09/30/2026
*Content warning: This material contains information regarding residential schools, which some may find distressing. If you require support, please note that there are resources available: https://www.sac-isc.gc.ca/eng/1581971225188/1581971250953
Places can hold painful histories. Today, Indigenous Peoples and communities are shaping how some of these places are remembered, stewarded, and given new purpose.
Residential school Survivors, alongside Indigenous nations, communities, and organisations, are choosing how their stories are honoured at former residential school sites. Some of these sites now serve as places of commemoration, healing, learning and cultural revitalization.
Residential schools for Indigenous children existed in what is now Canada from the 17th century until the 1990s, and their impacts continue to be felt today. Beginning in the 1880s, the federal government established a vast network of residential schools across the country. It is estimated that over 150 000 First Nation, Inuit, and Métis children were forced to live at these institutions.
With the administrative and financial support of the federal government, residential schools were operated by churches and religious organizations. Their main goal was to assimilate Indigenous children by prohibiting them from speaking their languages, practicing their cultures, and by forcibly separating them from their families and communities. Many children were subjected to abuse and suffered from malnutrition, disease and forced labour.
Whether preserved, transformed or commemorated, these sites reflect the resilience of Indigenous Peoples and help ensure the history and impact of residential schools are understood by current and future generations.
The Residential School System and seven former residential schools have been designated by the Government of Canada for their national historic significance.
Learn about these sites and how Survivors and their communities have chosen to commemorate their stories: https://parks.canada.ca/culture/designation/pensionnat-residential.
Learn more about the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation: https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/campaigns/national-day-truth-reconciliation.html.
