Residential School Graves

Canada’s residential school system was a government-sponsored, church-run network of boarding schools aimed at assimilating Indigenous children by taking them away from their families and forcibly erasing their cultural identity. The first residential school opened its doors in 1831 and the last one, Gordon’s Residential School in Saskatchewan, closed in 1996.

In the wake of unbearable pain – as more unmarked graves are uncovered – we’re reminded that despite the efforts of the Canadian government and the Church, Indigenous people are still here, Indigenous languages are being revitalized, Indigenous cultures prevail, and this is still Indigenous land.

Source: Orlandini, Rosa, 2019, Residential School Locations Dataset

Map: Jordan Engel. As always, the Decolonial Atlas’ original media can be reused under the Decolonial Media License 0.1.

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