G-029 conventionDeclaration detailLevel http://ica-atom.org/doc/RS-2#5.4 corporateBody Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada conventionDeclaration T.R.C. conventionDeclaration C.V.R. conventionDeclaration T.R.C. conventionDeclaration C.V.R. conventionDeclaration Commission pour la vérité et la réconciliation de Canada conventionDeclaration conventionDeclaration June 2008 - June 2015 The Commission began operations in Ottawa. However, the overwhelming influence of federal government and the public perception that the TRC was just another government agency convinced the Commission to locate to a locale more accessible to Indigenous communities across the country. The Commission established its head office in Winnipeg, Manitoba, retained a small Ottawa office, and opened satellite offices in Vancouver, British Columbia; Hobbema, Alberta; and Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. In recognition of the unique cultures of the Inuit, and of their experiences and the impacts of residential schools on them, the Commission also established an Inuit Sub-Commission. Seven regional liaison officers were hired and were assigned responsibility to work in the following regions: Québec and Atlantic Canada, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia, and Yukon and the Northwest Territories. The TRC is part of a court order expressed in the [Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement:](http://www.residentialschoolsettlement.ca/settlement.html). All parties to the IRSSA agreed the TRC would be established as its own entity under Order-in-Council, pursuant to the Royal Prerogative power, independent from existing government departments but a part of the federal public administration for the purposes of financial accountability, and to confirm it would be responsive to federal privacy and access legislation. (“Order establishing the Indian Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission and specifying its mandate,” P.C. 2008-0793, June 1, 2008. Schedule N of the IRSSA therefore established the mandate of the TRC and through O-i-C the commission was placed under Treasury Board policies. Through a series of O-i-Cs (please see "Mandate/Sources of Authority) the TRC was added to the Financial Administration Act as a "department," and added to the schedules of the Privacy Act and the Access to Information Act to apply these statutes. Although the Commissioners were established under special regulation and therefore exempt from the Public Service Employee Act (PSEA), the Commission Secretariat was subject to the PSEA. Schedule N of the Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement Assigned the TRC the following functions: * Acknowledge Residential School experiences, impacts and consequences; * Provide a holistic, culturally appropriate and safe setting for former students, their families and communities as they come forward to the Commission; * Witness, support, promote and facilitate truth and reconciliation events at both the national and community levels; * Promote awareness and public education of Canadians about the IRS system and its impacts; * Identify sources and create as complete an historical record as possible of the IRS system and legacy. The record shall be preserved and made accessible to the public for future study and use; * Produce and submit to the Parties of the Agreement a report including recommendations to the Government of Canada concerning the IRS system and experience including: the history, purpose, operation and supervision of the IRS system, the effect and consequences of IRS (including systemic harms, inter-generational consequences and the impact on human dignity) and the ongoing legacy of the residential schools; * Support commemoration of former Indian Residential School students and their families in accordance with the Commemoration Policy Directive (Schedule “X” of the Agreement). Schedule N of the Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement Assigned the TRC the following functions: * Acknowledge Residential School experiences, impacts and consequences; * Provide a holistic, culturally appropriate and safe setting for former students, their families and communities as they come forward to the Commission; * Witness, support, promote and facilitate truth and reconciliation events at both the national and community levels; * Promote awareness and public education of Canadians about the IRS system and its impacts; * Identify sources and create as complete an historical record as possible of the IRS system and legacy. The record shall be preserved and made accessible to the public for future study and use; * Produce and submit to the Parties of the Agreement a report including recommendations to the Government of Canada concerning the IRS system and experience including: the history, purpose, operation and supervision of the IRS system, the effect and consequences of IRS (including systemic harms, inter-generational consequences and the impact on human dignity) and the ongoing legacy of the residential schools; * Support commemoration of former Indian Residential School students and their families in accordance with the Commemoration Policy Directive (Schedule “X” of the Agreement). The IRSSA created the TRC; this makes it the product of a court order. The compromise and negotiation that characterize the Settlement Agreement also shape the TRC’s structure and methods of operation. The TRC required the institutional independence to formulate its own research program legitimate in the eyes of all parties to the Agreement. It also required the legal weight to obtain the necessary evidence of residential schools from churches and government. To achieve this independence and impartiality, all parties to the Settlement Agreement agreed to create the TRC as an independent entity through a series of Orders in Council, pursuant to the Royal Prerogative power, separate from government departments. These Orders would place the Commission within the federal government’s public administration for financial accountability under the Treasury Board. It would also make the Commission responsible to federal privacy and access to information legislation. The OiCs made the Commission a “department” under the Financial Administration Act. There were several other Orders that established shared departmental arrangements for efficiency and bureaucratic operation. In total, the IRSSA set up 29 OiCs to map out the authorities and methods of operation that the TRC would follow. Please see the [Orders-in-Council sub-series](https://archives.nctr.ca/NCTR-RPL-003-001) for access to the 29 Orders that enabled the authority and operation of the TRC.

The Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement (IRSSA) established the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) in 2008. Nine provincial and territorial superior courts approved the Agreement. The parties to the Settlement agreement appointed three Commissioners: the Honourable Justice Murray Sinclair as Chair, Chief Wilton Littlechild and Dr. Marie Wilson. The IRSSA also created the Indian Residential School Survivor Committee (IRSSC) to provide an Indigenous perspective, voice, and support for the Commission. All the parties to the IRSSA supported the TRC through its mandate.

Statement gathering was a core component of the TRC mission. TRC gathered statements in social events highlighting community engagement and historical remembrance. The largest and highest profile of these were the seven National Events held in Winnipeg, Inuvik, Halifax, Saskatoon, Montréal, Vancouver, and Edmonton between June 2010 and March 2014. The Commission estimates 155,000 people visited the seven National Events; over 9,000 residential school Survivors registered to attend them (while many others attended but did not register). To maximize its engagement with Indigenous communities the Commission also held 238 days of local hearings in seventy-seven communities across the country. The Commission also sponsored “town halls” on reconciliation as a means to draw a greater number of visitors into conversation with the TRC. Residential school Survivors, relatives, and concerned individuals contributed over 6,750 statements describing the legacy and experience of residential schools. This included Sharing Circles and Sharing Panels, held at national, regional and community events as well as Commission hearings. The Commission also made a concerted effort to gather statements from former staff of residential schools. With the assistance of the church parties to the Settlement Agreement, the Commission conducted ninety-six separate interviews with former staff and the children of former staff. In recognition of the negative developmental effects of residential schooling, and the corresponding high rates of Indigenous incarceration, the Commission visited correctional institutions in Kenora, Ontario, and Yellowknife, Northwest Territories to collect witness testimonies. To account for the personal difficulties of providing testimony, the Commission ensured Health-support workers, were present everywhere the Commission gathered statements. The Commission highlighted the profound spiritual significance of statement gathering as a personal gift by also accepting gifts of personal items from Survivors, relatives, and allies. Often these gifts were donated in ceremony; the gifts placed in the Commission’s Bentwood Box in recognition of their enduring spiritual values for Indigenous peoples. The Commission accepted over 800 items donated to the Bentwood Box, supplementing the spiritual gifts of witnessing.

Historical document collection was another vital element of the TRC mission. The TRC acquired records from both church archives and government records repositories to create “as complete an historical record as possible of the IRS system and legacy.” Church and government recalcitrance made the challenge to acquire this diversity of records difficult. Under the terms of the Settlement Agreement, the federal government and the churches were obliged to turn over relevant documents in their possession to the Commission. On three occasions, the TRC was obliged to seek court direction to resolve disputes concerning church and government records repositories’ obligation to deliver relevant documents. In January 2013 the Supreme Court of Ontario ruled Library and Archives Canada (LAC) was required to organize and produce to the Commission several million documents in its possession. Less than a year later the TRC sought court direction to acquire federal government and Ontario Provincial Police records concerning student abuse at the Fort Albany Residential School. Finally, the TRC unsuccessfully consulted court direction to acquire the records of the Independent Assessment Process (IAP). This was an adjudicative process for financial compensation to residential school Survivors who suffered serious abuse at residential schools. After several court hearings, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in October 2017, the Indian Residential Schools Adjudication Secretariat (IRSAS), the office responsible for administering the IAP process and managing the records, would hold the records for a 15-year period. In this time, the IRSAS would initiate a notice program to give the opportunity for the 38,000 witnesses to express their intention to have their testimony preserved for future generations at the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR). After this period, if witnesses had not expressed a decision on the disposition of their evidence, the records would be destroyed.

The IRSSA assigned the TRC responsibility to educate Canadian society on the history and legacy of the residential school program. The Commission took a student centred approach to its education mandate. Starting with the third National Event in Halifax, and at all subsequent National Events, the Commission invited local schools to send students to take part in a day of learning. The Commission set up Learning Places at most national and regional events. These included presentations and cultural performances, panel discussions and workshops, and student displays. In all, more than 15,000 students participated the Learning Places. The NCTR has preserved most of this material. The Commission also engaged with international organizations such as the United Nations, the International Centre for Transitional Justice, and a number of university law faculties. In the final year of its mandate, the Commission organized two events to gather additional information for its report. It held a Traditional Knowledge Keepers Forum to learn how traditional Aboriginal knowledge can contribute to reconciliation. It also organized, with the support of Égale Canada Human Rights Trust, a forum with members of the Two Spirit community to discuss the unique experiences of residential schools. The Commission also released an Interim Report in 2012. The Report provided preliminary findings and recommendations. It also released a short history of residential schools, entitled They Came for the Children. The Interim Report highlighted the significant absence of residential school history in school curricula. Following the Report, the Commission made it a priority to meet with provincial and territorial education ministers to advocate for the development of curriculum on the legacy of residential schools and the mandatory adoption of that curriculum in all jurisdictions.

Communication initiatives were another important focus of the Commission. The Settlement Agreement allocated $20 million for commemoration initiatives. The Commission recommended 152 projects to the federal Department of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development for funding, and 143 projects were approved. The Commission issued a separate call for proposals for community events and allocated funding to approved projects up to a maximum of $15,000 per event. The TRC supported seventy-five community events, which were designed to promote healing and reconciliation.

Schedule N of the IRSSA assigned the Commission responsibility to create a national research centre to preserve and make accessible all the material created and accumulated as part of its work. The centre is intended to be accessible to Survivors, their families, and communities, as well as to the general public. The Commission reviewed a number of proposals for housing the research centre and, in June 2013, announced that the University of Manitoba had been selected to become the permanent host of the NCTR. The NCTR would be a living archive, a place of engagement and recognition. It would provide a house of social memory that supports the authority of Elders and traditional knowledge keepers responsible for safeguarding and using traditional knowledge with the appropriate protocols of language, environment, and spirituality. The NCTR’s decolonizing archive would offer a safe and accessible locale for Indigenous peoples to learn of and freely express their views of the legacy of the residential school experience, and for a settler society to listen, acknowledge and reconcile.

Finally, in June 2015, the TRC concluded its assignment with a closing ceremony in Ottawa where it announced the release of its multi-volume final report.

National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation Maps and Plans Collection 2009-01-01 2015-12-31

2009-2015

National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation Maps and Plans Collection TRC Artistic Submissions (AS) TRC Material Submissions (MS) Document Collection National Research and Analysis Directorate (NRA) 2008-01-01 2015-12-31

2008-2015

Expressions of Reconciliation 2010-01-01 2015-01-01

Between 2010 - 2015

“Order establishing the Indian Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission and specifying its mandate” 2008-06-04 2008-06-04 “Appointment of the Commissioners of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission” 2008-04-28 2008-04-28 “Order Amending Schedule IV to the Financial Administration Act by adding Indian Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission Secretariat to the Schedule.” 2008-04-25 2008-04-25 “Orders amending Schedules IV and VI of The Financial Administration Act by adding Indian Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission Secretariat to the Schedules” 2008-05-14 2008-05-14 “Order Amending Part III of Schedule VI to the Financial Administration Act, by adding the Indian Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission Secretariat to the Schedule” 2008-04-25 2008-04-25 “Order designating the Executive Director of the Indian Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission Secretariat as Deputy Head in respect of that Secretariat” 2008-05-14 2008-05-14 “Order Amending Certain Orders of the Public Service Employment Act Respecting the Indian Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission” 2015-06-15 2015-06-15 “Order Amending Certain Orders Made Under the Financial Administration Act” 2015-07-17 2015-07-17 “Order Amending the Schedule to the Privacy Act to add the Indian Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission to the schedule” 2009-06-09 2009-06-09 “Order Amending Schedule I to the Access to Information Act” 2009-06-09 2009-06-09 “Order Designating the Indian Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission as a Department and the Chairperson as the Deputy Head for Purposes of the Public Services Act” 2008-06-24 2008-06-24 “This Order repeals Order in Council P.C. 2008-798 of April 25, 2008 and designates the Chairperson of the Indian Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission as deputy head in respect of that Commission under the Financial Administrative Act” 2009-06-24 2009-06-24 “Order Amending Part III of Schedule VI to the Financial Administration Act and Amending the Order Amending Part III of Schedule VI to the Financial Administration Act” 2009-06-24 2009-06-24 “Order Amending the Schedule to the Privacy Act by adding, the Indian Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission Secretariat to the Schedule” 2008-04-25 2008-04-25 “Order Amending Schedule I to the to the Access to Information Act by adding the Indian Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission Secretariat to the Schedule” 2008-04-25 2008-04-25 “Order designating the Indian Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission Secretariat as a department for the purposes of the Public Service Employment Act” 2008-04-25 2008-04-25 “Appointment of the Honourable Murray Sinclair of Winnipeg, Manitoba, a Judge of the Court of Queen's Bench of Manitoba, as Commissioner of the Indian Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission,” 2009-06-09 2009-06-09 “Appointment of Marie Wilson of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, as Commissioner of the Indian Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission” 2009-06-09 2009-06-09 “Appointment of Wilton Littlechild of Hobbema, Alberta, as Commissioner of the Indian Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission” 2009-06-09 2009-06-09 “Order Amending the Canadian Security Intelligence Service Act Deputy Heads of the Public Service of Canada Order and Amending the Order Amending the Canadian Security Intelligence Service Act Deputy Heads of the Public Service of Canada Order” 2009-06-09 2009-06-09 “Order Amending the Privacy Act Heads of Government Institutions Designation Order and Amending the Order Amending the Privacy Act Heads of Government Institutions Designation Order” 2009-06-09 2009-06-09 “Order Amending the Access to Information Act Heads of Government Institutions Designation Order and Amending the Order Amending the Access to Information Act Heads of Government Institutions Designation Order” 2009-06-09 2009-06-09 “Order Amending Schedule IV to the Financial Administration Act and Amending the Order Amending Schedule IV to the Financial Administration Act” 2009-06-09 2009-06-09 “Order Amending Schedule I.1 to the Financial Administration Act and Amending the Order Amending Schedule I.1 to the Financial Administration Act” 2009-06-09 2009-06-09 “Appointment of Claudette Dumont-Smith of Gatineau, Quebec, as Commissioner of the Indian Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission” 2008-05-13 2008-05-13 “Appointment of Jane Brewin Morley of Victoria, British Columbia, as Commissioner of the Indian Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission” 2008-05-13 2008-05-13 “Order Amending the Canadian Security Intelligence Service Act Deputy Heads of the Public Service of Canada Order by adding, the Indian Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission Secretariat to the Schedule” 2008-05-25 2008-05-25 “Order Amending the Privacy Act Heads of Government Institutions Designation Order by adding, the Indian Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission Secretariat to the Schedule” 2008-05-25 2008-05-25 “Order Amending the Access to Information Act Heads of Government Institutions Designation Order by adding the Indian Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission Secretariat to the Schedule,” 2008-04-25 2008-04-25 Beyond 94: Truth and Reconciliation in Canada In This Together: Fifteen Stories of Truth and Reconciliation (2016) A Collection of Life Stories of Survivors of the Quebec Indian Residential schools Truth and Indignation: Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Indian Residential schools, Second Edition Arts of Engagement: Taking Aesthetic Action In and Beyond the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada Shingwauk's Vision: A History of Native Residential schools A Knock on the Door: The Essential History of Residential schools for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, Edited and Abridged Wawahte They Called Me Number One Unsettling the Settler Within: Indian Residential schools, Truth Telling, and Reconciliation in Canada Sorry: Why Our Church Apologized Stolen Lives: The Indigenous peoples of Canada and the Indian Residential school Residential schools and Reconciliation: A Bibliography of Resources Indigenous Storytelling, Truth-telling, and Community Approaches to Reconciliation The 500 Years of Resistance Comic Book Literary Land Claims: The “Indian Land Question” from Pontiac’s War to Attawapiskat Strength for Climbing: Steps on the Journey of Reconciliation This Benevolent Experiment: Indigenous Boarding Schools, Genocide, and Redress in Canada and the United States Indian School Road Pīsim Finds Her Miskanow How We’re Teaching Indigenous history to Our Kids Teacher Guide: Beyond 94 – Truth and Reconciliation in Canada Grade 5 Indian Residential Schools and Reconciliation 100 Years of Loss- EDU-Kit and Teacher Bundle Moving Forward: A Collection About Truth and Reconciliation Secret Path Secret Path: Lesson Plan Templates The Pact From Apology to Reconciliation: Residential school Survivors: A Guide for Grade 9 and 11 Social studies Teachers in Manitoba Grade 10 Indian Residential schools and Reconciliation Good for Nothing Indian Residential School and Reconciliation: Teacher's Resource Guide: Grade 11/12 Treaty Promises, Indian Reality TRC Events and Statement Gathering 2010-01-01 2015-12-31

2010-2015

National Events 2010-01-01 2015-12-31

2010-2015

Centre for Truth and Reconciliation Administrative Agreement Centre for Truth and Reconciliation Trust Deed Hearings 2010-01-01 2015-12-31

2010-01-01 - 2015-12-31

La Grande Blessure: Legs du système des pensionnats dans l’écriture et le film autochtones au Québec Projet du cœur: Faire la lumière sur l'histoire cachée des pensionnats indiens en Colombie-Britannique De la vérité à la réconciliation : Transformer l’héritage des pensionnats Appels à l’action Foire aux questions Ressources pédagogiques TRC Final Report Release 2015-12-15 2015-12-15

2015-12-15

Rapport final de la Commission de verite et de reconciliation Yellowknife Hearing Yellowknife Hearing Sharing Panels