Residential schools for Indigenous children in Canada

From 1883 the Canadian government expanded a system of boarding schools for Indigenous children, run mainly by churches, among them the Roman Catholic Church with the Oblate order. At least 150,000 children passed through it. The state Truth and Reconciliation Commission calls the policy cultural genocide; children were physically and sexually abused and died in numbers that would not have been tolerated in any other school system. The registers record 3,201 reported deaths. In 2022 Pope Francis asked forgiveness in Maskwacis.

Period

1883-1999 (116 years)

Acknowledgement by the Church

23 years later, on 25 July 2022: „I ask forgiveness, in particular, for the ways in which many members of the Church and of religious communities cooperated“ (Apostolic Journey to Canada: Meeting with indigenous peoples at Maskwacis, Original)

Report published

2 June 2015

Country

Canada

Institutions

Roman Catholic Church in Canada
Oblates of Mary Immaculate
Grey Nuns
Sisters of Providence
Sisters of St. Anne
Canadian federal government
Protestant churches

Category

Violence, Colonialism, Sexual abuse

Level of evidence

A Primary source · what does this mean?

Persons

Francis (Pope)

Background

Course of events

1. In 1883 the federal government decided on three large residential schools in western Canada; the system then grew considerably.
   Evidence: Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, S. 3 f.

   „In 1883, the federal government moved to establish three, large, residential schools for First Nation children in western Canada. In the following years, the system grew dramatically“

2. The Roman Catholic Church was one of the main operators; most Catholic schools were run by the Oblates with the support of several women's orders.
   Evidence: Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, S. 3 f.

   „Roman Catholic, Anglican, United, Methodist, and Presbyterian churches were the major denominations involved in the administration of the residential school system“

   Evidence: Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, S. 49 f.

   „The Oblates administered a majority of the Roman Catholic residential schools in Canada“

3. The commission describes the policy as cultural genocide.
   Evidence: Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, Einleitung

   „which can best be described as “cultural genocide.”“

4. The commission heard more than 6000 witnesses, most of them former students; the report appeared in 2015.
   Evidence: Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, Vorwort

   „The Commission heard from more than 6,000 witnesses, most of whom survived the experience of living in the schools as students“

Why? Justification and motives (according to the sources)

1. According to the commission, the government pursued the policy in order to divest itself of its legal and financial obligations to Aboriginal people and to gain control over their land and resources.
   Evidence: Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, S. 3

   „The Canadian government pursued this policy of cultural genocide because it wished to divest itself of its legal and financial obligations to Aboriginal people and gain control over their land and resources“

Who received the assets, who profited?

1. Under the 2006 settlement, every former student of a listed school received 10,000 dollars for the first school year and 3,000 dollars for each further year; 78,748 claims were accepted. There was a separate compensation process for serious abuse: by January 2015, 37,951 claims had been received; by the end of 2014, 30,939 had been decided and 2.69 billion dollars awarded. The figures concern the entire school system, not only the Catholic schools.
   Evidence: Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, S. 130 (PDF-S. 137)

   „former students would receive a payment of $10,000 for the first year that they attended a residential school, and an additional $3,000 for each additional year or partial year of attendance“

   Evidence: Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, S. 106 (PDF-S. 113)

   „The cep recognized the claims of 78,748 former residential school students.“

   Evidence: Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, S. 106 (PDF-S. 113)

   „had received 37,951 claims for injuries resulting from physical and sexual abuse at residential schools“

   Evidence: Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, S. 106 (PDF-S. 113)

   „By the end of 2014, the iap had resolved 30,939 of those claims, awarding $2,690,000,000 in compensation.“

Response of the Church

1. On 25 July 2022 in Maskwacis, Pope Francis asked forgiveness for the cooperation of many members of the Church in projects of cultural destruction and forced assimilation.
   Evidence: Heiliger Stuhl, Überschrift

   „Maskwacis Monday, 25 July2022“

   Evidence: Heiliger Stuhl, Absatz 4

   „I ask forgiveness, in particular, for the ways in which many members of the Church and of religious communities cooperated, not least through their indifference, in projects of cultural destruction and forced assimilation promoted by the governments of that time, which culminated in the system of residential schools“

Original texts

See also

• 1452-2023 · 571 years

  Papal bulls on conquest and enslavement and the "Doctrine of Discovery"

  • Bolivia
  • Portugal
  • Vatican City
  • Admission
  • Expropriation
  • Colonialism
  • Slavery
• 1975-1989 · 14 years

  Abuse by priests in the Archdiocese of St. John's, Newfoundland (Winter Commission)

  • Canada
  • Sexual abuse
  • Cover-up

Original documents to read

1. Commission report
   Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada: Honouring the Truth, Reconciling for the Future: Summary of the Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, 2 June 2015. Original (retrieved 11 Oct 2026)
2. Church document
   Heiliger Stuhl: Apostolic Journey to Canada: Meeting with indigenous peoples at Maskwacis, 25 July 2022. Original (retrieved 11 Oct 2026)

Last changed on 22 October 2026. Is something missing or wrong? Suggest an addition or correction.