Excerpt: In June 2008, Prime Minister Stephen Harper made a formal apology on behalf of the federal government to survivors of Indian Residential Schools, giving impetus to the newly created Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which began to gather testimony from residential school survivors in a series of private and public meetings held across the country.

 

In the fall of 2013, a visit by the TRC to the University of British Columbia prompted an announcement by UBC President Stephen Toope: “Through education, Canadians must come to a shared understanding of the circumstances that have shaped Aboriginal experience, so that we may all begin to know and to value one another.“ At this meeting, Toope also announced UBC’s commitment to the creation of what has now become the Indian Residential Schools History and Dialogue Centre (IRSHDC), designed by Alfred Waugh of Formline Architecture and opened in April 2018.