Interim Report (TRC Canada)/Recommendations

by Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada

 

Recommendations

1. The Commission recommends that the Government of Canada issue the necessary orders-in-council and funding authorities to ensure that the end date of the Commission and Commissioners' appointments coincide, including the necessary wind-down period after the Commission's last public event.
2. The Commission recommends that the Government of Canada work with the Commission to ensure the Commission has adequate funds to complete its mandate on time.
3. The Commission recommends that the Government of Canada ensure that Health Canada, in conjunction with appropriate provincial, territorial, and traditional health care partners, has the resources needed to provide for the safe completion of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's full mandate, and to provide for continuous, high-quality mental health and cultural support services for all those involved in Truth and Reconciliation and other Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement activities, through to completion of these activities.
4. The Commission recommends that each provincial and territorial government undertake a review of the curriculum materials currently in use in public schools to assess what, if anything, they teach about residential schools.
5. The Commission recommends that provincial and territorial departments of education work in concert with the Commission to develop age-appropriate educational materials about residential schools for use in public schools.
6. The Commission recommends that each provincial and territorial government work with the Commission to develop public-education campaigns to inform the general public about the history and impact of residential schools in their respective jurisdiction.
7. The Commission recommends that the Government of Canada and churches establish an ongoing cultural revival fund designed to fund projects that promote the traditional spiritual, cultural, and linguistic heritages of the Aboriginal peoples of Canada.
8. The Commission recommends that all levels of government develop culturally appropriate early childhood and parenting programs to assist young parents and families affected by the impact of residential schools and historic policies of cultural oppression in the development of parental understanding and skills.
9. The Commission recommends that the Government of Canada, and the federal Minister of Health, in consultation with northern leadership in Nunavut and the Northwest Territories, take urgent action to develop plans and allocate priority resources for a sustainable, northern, mental health and wellness healing centre, with specialization in childhood trauma and long-term grief, as critically needed by residential school survivors and their families and communities.
10. The Commission recommends that the Government of Canada, through Health Canada, immediately begin work with provincial and territorial government health and/or education agencies to establish means to formally recognize and accredit the knowledge, skills, and on-the-job training of Health Canada's community cultural and traditional knowledge healing team members, as demonstrated through their intensive practical work in support of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and other Settlement Agreement provisions.
11. The Commission recommends that the Government of Canada develop a program to establish health and wellness centres specializing in trauma and grief counselling and treatment appropriate to the cultures and experiences of multi-generational residential school survivors.
12. The Commission recommends that the parties to the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement, with the involvement of other provincial or territorial governments as necessary, identify and implement the earliest possible means to address legitimate concerns of former students who feel unfairly left out of the Settlement Agreement, in order to diminish obstacles to healing within Aboriginal communities and reconciliation within Canadian society.
13. The Commission recommends that, to ensure that survivors and their families receive as much healing benefit as the apology may bring them, the Government of Canada distribute individual copies of the "Statement of Apology to Former Students of Indian Residential Schools" to all known residential school survivors.
14. The Commission recommends the Government of Canada distribute to every secondary school in Canada a framed copy of the "Statement of Apology to Former Students of Indian Residential Schools" for prominent public display and ongoing educational purposes.
15. The Commission recommends that federal, provincial, and territorial governments, and all parties to the Settlement Agreement, undertake to meet and explore the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, as a framework for working towards ongoing reconciliation between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Canadians.
16. The Commission recommends that the Government of Canada meet immediately with the Aboriginal Healing Foundation to develop a plan to restore funding for healing initiatives to the Foundation within the next fiscal year.
17. The Commission recommends that the Government of Canada and the churches produce all their relevant records to the Commission as quickly as possible.
18. The Commission recommends that Canada and the churches make a dramatic change in the way they address the funding and timeliness of document production and digitization.
19. The Commission recommends that all agencies and organizations that are not parties to the Settlement Agreement, but have holdings relevant to the history and legacy of residential schools (such as provincial and university archives, libraries, museums, galleries, and Aboriginal organizations), contact the Commission and assist the Commission in receiving copies of all such relevant documents.
20. The Commission recommends that governments, educational institutions, and churches consult, design, announce, and publicly unveil residential school commemorations before the completion of the Commission's mandate.