Residential Schools & The Church
How the Church Influenced the Closure of Residential Schools
How was the Church involved in the opening of residential schools?
What prompted members of the Church to begin questioning the morality of residential schools?
Relevant Dates to the Closure of Residential Schools
1990: Phil Fontaine
Fontaine was later elected national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, a political organization representing Canada's aboriginal people in 1997.
November 1996
The Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, or RCAP, issues its final report. One entire chapter is dedicated to residential schools. The 4,000-page document makes 440 recommendations calling for changes in the relationship between aboriginals, non-aboriginals and governments in Canada.
The Gordon Residential School, the last federally run facility, closes in Saskatchewan.
2008: First formal apology by a prime minister
Prime Minister Stephen Harper apologizes to former students of native residential schools, marking the first formal apology by a prime minister for the federally financed program.
"The treatment of children in Indian residential schools is a sad chapter in our history," he says in a speech in the House of Commons.
When did the Church really begin to remove its support of residential schools?
Relevant church-issued apologies include:
1986: The United Church of Canada formally apologizes to Canada's First Nations people.
1991: The Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate offers an apology to Canada's First Nations people. Read this pdf of their apology.
1993: The Anglican Church offers an apology to Canada's First Nations people.
1994: The Presbyterian Church offers a confession to Canada's First Nations people.
1998: The United Church's General Council Executive offers a second apology to the First Nations peoples of Canada for the abuse incurred at residential schools. The litigation list naming the Government of Canada and major Church denominations grows to 7,500.