Content Warning: Please note that this section covers difficult topics and Survivor stories related to residential schools which some readers may find distressing. For residential school Survivors and their families, 24-hour support is available through the Indian Residential Schools Crisis Line at 1-800-721-0066.
From 1883 to 1996, Christian churches ran more than 130 federally-funded residential schools which were created to assimilate Indigenous children into Canadian society. Over 150,000 First Nations, Inuit, and Métis children and youth were forcibly taken from their homes and placed in residential schools. Many children died as a result of inadequate conditions and abuse. Those who survived, experienced trauma and its continued effects. The 2015 Truth and Reconciliation Commission report called the residential school system and act of cultural genocide by the Canadian government and Christian churches (Defining Moments in Canada).
"The Sixties Scoop is a dark and painful chapter in Canada’s history. Between the 1960s and 1980s, Indigenous children were removed from their homes by child welfare authorities and many were placed in foster care or adopted out to non-Indigenous families" (Government of Canada).
The following resources include stories from residential school Survivors:
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