Indian Residential Schools

Volume 1 of the RCAP, "Looking forward, looking back" discusses the harmful intentions and impacts of residential schools.

"This is an abridged edition of the massive six-volume report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada that between 2008 and 2015 detailed in 7,000 interviews and 5 million documents the mental, sexual, and physical abuse of Indigenous students in boarding schools funded by the Canadian government and run by Catholic and Protestant religious groups."

One reviewer writes, "The book is at its best when exposing how the government was fully aware of, and complicit in, what was happening in these schools. I found chapters six and seven to be particularly effective, on food and clothing, and neglect and abuse respectively. I also think that chapters nine and ten of the book, where Milloy discusses how the government transitioned from residential schools to foster homes and the welfare system, are particularly useful when considering how Indigenous children continue to be ripped away from their families and communities under the guise of “welfare.” I think that this type of resource might be helpful in particularly when it comes to contextualizing other stories, particularly those of survivors. And I cannot recommend McCallum’s preface enough."