After years spent travelling across the country gathering statements from Indian Residential Schools survivors about their experiences, as well as those of their families and communities, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) of Canada delivered its final report at a national closing event in Ottawa in the first week of June 2015.
A group of Carleton history students from Michel Hogue’s summer course HIST 4915A, “Canadian Indigenous History: Truth, Reconciliation and Redress, ” were among the many participants in this landmark event. After weeks spent reading about the history of residential schools, listening to survivors, and discussing the origins of the TRC itself, students were tasked with witnessing and documenting the varied events associated with the TRC’s conclusion. They were then asked to consider some of the implications of this event for historical writing about residential schools and the challenges of reconciliation.
See samples of their work here on Making History Matter, Carleton’s History undergraduate publication.
Photograph: March for Reconciliation, Ottawa, May 31, 2015. Photo credit: Mike Gifford (Flickr)