Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada

(2015)

In 1996 the Report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (RRCAP) made a number of recommendations to the Government of Canada regarding residential schools. Canada consequently made a Statement of Reconciliation to residential school survivors in 1998 and created the Aboriginal Healing Foundation. In 2003, the Government of Canada launched a Dispute Resolution plan to compensate survivors that fell far short of the expectations of Aboriginal Peoples in Canada. In response, the Assembly of First Nations, under Grand Chief Phil Fontaine, launched a class action lawsuit in 2005 against the federal government. As a settlement in that case, the Government of Canada signed the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement (IRSSA) in 2006.

Included within the IRSSA was schedule “N”, the mandate for a Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC). The Truth and Reconciliation Commission began its work on June 1, 2008. Overall goals of the TRC focus on promoting healing, educating, listening, and the preparation of a report for all parties that includes recommendations for the Government of Canada regarding the IRS system, experience and legacy. The TRC released an interim report in May of 2015 and this final report in December of 2015. The final report contains 94 calls to action; including calls to abandon the Doctrine of Discovery and fully adopt/implement the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

• TRC Summary of the Final Report: Honouring the Truth, Reconciling for the Future
• TRC Volume 1: The History Part 1, Origins to 1939
• TRC Volume 1: The History Part 2, 1939 to 2000
• TRC Volume 2: The Inuit and Northern Experience
• TRC Volume 3: The Métis Experience
• TRC Volume 4: Missing Children and Unmarked Burials
• TRC Volume 5: The Legacy
• TRC Volume 6: Reconciliation
• TRC Calls to Action