Stolen Childhoods: The Legacy of Residential Schools

Residential schools sought to erase Indigenous identities, separating children from families, languages, and cultures. Remembering this painful history is essential for truth, healing, and reconciliation with Indigenous communities.

Historical Archive

A visual record of the environments and conditions of the residential school system.

Group of students at residential school

Uniform Identity

Children in front of a red brick school building, stripped of their traditional clothing and cultural markers.

Students lined up in front of building

Systemic Regimentation

Hundreds of students lined up in front of large institutional buildings, representing the scale of the system.

Residential school dormitory

The Dormitory Life

Rows of metal beds in clinical, crowded dormitories where children were separated from their kin.

Residential school classroom with nun

Forced Assimilation

A classroom setting where traditional languages were forbidden and foreign systems were strictly imposed.