The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR; french: Centre national pour la vérité et la réconciliation, ) is the

archival An archive is an accumulation of historical records or materials – in any medium – or the physical facility in which they are located. Archives contain primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of an individual or ...

repository for all of the material collected by the

Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC; french: Commission de vérité et réconciliation du Canada []) was a truth and reconciliation commission active in Canada from 2008 to 2015, organized by the parties of the Indian Reside ...

, purposed to compile the complete history and legacy of Canada's residential school system.

History

The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation was created as part of the 2007

Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement The Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement (IRSSA; french: Convention de règlement relative aux pensionnats indiens, ) is an agreement between the government of Canada and approximately 86,000 Indigenous peoples in Canada who at some point ...

, which dictated that a permanent archive would be established to contain the records of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). The Centre contains all of the residential school survivor testimony, archival documents, and other materials collected by the TRC from 2009 to 2015. The holdings include millions of church and government records, hundreds of residential school photographs, and over 7,000 survivor statement collected by the TRC. The NCTR opened in the fall of 2015 in

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...

, on the campus of the

University of Manitoba The University of Manitoba (U of M, UManitoba, or UM) is a Canadian public research university in the province of Manitoba.Canadian Federal Government The government of Canada (french: gouvernement du Canada) is the body responsible for the federal administration of Canada. A constitutional monarchy, the Crown is the corporation sole, assuming distinct roles: the executive, as the ''Crown-in-C ...

allocated $10 million to the ongoing operations of the NCTR. In September 2019, the NCTR was added to the

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

Canada

Memory of the World Register Memory is the faculty of the mind by which data or information is encoded, stored, and retrieved when needed. It is the retention of information over time for the purpose of influencing future action. If past events could not be remembered, ...

Organization

The NCTR is intended to be a repository for the complete history and legacy of the residential school system, with the goal of teaching Canadians about this history.

Governance

The NCTR is governed by an administrative agreement between the TRC and the University of Manitoba. The Centre is overseen by a seven-member governing circle, composed of three Survivors, two representatives from the University of Manitoba, and two members from partner organizations. The NCTR is also overseen by a Survivor Circle, which includes

First Nations First Nations or first peoples may refer to: * Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area. Indigenous groups *First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including: **First Natio ...

Métis The Métis ( ; Canadian ) are Indigenous peoples who inhabit Canada's three Prairie Provinces, as well as parts of British Columbia, the Northwest Territories, and the Northern United States. They have a shared history and culture which derives ...

, and

Inuit Inuit (; iu, ᐃᓄᐃᑦ 'the people', singular: Inuk, , dual: Inuuk, ) are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories ...

survivors of the residential school system from across Canada.

Collections

Under the

, religious and government bodies involved in the operations of the residential schools were legally required to submit all relevant residential school records to the TRC, which would then by transferred to the NCTR. In 2018, it came to light that the NCTR was still waiting on over 3,000 photographs and numerous boxes of litigation material to be submitted from the Grey Nuns of Montreal.

Programming

The NCTR is engaged in a range of educational and research programming related to residential schools, healing, and reconciliation. Ongoing programming includes: * "Imagine a Canada," a national art and essay program engaging Canadian youth in thinking about what reconciliation can look like. * "Lessons from the Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement," an initiative seeking input and feedback from survivors on their experiences with the settlement agreement, and to foster discussion about what worked and didn't work with the agreement process. On 30 September 2019, to coincide with

Orange Shirt Day The Truth and Reconciliation Day (french: Journée de la vérité et de la réconciliation), originally and still colloquially known as Orange Shirt Day (french: Jour du chandail orange), is a Canadian statutory holiday to recognize the legacy ...

, the NCTR released in ceremony a memorial register that documents the 4,037 students who died while attending residential schools across Canada. The creation of this register was in response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada's final report and calls to action, which included a directive to create a register to document and honour those who died at residential school. At the time of release, the NCTR noted that the register was not complete and that many names of students who died are still unknown.

References

External links

Government of Canada residential school history
{{Authority control Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada 2015 establishments in Manitoba University of Manitoba Archives in Canada First Nations organizations Indigenous organizations in Manitoba