In 2017, the Supreme Court of Canada presided over Canada (Attorney General) v. Fontaine, a case brought against the federal government by former National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) Philip Fontaine. Fontaine demanded the destruction of Indigenous residential student testimony gathered during the Indian Residential Schools Settlement[Read More…]
Tag: residential schools
McGill must confront its hand in human torture
//Content warning: Medical abuse, racial and colonial violence// After decades of institutional negligence, a new class-action lawsuit presents McGill with the opportunity to formally address its role in the human torture experiments conducted through the CIA-funded MKUltra program. Given this opening for reparative action, McGill must reconcile its historic and[Read More…]
Calls for Indigenous justice cannot end with Kimberly R. Murray’s mandate
In December 2024, Kimberly R. Murray, Canada’s Independent Special Interlocutor for Missing Children and Unmarked Graves and Burial Sites associated with Residential Schools, reached the end of her mandate, concluding a term that had started in June 2022. Her work in this role culminated in a Final Report, presented in[Read More…]
Montreal shelters lead the city in second annual Every Child Matters March
On Sept. 30, hundreds of people gathered in front of the George-Étienne Cartier monument at the foot of Mount Royal before marching through Montreal to commemorate the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation—also known as Orange Shirt Day. Since 2021, Sept. 30 has marked a federal statutory holiday, although the[Read More…]
The Church’s apology requires devoted action
On April 1, Pope Francis made a long-overdue apology to Indigenous peoples in Canada for the role Catholic leaders and administrators played in committing cultural genocide through the residential school system. The Pope called these leaders’ behaviour “deplorable” and asked for both God’s forgiveness and the forgiveness of Indigenous peoples[Read More…]
Kahentinetha demands a suspension to New Vic Project, calling for further investigation into the site’s history
Kahentinetha, a Kanien’kehá:ka kahnistensera (Mohawk Mother) of the Bear Clan and founder of Mohawk Nation News, is demanding the suspension of McGill’s New Vic project. In a brief posted to the Mohawk Nation News website, Kahentinetha called on McGill to acknowledge Indigenous sovereignty and to allow an investigation team—comprised of[Read More…]
McGill conference discusses Truth and Reconciliation
As a large part of the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement, Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) spent six years documenting the suffering caused by the residential school experience. The TRC published its final report in 2015, but consideration of the ongoing legacy of reconciliation continued with the McGill organized conference[Read More…]