We welcome you to the Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre.

The records on our site emerge from the cultural and physical genocide that the Canadian government and churches conducted through the Indian Residential School System, including the ongoing impacts.

Bearing witness to these records may become overwhelming. If you are a Survivor or an Intergenerational Survivor and would like support, you can call the 24-hour National Indian Residential School Crisis Line at:

1-866-925-4419

Please click the button below for other cultural and mental health resources.

Wellness Resources

Resources

The materials in this section are a continually growing set of resources that explore the historical context of settler colonialism in Canada and foundational themes relating to the history of the Indian Residential School System. Identity, which introduces the complexity and plurality of Indigenous identity in Canada; settler government policy, which lays out policies and legislation asserting jurisdiction over Indigenous territories and governance; and Indigenous communities, which presents the currency of Indigenous communities in an introductory way, are but some of the areas included. This section is meant to acknowledge, build upon, and support recent and more long-standing resources and projects related to the Indian Residential School System and Indigenous histories, contemporary realities, and futures. As such, this section seeks to be an ever-expanding set of resources that ground visitors in existing work and provide direction for pursuing additional information.

Aboriginal Healing Foundation / Fondation autochtone de guérison

Aboriginal Healing Foundation / Fondation autochtone de guérison

View Website

The Aboriginal Healing Foundation was an Indigenous-led, not-for-profit organization that was established in March 1998, after receiving funding from the government of Canada. The Foundation supported community-based projects in First Nations, Métis...

Where Are the Children? Healing the Legacy of Residential Schools

Where Are the Children? Healing the Legacy of Residential Schools

View Website

Between 1831 and 1996, residential schools operated in Canada through arrangements between the Government of Canada and the church. One common objective defined this period — the assimilation of Aboriginal children.

This site is a count...

Shingwauk Residential Schools Centre

View Website

Shortly after the closure of the Shingwauk Indian Residential School in 1970, and in the early years of the Algoma University College (now Algoma University and Shingwauk Kinoomaage Gamig) relocation to the present site, residential school Survivors,...

Indigenous Canada

University of Alberta’s Faculty of Native Studies’ free MOOC on Indigenous Canada

View Website

About this course: Indigenous Canada is a 12-lesson Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) that explores Indigenous histories and contemporary issues in Canada. From an Indigenous perspective, this course explores key issues facing Indigenous peoples toda...

Time and Place at UBC: Our Histories and Relations

Time and Place at UBC: Our Histories and Relations

View Website

The central focus of this website - Time and Place at UBC: Our Histories and Relations - is a UBC-Aboriginal Timeline. The timeline documents UBC’s key historical m...

Indigenous Foundations

Indigenous Foundations

View Website

Indigenous Foundations is an information resource on key topics relating to the histories, politics, and cultures of the Aboriginal peoples of Canada. This website was developed to support students in their studies, and to provide instructors, resear...

NL TEST WEB RESOURCE

Carlisle Indian School Digital Resource Center

Carlisle Indian School Digital Resource Center

View Website

This website represents an effort to aid the research process by bringing together, in digital format, a variety of resources that are physically preserved in various locations around the country. Through these resources, we seek to increase knowledg...

Reconciliation Through Indigenous Education

Reconciliation Through Indigenous Education

View Website

Reconciliation Through Indigenous Education MOOC at UBC. Engage with Indigenous knowledge keepers, educational leaders, and resources to enhance your understanding and knowledge of practices that advance reconciliation in the places where you live, l...

First People Guide

First Peoples: A Guide for Newcomers

View Website

First Peoples: A Guide for Newcomers aims to fill the need for clear information in simple language about the First Peoples in Vancouver. It introduces newcomers to three important topics: who are Aboriginal people (or First Peoples) in Vancouver and...

Reconciliation Pole

Reconciliation Pole

View Website

The Reconciliation Pole, installed on the southern end of campus near the Forestry building, encourages everyone who comes across it to learn more about the history of Indian residential schools and to understand their role in reconciliation between ...

Indigitization

View Website

Indigitization is a B.C. based collaborative initiative between Indigenous communities and organizations, the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, the UBC Museum of Anthropology, Northern BC Archives (UNBC), and the UBC School for Library, Archival and ...

Secwépemc Museum and Heritage Park

Secwépemc Museum and Heritage Park

View Website

The Secwépemc Museum and Heritage Park is a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation and revitalization of our culture and language.

The museum is home to a variety of exhibits that offer an insightful look into Secwépem...

100 years of loss

100 Years of Loss

View Website

From the early 1830s to 1996, thousands of First Nation, Inuit, and Métis children, some as young as four years old, were forced to attend Residential Schools in an attempt to assimilate them into the dominant culture. The mental, physical, and s...

Legacy of Hope Foundation

Legacy of Hope Foundation

View Website

The Legacy of Hope Foundation (LHF) is a national Indigenous-led, charitable organization founded in 2000 with the goal of educating and raising awareness about the history and many legacies of the Residential School System. These include the dire...

IRSSS

Indian Residential School Survivors Society

View Website

The Indian Residential School Survivors Society (IRSSS) is a provincial organization with a twenty year history of providing services to Indian Residential School Survivors.

Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada

Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada

View Website

The Power of a Name

The Power of a Name

View Website

The Power of a Name” is a film series that examines the contested history of building naming practices at UBC’s first year student residence, Totem Park, and features stories of relationships between UBC and Indigenous communities. This resource...

Stories of Truth

Thalit Sqwelqwel (Stories of Truth)

View Website

Prompted by the TRC’s 94 calls to action, a school board trustee, Randy Cairns, asked our Elders and Survivors if they would be willing to share their stories of St. Mary’s Indian Residential school in Mission BC, to ensure that the Truth be made...

Gladys We Never Knew

View Website

TO BE WORKED ON USING INFO FROM THE FAMILY AND HERE: https://thetyee.ca/News/2015/07/04/The-Gladys-We-Never-Knew/. This is an interactive resource that describes the residential school experience of Gladys Chapman in the late 1920s and early 1930s. G...

TOP