Without Children

Vancouver Sun
September 13, 2013

http://www.vancouversun.com/life/without+children/8907914/story.html

For more than 150 years, thousands of Aboriginal children in Canada were taken from families and communities, and stripped of languages, cultural identities and traditions.

They were to become a part of mainstream culture. The government policy failed, but the devastating impacts continue today. Yet the history and impacts of residential school are still relatively unknown and little understood.

A core mandate of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) is to educate all Canadians about the complete history of the residential schools, and to inspire reconciliation for individuals, families, communities, religious organizations and peoples of faith, governments, and the people of Canada.

The Anglican, United, and Presbyterian Churches and the Roman Catholic entities which ran residential schools signed the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement in 2007, whose provisions established the TRC's mandate. As a result these Christian denominations are key partners in the TRC's work.

The TRC knows that reconciliation will be achieved only if peoples of all faiths engage in and participate in the journey of healing and reconciliation in Canada.

Individuals and groups are invited and encouraged to organize educational activities to prepare for TRC events, and, following these events, to continue to reflect on and engage in dialogue about how they will continue to respond and contribute to healing and reconciliation and the establishment of respectful relations between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal peoples.