Residential Schools - Enactment, Responses and Calls to Action

This course will explore the establishment of Residential Schools in Canada and their impacts that shaped the current realities for many Indigenous communities and people (First Nations, Métis and Inuit); the role of Christian Churches in these schools; and the path(s) to relationship-building and “reconciliation”, as offered in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Call to Action. The goals of the course include: (1) introducing the ideology in developing residential schools and their relationship with colonization; (2) introducing resources available that address the TRC; (3) reflecting on the challenges with the idea and implementation of activities that focus on reconciliation and strategies that build relationships with Indigenous communities. The course will examine the Calls to Action, with focus on CTA 59 and 60.