Residential Schools in Canada — What the Citizenship Test Covers

# Residential Schools in Canada — What the Citizenship Test Covers

The residential school system is one of the darkest chapters in Canadian history. Discover Canada includes it in the official citizenship study guide, and the citizenship test expects new Canadians to know the basic facts. This guide explains what happened, who was harmed, and how Canada has responded.

Residential schools were boarding schools for Indigenous children, funded by the federal government and operated by churches (mainly Catholic, Anglican, United, and Presbyterian). They operated in Canada from the 1830s to 1996 — over 160 years.

The system's stated purpose, articulated by Sir John A. Macdonald in 1879 and Duncan Campbell Scott in the early 20th century, was to "kill the Indian in the child" — to forcibly assimilate Indigenous children into European-Canadian culture by removing them from their families, communities, languages, and traditions.

Attendance became compulsory under the Indian Act in 1894. Indian agents, RCMP, and government officials took children — sometimes by force — from their families. Parents who resisted could be jailed. About 150,000 First Nations, Métis, and Inuit children passed through the system over its life.

Children typically:

• Were sent to schools far from their home communities (sometimes hundreds of kilometres away)
• Could not see family for months or years at a time
• Had their hair cut, their traditional clothing removed
• Were given new (often English) names and school numbers
• Were forbidden to speak their Indigenous languages — punished if caught
• Were forbidden to practise their religious or cultural traditions

Conditions varied but were generally poor:

• Inadequate food — many schools were chronically underfunded; children were malnourished
• Disease — tuberculosis was rampant; thousands died
• Physical abuse — strict, often cruel discipline was common
• Sexual abuse — documented widely in TRC testimony
• Forced labour — older students worked in the school's farms, kitchens, and laundries
• Cultural suppression — punishments for speaking native languages or practising native customs

Estimates of how many children died in or as a result of the schools range from 3,200 (TRC official count, likely undercount) to over 6,000. Many were buried in unmarked graves at school sites — a fact that returned to public attention in 2021 with announcements of suspected unmarked graves at multiple former school sites.

Public criticism grew through the mid-20th century. Schools began closing in the 1960s and 1970s. The last federally funded residential school — Gordon's Indian Residential School in Saskatchewan — closed in 1996.

The 2007 Settlement Agreement

The Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement (2007) was the largest class-action settlement in Canadian history at the time. It included:

• Common Experience Payments to all surviving former students
• Independent Assessment Process for severe abuse claims
• Funding for a Truth and Reconciliation Commission
• Funding for healing programs

The 2008 apology

On June 11, 2008, Prime Minister Stephen Harper delivered a formal apology in the House of Commons on behalf of all Canadians:

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC)

The TRC operated 2009–2015 under chair Justice Murray Sinclair (the first Indigenous judge in Manitoba). It:

• Heard from over 6,500 survivors and witnesses
• Documented the residential school experience
• Issued a 2015 final report including 94 Calls to Action for federal, provincial, municipal, church, business, and civil-society action

The TRC concluded the residential school system constituted cultural genocide.

UNDRIP

In 2016, Canada formally adopted the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) without qualification. In 2021, Parliament passed the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act to align federal law with UNDRIP.

National Day for Truth and Reconciliation

Established in 2021, observed every September 30 (also Orange Shirt Day). It is a federal statutory holiday recognising the residential school legacy.

Common test questions:

• "What were residential schools?" → Government-funded, church-run boarding schools to assimilate Indigenous children
• "When did the government apologise?" → 2008
• "What is the TRC?" → Truth and Reconciliation Commission

Understanding the residential school history is part of being an informed Canadian. Reconciliation is an ongoing process, and Discover Canada places this history alongside other foundational moments. New citizens are expected to know it.

Drill the basic residential-schools facts on our [free Canadian citizenship practice test](/practice-test). For broader Indigenous context, see [Indigenous Peoples of Canada](/blog/indigenous-peoples-canada-first-nations-metis-inuit).