Skip to Main Content

Indigenous Resources: Residential Schools

This guide provides access to resources on Indigenous history, communities, and culture in Canada and NS, as well as government documents. It was developed in consultation with members of the Indigenous community in Nova Scotia and NSCC.

We Were Children

Warning: this film contains disturbing content and is recommended for audiences 16 years of age and older. Parental discretion, and/or watching this film within a group setting, is strongly advised. If you need counselling support, please contact Health Canada.

In this feature film, the profound impact of the Canadian government’s residential school system is conveyed through the eyes of two children who were forced to face hardships beyond their years. As young children, Lyna and Glen were taken from their homes and placed in church-run boarding schools, where they suffered years of physical, sexual and emotional abuse, the effects of which persist in their adult lives. We Were Children gives voice to a national tragedy and demonstrates the incredible resilience of the human spirit.

Books

Out of the depths : the experiences of Mi'kmaw children at the Indian Residential School at Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia - A book from the library catalogue
Residential schools : with the words and images of survivors - A book from the library catalogue
The Education of Augie Merasty - A book from the library catalogue
Muinji'j Asks Why : The Story of the Mi'kmaq and the Shubenacadie Residential School.
A National Crime - A book from the library catalogue
Indian school road : legacies of the Shubenacadie Residential School - A book from the library catalogue
Power through testimony: reframing residential schools in the age of reconciliation - A book from the library catalogue
A Knock on the Door: The Essential History of Residential Schools From the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada
My Decade at Old Sun, My Lifetime of Hell

Online Resources

Canadian Residential School and Colonial Institutions Database 1620- Present.(CRSCID) - This is a comprehensive database of Residential Schools, Indian Hospitals, and Indian Day Schools in Canada

Mi'kmawey Cultural Centre