Residential School Survivor Support Programs

Programs that provide information and cultural, emotional and professional counselling support for former residential school students and their families through all phases of the Settlement Agreement process. Services are holistic in nature and deal with the intergenerational impacts of the experience. Cultural supports are provided by local Indigenous organizations that coordinate the services of Elders and/or traditional healers. Resolution Health Support Workers and professional counsellors are available to listen, talk and provide support to help safely address related issues as well as the disclosure of the physical and sexual abuse they may have experienced. Specific services are chosen by the former student and/or family members and can include traditional healing, ceremonies, teachings and dialogue. Indian Residential Schools, the last of which closed in 1996, were government-sponsored religious schools established to assimilate Indigenous children into Euro-Canadian culture.