Canadians mark fifth annual National Day for Truth and Reconciliation
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OTTAWA — Canadians across the country will mark the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on Wednesday for the fifth consecutive year, honouring the survivors of residential schools and those who never made it home.
Beginning in the 19th century, more than 150,000 Indigenous children in Canada were separated from their families and communities and sent to church-run residential schools where abuse, malnutrition and inadequate health care were rampant.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission concluded in its landmark 2015 final report that the school system was a central element of a state-backed policy of cultural genocide.
Between 1857 and 1996, 150,000 Indigenous children were forced to attend church-run, government-funded residential schools. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission initially documented the deaths of 3,200 children at residential schools. However experts at the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation — who continue to comb through millions of records — say the actual number could be much higher.
