The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation was established as “a place of learning and a place of dialogues where we share and discuss the truth of [Residential] School history and legacy.” 

From 2008 to 2015, the National Truth and Reconciliation Commission collected stories from survivors of Canada’s Residential School System, which ran from the late 1800s until the last school closed in the 1990s. It was created to isolate Indigenous children from the influence of their own native culture and religion so as to assimilate them into the dominant Canadian culture. 

Brenda Gunn is the academic and research director at the National Center for Truth and Reconciliation, which is located at the University of Manitoba. She talks about the Centre’s mandate and its outreach programs. These include the, “Imagine Canada program, where we invite school-aged children to provide, with images and ideas of what is reconciliation.” The Centre’s website has an archive of all the stories provided during the seven years the Truth and Reconciliation Commission ran, and in the years since then.

Listen to Brenda Gunn in conversation with reporter James Mainguy.