What the “residential school” system was
Beginning in the nineteenth century, Canadian authorities supported a network of schools intended to separate many First Nations, Inuit and Métis children from their families and communities. Churches operated many of the schools under government agreements. Education was combined with a policy of assimilation: children were expected to abandon languages, cultural practices and spiritual traditions.
The system existed for more than a century. The last federally run residential school closed in 1996. Historical accounts and survivor testimony describe overcrowding, inadequate care, harsh discipline, forced separation from family, and widespread physical, emotional, cultural and sexual abuse. The effects extended beyond individual students, affecting families, languages, governance, health and community continuity.
A note on language
This page uses “Indigenous” as a broad contemporary term. Specific communities and nations have their own names and histories. Older archival labels are retained only when needed to explain historical documents, and are not used as preferred descriptions of people today.
Assimilation and the “apple” metaphor
The historical metaphor sometimes described a child as an “apple”: Indigenous in appearance but expected to become culturally European or Christian inside. This language reflects the coercive aim of assimilation and the racial assumptions embedded in the policy. It should not be treated as a neutral description of Indigenous identity.
Death, abuse and the documentary record
Thousands of children are known to have died while attending or after being sent to residential schools. Disease, malnutrition, unsafe conditions and neglect contributed to deaths, while many burial locations and individual records remain subjects of ongoing research. Numbers have changed as archives, community knowledge and investigations are brought together. The record is therefore best read with care rather than reduced to a single final figure.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission gathered survivor testimony and documentary evidence, issued a multi-volume final report and published Calls to Action. Its work placed the residential school system within a broader history of colonial policy and emphasized that reconciliation requires institutional and community action, not only acknowledgement.