Between 1883 and 1996, approximately 150,000 children across Canada passed through the Residential School system under the enactment of the Indian Act. At least 4,100 children disappeared, but the number could exceed 10,000 children, through a system administered by Christian churches. The Indian Act policy was for Christian churches not to return the bodies of deceased children to their families but instead, to bury them in unmarked graves which the churches failed to protect. Children were torn from their families, isolated, subjected to horrific abuses, intentionally orchestrated to strip children of their culture and heritage, all of which have led to inter-generational and systematic traumas.
To learn more about Truth & Reconciliation, visit the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation.
A National Residential School 24-Hour Crisis Line provides support to former students at: 1-866-925-4419
The Residential Schools Searches program is presently available for new and ongoing searches in Manitoba. This program may expand in the future to include searches at Residential Schools across Canada. Please contact us if you have a search in other areas of Canada.
Funding contributions are granted toward search activities at Residential Schools across Manitoba for missing children and unmarked burials. Grants are considered on a case-by-case basis.
For more information on the Residential Schools in Manitoba, please find more information here.
Prior to contacting us with your funding request, please review Navigating the Search for Missing Children and Unmarked Burials available here.
Tell us more about your search and to apply to our program: admin@aurorafoundation.ca
Donate to our program: hello@aurorafoundation.ca