This is an abridged edition of the massive six-volume report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada that between 2008 and 2015 detailed in 7,000 interviews and 5 million documents the mental, sexual, and physical abuse of Indigenous students in boarding schools funded by the Canadian government and run by Catholic and Protestant religious groups.  The schools were chronically underfunded and mostly "badly constructed, poorly maintained, overcrowded, unsanitary fire traps."  Catholic organizations ran twice as many schools as the Protestants.  Students were removed from their families and usually labored at the schools for one-half day to make up for the schools' lack of funding, and took limited academic instruction the other half.  The first school opened in 1834 and the last one closed in 2000.  Since then, 8,500 survivors have filed lawsuits against the government over the abuse they received.  In 2006, the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement was instituted to compensate students for their pain and suffering, and in 2008, Prime Minister Harper apologized for the cultural genocide inflicted on Canada's Indigenous population.  This book presents a searing story of man's inhumanity to man. Summing Up: Essential. All levels/libraries.

Seven volumes from a nationwide inquiry into the legacy of Canada's Indian Residential Schools have been condensed into a compelling book that is both accessible and well-documented. The central conclusion—that the schools were part of a deliberate cultural genocide policy aimed at the continent's first peoples, spearheaded by the Canadian government with the support of mainline churches —is clearly supported by historical references, gut-wrenching personal stories, and a thorough analysis of a system that forcibly removed indigenous children from their families. The text connects past injustices to problems still plaguing Canada's indigenous communities today, including alarmingly high suicide rates and disproportionately high rates of incarceration. It also celebrates the First Peoples who have survived extensive damage and suffering and continue to embrace identities that for centuries were the target of elimination by European settlers. Noting that the process of reconciliation is only just beginning, the commission provides 98 provocative recommendations for ways that non-indigenous Canadians can address present-day injustices and build new relationships. (Jan.)