An Every Child Matters flag honours the Indigenous children who were forced into Canada’s residential school system. Photo: Chris Robert/Unsplash
On Canada’s National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, September 30, Canadian Jesuits International (CJI) honours the First Nations, Inuit and Metis children who were forcibly taken away from their families and placed in residential schools from the 17th century until the 1990s. The Canadian government established residential schools and churches administered them to assimilate Indigenous children into Euro-Canadian culture. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) called this “a policy of cultural genocide.”
CJI recognizes the tragic legacy and ongoing inter-generational impact of the residential school system, and remembers the survivors, as well as the the missing children and the families who were left behind. More than 150,000 Indigenous children, some as young as four years old, were placed in residential schools across Canada, where many suffered physical, emotional, and sexual abuse.
CJI holds that regardless of where we or our ancestors came from, we must share with Indigenous peoples—the first inhabitants of Canada—a profound sorrow for the cruelty and abuses in residential schools, which were carried out under the false pretense of education. As the late Justice Murray Sinclair, TRC chair said, the legacy of the residential schools “is not an aboriginal problem; this is a problem for all Canada.”
CJI also reaffirms its commitment to truth and reconciliation. It stands in solidarity with Indigenous peoples in Canada and around the world, supporting them as they protect their lands, preserve their languages and cultures, and assert their human rights, including the right to self-determination.
