Residential Schools: Part 04 The Road to Reckoning

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Co-hosted by Valerie & Amanda Joy (Down the Crooked Path)

What happened after the dormitories began to close? This episode traces the long, uneven path from the physical shutdown of Canada’s residential schools to the national reckoning still unfolding today.

Valerie and Amanda explore:

• Closing the Schools (1960s–1990s): Why it took decades, and what “closure” actually looked like on the ground.
• The Sixties Scoop: How the removal of Indigenous children into non-Indigenous foster and adoptive homes continued the project of cultural erasure after the schools themselves began to disappear.
• The Fight for Justice: Grassroots organizing, survivor testimony, class-action lawsuits, and the long road to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC).
• Government & Church Responses: Public apologies, legal settlements, resistance, delays—and the silences that remain.

The Road to Reckoning asks us to look beyond buildings and dates, toward the systems, policies, and lived experiences that carried harm forward—and toward the people who demanded that truth be heard.

Content Note: This episode includes discussion of residential schools, child removal, abuse, and intergenerational trauma. Please listen with care.

If you haven’t heard Parts 01–03, we recommend starting there to follow the full arc of the series.

Need Support?
The National Indian Residential School Crisis Line is available 24/7 to survivors and their families: 1-866-925-4419 (Canada).

Thank you for listening with care. Truth must come before reconciliation.

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Edited by Kyle McDonnell