Canada and the Legacy of the Indian Residential Schools: Transitional Justice for Indigenous Peoples in a Non-Transitional Society

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Courtney Jung
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Transitional Justice ◽  
Residential Schools ◽  
Transitional Society ◽  
Indian Residential Schools

Canada protests over Indian Residential Schools expand

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Economic Activity ◽  
Indigenous Population ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Residential Schools ◽  
Public Works ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Social Fabric ◽  
Government Services ◽  
Indian Residential Schools

Significance The discovery of the bodies of hundreds of children at Canada’s former Indian Residential Schools has unleashed a wave of anger and mourning across Canada’s growing Indigenous population. More discoveries are expected, posing challenges for the country’s economic and social fabric. Impacts Public works projects may slow amid intensified disputes between the Canadian state and Indigenous peoples over lands and resources. There will be more pressure to share wealth from economic activity that directly affects Indigenous communities. Indigenous communities are likely to benefit from greater control over the design and delivery of government services. Cultural and academic institutions will increasingly prioritise and amplify Indigenous voices and perspectives. Canada’s reputation as an advocate for human rights will be affected by its handling of the residential schools issue.

scholarly journals The Harms Caused: A Narrative of Intergenerational Responsibility

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maegan Hough
Keyword(s):  
Transitional Justice ◽  
Dispute Settlement ◽  
The United States ◽  
Residential Schools ◽  
Assessment Process ◽  
Intergenerational Justice ◽  
Indian Residential Schools ◽  
Canadian Context ◽  
Societal Responsibility ◽  
Independent Assessment

Born out of the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement, the Independent Assessment Process is a program that provides monetary compensation to former students who suffered sexual and physical abuse at Indian Residential Schools. As “Canada’s Representative” during hearings of the Independent Assessment Process, this author, a young lawyer at the time, bore witness to grizzly accounts of acts perpetrated against claimants that left her unsettled. Unsettled by what was heard, yes, but also in her observations that the process did not satisfy the needs of all claimants, nor did it engage with her own sense of responsibility as a non-Indigenous Canadian. The author weaves together her experiences and observations as “Canada’s Representative” to explore intergenerational justice in a Canadian setting, and what processes might offer a more complete approach in handling the Indian Residential Schools legacy. First, shecanvasses the existing framework of dispute settlement in the context of Indian Residential Schools, namely criminal, tort, and alternative dispute resolution mechanisms. While pointing out the strengths these mechanisms do have to address some of the harms of Indian Residential Schools, she ultimately suggests their inherent legal limitations make them inadequate tools to provide redress to victims and engage society more broadly. The author goes on to define transitional justice, set out its established tenets and themes, and begins to map out a Canadian application of these principles to the Indian Residential Schools policy by drawing on examples from Australia, New Zealand, and the United States. These principles take shape as innovative instruments for advancing the goals of reconciliation and of Canadian society. They are not without their own flaws, however, as the author also points out, that may affect how Canadians—in particular, non-Indigenous Canadians—view their legitimacy. Lastly, the author analyzes prevailing views of societal responsibility to provide a normative underpinning for intergenerational justice in a Canadian context. She concludes by advocating Canadians move from a stance of guilt and blame toward one of a broad assumption of responsibility as they continue to grapple with the legacy of Indian Residential Schools.

scholarly journals Locating a Theoretical Framework for the Canadian Truth and Reconciliation Commission: Charles Taylor or Nancy Fraser?

2012 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Konstantin S. Petoukhov
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Charles Taylor ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Residential Schools ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Theory Of Justice ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation ◽  
Indian Residential Schools ◽  
Nancy Fraser

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) of Canada was established to uncover and acknowledge the injustices that took place in Indian residential schools and, in doing so, to pave the way to reconciliation. However, the TRC does not define reconciliation or how we would know it when (and if) we get there, thus stirring a debate about what it could mean. This article examines two theories that may potentially be relevant to the TRC’s work: Charles Taylor’s theory of recognition and Nancy Fraser’s tripartite theory of justice. The goal is to discover what each theory contributes to our understanding of the harms that Indigenous peoples suffered in residential schools, as well as in the broader colonial project, and how to address these harms appropriately.

Transitional Justice Accountability and Memorialisation: The Yemeni Children Affair and the Indian Residential Schools

2014 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruth Amir
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Transitional Justice ◽  
Cultural Influences ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Historical Institutionalism ◽  
Residential Schools ◽  
Dominant Culture ◽  
Indian Residential Schools ◽  
Settler Societies ◽  
Similarities And Differences

This article outlines the building blocks of transitional justice in democracies. Grounded in the premises of Historical Institutionalism, the article analyses the institutions and processes established and their effect on the outcomes. It offers a comparative analysis of two cases of transitional justice processes in democracies. These are the investigations of the disappearance of Yemeni children in Israel and the Indian Residential Schools Settlement in Canada. There are important similarities and differences between the two cases. In both settler societies the transgressions were part of aggressive assimilation policies directed at children in an attempt to wipe out the particular cultural influences of the children's family and community. In both cases, children were isolated from the influences of their ethnic group in order to be resocialised into the dominant culture. The dire consequences of both these were suppressed, denied and forgotten in official narratives. The different outcomes of these processes are explained by the differences in the intent to redress, the types of institution and the processes implemented.

scholarly journals CONSOLIDATED DEMOCRACIES AND THE PAST: TRANSITIONAL JUSTICE IN SPAIN AND CANADA

2011 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian Dunbar
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Transitional Justice ◽  
Democratic Consolidation ◽  
Residential Schools ◽  
Violent Conflict ◽  
Emerging Democracies ◽  
The Past ◽  
Indian Residential Schools ◽  
Repressive Regime ◽  
Historical Legacies

The majority of scholarly consideration on the principles of transitional justice has focused upon how emerging democracies should deal with former regimes immediately following violent conflict. However, consolidated democracies have also begun to turn to transitional justice mechanisms in order to address historical legacies of violence and repression. This article examines Spain and Canada, two countries dealing with seemingly disparate issues: the legacy of the Civil War and Franco’s repressive regime, and the abuses of the Indian Residential Schools system, respectively. However, both nations have been forced to respond to similar questions regarding the merits of revisiting a painful past well after democratic consolidation. The article first discusses the proliferation of transitional justice principles into consolidated democracies, and considers the argument that such processes may destabilize and divide society, particularly by exacerbating federalist divisions. It concludes that despite the unique challenges of employing transitional justice so long after a transition, the Spanish and Canadian cases reveal the inevitability of confronting the past in response to charges of hypocrisy and illegitimacy. Consolidated democracies, embedded with principles of public contention and debate, are well-suited to respond to these challenges while maintaining political and societal cohesion.

Instructive Past: Lessons from the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples for the Canadian Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Indian Residential Schools

2012 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 101-127 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jula Hughes
Keyword(s):  
Transitional Justice ◽  
Aboriginal People ◽  
Residential Schools ◽  
Class Action ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Aboriginal Peoples ◽  
Royal Commission ◽  
Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation ◽  
Indian Residential Schools

AbstractOver time, the Canadian state has used a variety of mechanisms to address its troubled relationship with its indigenous population, the most prominent of which so far was the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (RCAP). RCAP was mandated to develop both a constitutional framework and a comprehensive social-welfare policy. Staffed predominantly with constitutional lawyers, it articulated a sophisticated constitutional theory, which was not implemented, and did little to ameliorate the living conditions of Aboriginal people. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Indian Residential Schools (TRC), while arising from the settlement of a national class action, can be seen as a successor commission to RCAP. It follows in the procedural footprints of RCAP in a number of ways, including in the profile of its key appointments. This article argues that looking back at the successes and failures of RCAP can be instructive for the TRC as it carries out its mandate, allowing us to predict some areas that will be particularly challenging. In these areas, the TRC will require a departure from the RCAP blueprint if it is to achieve the ambitious goals of a TRC in a non-transitional-justice context.

scholarly journals The Three R’s of Seeking Transitional Justice: Reparation, Responsibility, and Reframing in Canada and Argentina

2011 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle Bonner ◽  
Matt James
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Transitional Justice ◽  
Residential Schools ◽  
Truth Commission ◽  
Political Accountability ◽  
Crucial Difference ◽  
Indigenous Children ◽  
Settler Society ◽  
Advanced Capitalist

In Canada an officially mandated truth commission inquiring into the forced assimilation and abuse of Indigenous children in state-organized and funded residential schools raises profound and in many ways quite novel questions about transitional justice concerning Indigenous peoples in advanced capitalist societies. This article compares the Canadian case with that of a quintessential transitional justice pioneer: Argentina. Focusing on the efforts of justice-seekers in each country, it reveals similarities in their respective pursuits of what the article identifies as three important transitional justice goals: reparation, responsibility and reframing. However, the article also finds a crucial difference between the two cases. This difference is that justice seekers in Argentina have placed a heavy emphasis on social and political accountability, a goal that, in various ways, has received much less attention in the Canadian case. We conclude that this absence raises broader issues about transitional justice processes in countries marked by ongoing legacies of anti-Indigenous colonialism—issues that Canadians from the settler society, in particular, must begin urgently to address.

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