The system of federally supported schools was created to destroy Indigenous families, communities and ways of life, and to assimilate Indigenous children into European culture. As a result, for more than 100 years in Canada, First Nations, Métis and Inuit children were deprived of the love and attention of their families.

The film Childhood Denied: Indian Residential Schools and Their Legacy includes survivors speaking about Indian residential schools, the 60s scoop and the child welfare system. In the 1960s, Canada's child welfare system continued to intervene in the lives of Indigenous families, by removing Indigenous children and placing them in non‐Indigenous homes. Indigenous children are still far more likely to be placed in foster or institutional care than other Canadian children.

On Wednesday, June 11, 2008, Prime Minister Stephen Harper made a Statement of Apology to former students of Indian Residential Schools, on behalf of the Government of Canada. Hundreds of former students, church representatives and Indigenous leaders watched the apology from the House of Commons galleries. An excerpt from that apology is found below:

The evidence the Truth and Reconciliation Commission gathered, including testimonies from Indian residential school survivors, sparked discussion in Canada about how the Indigenous experience of Indian residential schools is consistent with genocide.

The United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide defines genocide as "any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

a) killing members of the group;

b) causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;

c) deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;

d) imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;

e) forcibly transferring children of the group to another group."

The Indigenous experience in Canada meets the definition of genocide. The forcible transfer of children from their homes to Indian residential schools, cut off from family and community, with the intent to destroy families, communities and ways of life is genocide.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission documented the truth of Indian residential schools, but it also focused on reconciling for the future. To the Commission, reconciliation is about establishing and maintaining a mutually respectful relationship between Indigenous and non‐Indigenous peoples in Canada.

The Commission identifies four things that must occur for reconciliation to happen:

• awareness of the past,
• acknowledgement of the harm that has been inflicted,
• atonement for the causes,
• action to change behaviour.

The Commission made 94 calls to action in order to redress the legacy of residential schools and advance the process of reconciliation in Canada. Some of the calls to action require the participation of governments, educational institutions and museums, but reconciliation can also start with smaller actions.

Over and above the calls to action, the Commission notes in its final report that "museums are well positioned to contribute to education for reconciliation." The Museum is fully committed to taking on this responsibility. Today, we recognize the genocide committed against Indigenous peoples in Canada in our student education programs, our public programs, online and in our exhibitions. We are committed to telling the difficult truths about the Indian residential school experience, and its ongoing effects, in order to advance the process of reconciliation.

Ry Moran, Director of the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation located in Winnipeg, Manitoba, says that in order to move forward towards reconciliation, there must be better understanding of the rights of Indigenous people.