Residential School System Case Study

The Indian Residential School system had a profound impact on many of the students who attended the schools, their descendants, and Aboriginal communities at large. Aboriginal experiences of the residential schools were largely missing from the historical record prior to 1990, when Chief Phil Fontaine publically acknowledged the abuse he and other students experienced at Fort Alexander school (Stanton, 2011, p. 2; The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, 2015a, p. 41). Through the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and other initiatives , the Canadian government has been on a journey to acknowledge the experiences of residential school students and their descendants, often referred to residential school survivors and intergenerational survivors, respectively. This approach has aimed to record and commemorate the experiences of former residential school students and promote awareness and education of the Indian Residential School system to the broader Canadian public. (James, 2012, p.8-9; Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement, 2006, Schedule N). The chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Murray
First, I will examine my own family history, most notably, my grandfather’s role as principal at Old Sun Residential School on Siksika (Blackfoot) Nation located in Alberta. Second, I will analyze a focus group discussion among other descendants of residential school staff, where participants looked into their own family history to discuss the meaning of Canadian reconciliation. The research questions leading this work are, “What does it mean for descendants of residential school staff to reconcile with their ancestors’ role in the residential school system in Canada?” and, “What does it mean for the descendants of residential school staff to reconcile with survivors and intergenerational survivors of the residential school