More than 150,000 Indigenous children in Canada and at least 60,000 children in the United States were forcibly taken from their families and moved to boarding schools, often hundreds of miles from the children’s families and communities.1  The purpose of the schools was to force the children’s assimilation to a white European and Christian way of life.  Many children never returned home, and their fates were unknown.   

The boarding schools, run in both countries from the late 1800s until the 1970s in the US and even later in Canada, were often places of great cruelty, including physical, sexual, and psychological abuse. The schools were funded by the national governments, and many were operated by the Catholic Church2 in both Canada and the US.  In the US, more than 350 schools were spread out across 29 states. In an 1892 speech, U.S. Army officer Richard Pratt, who founded one of the first schools, described the policy as “Kill the Indian and save the man.”3 

Several months ago, mass graves were discovered on the grounds of four former residential schools in Canada. The graves contained the remains of more than a thousand children.4  Investigations at other sites are ongoing. 

In Canada, the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement, the largest class-action settlement in Canadian history, began to be implemented in 2007. One of the elements of the agreement was to set up the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada to facilitate reconciliation among former students, their families, their communities, and all Canadians.5 

More than 7,000 survivors have given testimony about the impact of the residential program on Native families and communities.  The Commission concluded that at least 6,000 students died while attending the schools, likely from the grievous mistreatment.6 

In June 2021, following the discovery of these graves in Canada, U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland ordered a federal task force to investigate graves at the schools in the United States. 

Canada’s boarding school system was modeled on the one in the US.  It is hoped that the US will initiate a commission similar to the one operating in Canada to find truth, healing, and some form of reparations for those who have suffered.