This is the year.

Saturday concluded a three-day conference in Toronto on the legacy of Indian Residential Schools and the work of the Canadian Truth and Reconciliation commission. The conference was attended by Indigenous and non-Indigenous leaders, survivors of the residential schools, and hundreds of interested and concerned youth from all backgrounds. From discussions since the end of the conference, and the notable lack of media coverage on this important national event, I feel a need to emphasize a point: yes, there continues to be a need for advocacy around residential schools. Although I expect the inevitable negative responses that will follow this article, I would like to argue that there is a need for events that spread awareness and provide opportunities for honest dialogue around this part of our history and the continuing issues that emanate from it. Greater awareness about the atrocities committed in church and government run Residential Schools, the last of which did not shut down until ...