Mental health and emotional support is available to former residential school students and their families through the 24 Hour Residential School Crisis Line at 1-866-925-4419.
A new organization has been created to support former students of residential schools in the NWT and their families.
According to a press release, We Always Remember: Circle for Northern Residential School Survivors aims to advocate for long-term awareness of the legacy and impact of residential schools in the territory.
Organization founders said they want to help survivors and their families to share their experiences and heal.
They plan to honour survivors and the children who never returned home from residential school through the creation of a monument, resource centre and related events.
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Organization co-chair Doreen Cleary noted that the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada has called on the territorial government to build a residential school monument in collaboration with survivors.
“We insist on being a vital part of that process,” she stated.
In June, the NWT government announced that it was seeking Indigenous artists to help create a residential school monument in Yellowknife.
We Always Remember is a project with the MakeWay Charitable Society.
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According to the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, more than 150,000 children attended residential schools across Canada. Many never returned.
While most residential schools stopped operating by the mid-1970s, the last federally-run school closed in Nunavut in 1997.
Fourteen residential schools in the NWT were included in the 2007 Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement.
The NWT government has said the territory had a higher percentage of Indigenous people attend residential school than anywhere else in Canada.
