By contributing artwork exemplifying traditional Indigenous art forms and techniques, these objects not only testified to the artists’ experiences of trauma and survival, but also serve to preserve and promote the Native culture that the schools sought to destroy. 
John Conway,
A First Nation Burial Ground, Saskatchewan,
2002
|
 John Conway,
St. Michael’s Indian
Residential School in Duck Lake, Saskatchewan,
2002,
St. Michael’s Indian Residential School burnt to the ground in 2002. As it burned all night, people from Beardy and Okemasis First Nations, which are located nearby, gathered at the site to watch and celebrate. The next morning, John Conway travelled to the site and took this photograph.
For over 100 years and until the 1990s, Canada maintained a residential school system for its First Nations, Inuit, and Métis populations. Indigenous children were taken from their families and placed into the residential schools, were they were forced to renounce their native cultures, languages, clothing, and relationships. They experienced widespread physical and sexual abuse. These residential schools were part of a broader public policy framework that sought to destroy Indigenous populations and their culture.
In 2008, Canada instituted a national Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which collected testimony and evidence from survivors of the schools, officially acknowledging and apologizing for their suffering. While some survivors presented their testimony through speaking, others donated art objects to the Commission, using art to tell their stories of survival. These objects became part of the official collection of Canada’s National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation. By contributing artwork exemplifying traditional Indigenous art forms and techniques, these objects not only testified to the artists’ experiences of trauma and survival, but also serve to preserve and promote the Native culture that the schools sought to destroy. |
The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR) is the permanent home for all statements, documents, and other materials gathered by Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission. A shared vision held by those affected by Indian residential schools was to create a place of learning and dialogue where the truths of their experiences were honoured and kept safe for future generations. They wanted their families, communities and all of Canada to learn from these hard lessons so they would not be repeated. They wanted to share the wisdom of the Elders and Traditional Knowledge Keepers on how to create just and peaceful relationships amongst diverse peoples. They knew that Reconciliation is not only about the past; it is about the future that all Canadians will forge together. This vision is the legacy gift to all of Canada.
