November 05, 2012 12:00 PM

This public panel will be based on research presented by Professor Laurel Fletcher and her students from the Berkeley Law School International Human Rights Law Clinic.

From the 1870s until 1996, government-funded and church-run Indian Residential Schools (IRS) exacted a heavy toll on indigenous peoples in Canada. Over 150,000 First Nations, Métis and Inuit children were removed from their families and placed in state-sponsored residential  schools where they were subjected to forced assimilation policies. In 2008, the Canadian government formally apologized for its role in the residential school system and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) was established as part of the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement, the largest class-action settlement in Canadian history. The TRC’s mandate includes acknowledging the IRS legacy and issuing  a public report with  recommendations  to promote reconciliation.  In this talk, we explore the guidance that international human rights law provides for addressing the harms caused  by the IRS and their continuing legacy.

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