Children were taken and abused, languages erased and families broken. Canadians must act together to repair the damage that was caused in compliance with the law and was deliberate and far-reaching.
A decade after the release of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's (TRC) 94 Calls to Action, Dr. Marie Wilson says the legacy of Indian Residential Schools is not a distant chapter in the country's history but a shared national responsibility.
Sue Short, left, and Dr. Marie Wilson at Wilmot United Church on May 27. A long-time friend of Wilson's, Short expanded on the talk by interviewing her afterward.
The former TRC commissioner addressed a large audience at Wilmot United Church in Fredericton on May 27 at an event sponsored by the church, the University of New Brunswick (UNB) and St. Thomas University.
For over 150 years, authorities forcibly took First Nations, Inuit and Métis children from their families, forcing them to attend residential schools, which were often far from their homes. Children endured severe physical, mental and sexual abuse and were forbidden to speak their languages, making them unable to communicate with their families.
More than 150,000 children attended Indian Residential Schools, and many never came home.
"We mark each other with memories, some that we cherish and want to hold on to forever and some that we try to set down and get rid of, even though they cling to us," she said.
An experienced journalist and public administrator, Wilson served on the TRC alongside Chief Wilton Littlechild and the late Sen. Murray Sinclair and was the only non-Indigenous commissioner. Her husband, Stephen Kakfwi, a past Dene Nation chief and former premier of the Northwest Territories, is an Indian Residential School Survivor, which he discusses in his book Stoneface.
Wilson recalled the commission's early days when confusion and mistrust surrounded its purpose. Survivors, she said, often had little information about the legal settlement that created the TRC, and many needed reassurances that their voices would be heard and respected. Many incorrectly assumed it was an arm of the government.
"It came out of a great big, complicated court case and a legal settlement," she said. "There was enormous confusion about it and that wasn't just about explaining it to non-Indigenous people."
Hon. Graydon Nicholas, former lieutenant-governor of New Brunswick and the first Indigenous person to hold that office, had helped the TRC with getting the word out in those early days. Nicholas, who offered a welcome to Wilson on May 27, had hosted Wilson and Sinclair at Government House.
"We hadn't even started our hearings yet. We were still trying to get the word out and he hosted us, welcomed us and brought many others," Wilson said.
She described how the TRC built a national network of support, combining Western-trained health professionals with Indigenous knowledge keepers and spiritual leaders to assist those involved in the emotionally difficult process of giving testimony.
"It was a beautiful model of collaboration and support," she said, "and it was an acknowledgement and practical way of bringing together different kinds of expertise."
Wilson emphasized that Canadian law established residential schools.
"Everything that happened regarding residential schools in Canada happened according to Canadian laws," she said. "They were not Indigenous laws they were imposed."
Nonetheless, she noted the law is also capable of doing good things, referencing the lawsuit that led to the commission's creation.
Wilson also addressed the role of churches, noting that all major denominations were involved in operating the schools under government contracts.
"It's a reminder that we have to be ever-vigilant of our institutions of our faith homes and our academic homes," said Wilson.
"We need to ask: What is it at the core of what these institutions are trying to achieve?'"
The TRC's mandate was not just to document history but to create a platform for Survivors to speak freely.
"Our job was to create spaces and opportunities and platforms for those stories to be shared in what became the largest oral history record that we've ever accumulated in Canada."
In 2024, Wilson released her book, North of Nowhere: Song of a Truth and Reconciliation Commissioner, drawing on her detailed notes of testimony before the TRC.
North of Nowhere follows the theme of the Seven Sacred Teachings, also known as the Seven Grandfather Teachings, which the TRC followed at each of its stops across Canada: respect, courage, love, truth, humility, honesty and wisdom.
"I feel, in many ways, that my job was the easy one," Wilson said of writing the book. "All I had to do was bear witness to their stories. I didn't have to experience it. I didn't have to live it."
She acknowledged the harrowing stories of cruelty, neglect and outright torture that Indigenous children and their families endured and how the Reconciliation process is still ongoing.
"Reconciliation is an ongoing, everyday process, a long-term commitment to a new way of living together in a shared country."
"Reconciliation is just beginning. It will take everyone, across all sectors of society, to move Reconciliation forward, to keep it alive," Wilson wrote in her book.
In addition to these truths, North of Nowhere includes moments of inspiration, light-heartedness and even humour from Wilson's experiences during the TRC's hearings and events.
"I tried to sprinkle these throughout the book. It is a serious book, there's no question, and I wanted to tell it truthfully. I didn't sugarcoat, but I wanted to tell it safely," Wilson said.
Wilson addressed common misconceptions, including comparisons of Residential Schools to non-Indigenous boarding schools.
"What was different is that the children who went to Residential Schools became officially wards of the state," she said.
"Their parents lost all control over their own children And in extreme cases, the parents didn't even know where their children were."
She challenged the audience to reflect on how little most Canadians were taught about Indigenous history.
"We didn't know what we weren't taught," she said, remembering that growing up, she didn't know the Indigenous name of the First Nation next to her community.
"We haven't been good neighbours because we've been strangers."
Wilson emphasized the responsibility that the TRC findings put on all Canadians.
"The mess that the schools created is Canadian history, not Indigenous history. As inheritors of that history, it is our responsibility to do something about the fallout. It belongs to all of us as the architects and drafters of the future of Canada," she said.
"How shall we be remembered as the ancestors of tomorrow?"
Todd Ross, acting Piluwitahasuwin and associate vice president Indigenous engagement at UNB, said it was important to hear directly from Wilson.
"Marie Wilson continues her commitment to ensure the truths of the Residential School Survivors will continue to be honoured and shared. Her talk reminds us of our responsibility to continue on the path of meaningful Reconciliation."
