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 funding for treatment of affected individuals and their families.  

Recommendation 1.10.3 called for the establishment of a "national repository of records and video collections related to residential schools." This national repository would:


 * facilitate access to documentation and electronic exchange of research on residential schools
 * provide financial assistance for the collection of testimony and continuing research
 * work with educators in the design of Aboriginal curriculum that explains the history and effects of residential schools
 * conduct public education programs on the history and effects of residential schools and remedies applied to relieve their negative effects.

Unfortunately, the majority of these recommendations were not adopted or even acknowledged by the federal government. In 1998 the Minister of Indian Affairs finally responded with a "Statement of Reconciliation" that specifically addressed the residential school system as part of her government's formal response to RCAP, entitled Gathering Strength—Canada's Aboriginal Action Plan.

The Government of Canada acknowledges the role it played in the development and administration of these schools. Particularly to those individuals who experienced the tragedy of physical and sexual abuse at residential schools, and who have carried this burden believing that in some way they must be responsible, we wish to emphasize that what you experienced was not your fault and should never have happened. To those of you who suffered this tragedy at residential schools, we are deeply sorry.

It would take another decade of litigation and negotiation following the release of the RCAP report before the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement was reached. In that agreement, Canada and the churches agreed to survivors' demands for individual compensation for all students, independent assessment process for victims of abuse, the establishment of a truth commission, and the creation of a national archive dealing with residential schools. This addressed, but did not fulfill, many of the elements in the RCAP residential school recommendations. In this respect, the TRC is a living testament to former students' perseverance in demanding an inquiry into the residential school system.

Reconciliation Recommendations

RCAP's Final Report is a particularly rich resource. It invites Canadians to participate in a national dialogue on possible pathways to reconciliation. It offered hundreds of relevant recommendations, too numerous to be reviewed here, but their main message was the need for a new relationship between Canada and Aboriginal peoples. Four guiding principles for the new relationship were proposed: mutual recognition, mutual respect, sharing, and mutual responsibility. Aboriginal nations would be recognized as the third order of government in Canada alongside the federal and provincial or territorial branches. Recognition of Aboriginal peoples' inherent right to self-determination would be the only pathway to Aboriginal reconciliation with Canada.

One of the most prominent recommendations was the issuing of what was termed a "New Royal Proclamation" to symbolize the beginning of a new era between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal peoples in Canada. RCAP hoped that this gesture would "establish the infrastructure for the new relationship … [with] critical institutions for the shift to the nation as the basic unit of Aboriginal government and for structuring the negotiating process." A New Royal Proclamation should contain:

_____________________
 * acknowledgement of "the profoundly harmful elements of the past … as a means of reconciliation"
 * creation of a process to recognize Aboriginal nations in which would be vested the right of self-determination
 * establishment of a treaty process framework that commits the government to "respect and implement existing treaties in accord with their spirit and intent"
 * clarification regarding Aboriginal Title and the removal of any extinguishment requirements for land-claims settlements
 * recognition of Métis land rights and governance.