![]() ![]() However, we found a lot of survivor testimonies in the reports of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal People and the Aboriginal Healing Foundation, newspaper articles, published papers and books, unpublished reports and community websites. We did not interview anyone because we couldn’t possibly get interviews from survivors of all the IRSs in such a short time (3 months). They studied published books and articles, old Indian Affairs reports and correspondence, and historical photographs. The students researched and wrote short historical profiles on each school. They are often described as ‘windows of the soul’ because they trigger many more memories than the ones depicted and through that can help tell our personal and collective stories. We focused on historical photographs because they visually capture an experience or event at the moment and provide insight into the lived experiences of their human subjects. ![]() The exhibit is made up of 21 large posters depicting IRS life as we interpreted it through our research into the archives and photographs. The result of our work so far is the exhibit “Pictorial Histories of the Indian Residential Schools in Saskatchewan” which was on display at the TRC National Event. Our Native Studies 430.3 course, “Issues in Cultural Preservation,” focused on researching the IRSs in Saskatchewan. When talks began for the Truth & Reconciliation Commission (TRC) National Event in Saskatchewan we planned to participate, but we also wanted to commemorate the survivors by making a contribution. The suffering and damage experienced by the survivors the experiences of survivors’ children and grandchildren who grew up in traumatized families the anger and remorse of non-Indigenous peoples who had no idea of the genocide occurring in their own backyards. It is a difficult subject for both Indigenous and non-Indigenous students, one that brings up a range of emotions and a burning need to tell the rest of the world and to “do something.” The legacy of the Indian Residential School system impacts us all one way or another. ![]() The history and inter-generational impacts of the IRSs have been studied by Native/Indigenous Studies students for the last 20 years in universities across the country. ![]()
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