Indian Residential School
Warning:
The Web site deals with topics that may cause trauma invoked by memories of past abuse. The Atlantic Policy Congress of First Nations Chiefs' Secretariat recognizes the need for safety measures to minimize the risk associated with triggering.
If you or someone you know is triggered while reading the content on this web site, you can telephone the Atlantic Policy Congress of First Nations Chiefs Secretariat or the National IRS Crisis Line.
During normal APC business hours, please call us at 1-877-667-4007 and ask for Andrea Colfer, Atlantic Wide RHSW or Connie Nevin, NB RHSW.
A National Indian Residential School Crisis Line has also been set up to provide support for former Residential School students. This Crisis Line is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You can call the Crisis Line at 1-866-925-4419.
Indian Residential School Regional Overview:
In November of 2004, the Mi’kmaq, Maliseet and Passamaquoddy Chiefs mandated the staff of Atlantic Policy Congress (APC) of First Nations Chiefs Secretariat to provide outreach information sessions to former IRS students in the Atlantic. The intent of this mandate was to ensure former IRS students had the most up to date information on the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement (IRSSA).
Approximately 2000, Mi’kmaq, Maliseet, Passamaquoddy, and others attended the Shubenacadie residential school over a period of 38 years from 1929-1967. Since this school was the only recognized Indian Residential east of Quebec, children came from all over the Atlantic and parts of Quebec.
The Shubenacadie Indian residential school opened in 1929 for the first time under the administration of Father Jeremiah Mackey. It’s was to train Mi’kmaw teenage males for manual training and agriculture, but the project failed. The school reopened the following year in 1930 with a new mandate to enroll Aboriginal children ranging in ages between 7 and 15 years; but, there have been several accounts of younger children attending the school. The Shubenacadie residential school was located in the town of Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia, 7 kilometers away from the Indian Brook reserve. The school officially closed its doors in 1967. The building was demolished and burned in a controlled setting in 1989, and a manufacturing company for plastic pipes now occupies the site.
To date, it is estimated that 556 former students have successfully filed a Common Experience Payment claim in the Atlantic region.
In addition to the survivors of the Shubenacadie Indian residential school, the Atlantic region has survivors from other recognized schools across Canada, non-recognized residential school students and a substantial population of Indian day school former students.
The Atlantic Canada has a significant percentage of First Nations citizens impacted by the residential school legacy.
