at 21559 Fraser Hwy. Langley on Tuesday, June 15, 2021. (Dan Ferguson/Langley Advance Times)

Permanent residential school memorial planned for Langley park

Group asks to create ‘place of understanding’ at Township arboretum

Susan Cairns (left) and Cecelia Reekie, a former Langley school trustee, with the 215 crosses bedecked with children’s clothes placed in memory of the Kamloops residential school victims at the Derek Doubleday Arboretum at 21559 Fraser Hwy. Langley on Tuesday, June 15, 2021. (Dan Ferguson/Langley Advance Times)
Apprentice carver Rey Dickie and master carver Stan Hunt stand next to the log that would be carved into a monument to remember Indigenous children who died at residential schools. (Tyson Whitney - North Island Gazette)

Residential school pole touring Island before Vancouver installation

Master carver Stanley Hunt preparing to unveil emotional memorial project

Apprentice carver Rey Dickie and master carver Stan Hunt stand next to the log that would be carved into a monument to remember Indigenous children who died at residential schools. (Tyson Whitney - North Island Gazette)
Canadian Coast Guard members, along with the Port Hardy RCMP, helped paint Stan Hunt’s 18-foot tall Indigenous monument for residential school children. (Tyson Whitney - North Island Gazette)

Monument for residential school children going on tour starting June 16 in Port Hardy

Port Hardy council approved the use of Carrot Park at their May 23 meeting

Canadian Coast Guard members, along with the Port Hardy RCMP, helped paint Stan Hunt’s 18-foot tall Indigenous monument for residential school children. (Tyson Whitney - North Island Gazette)