Will Canada Let Residential School Testimonies Be Lost?

Will Canada Let Residential School Testimonies Be Lost?

From The Rundown by TVO

May 6, 2026 · 29 min

About this episode

The episode discusses the urgency of preserving residential school survivor testimonies in Canada and features insights from notable guests on related Indigenous issues.

What happens to the stories of residential school survivors if they are never preserved, and is Canada prepared to let them disappear? With a Supreme Court deadline approaching that could see thousands of survivor testimonies destroyed unless individuals act, we examine why many people remain unaware of the clock running out and what is at stake if those records are lost. Pulitzer Prize winning investigative journalist Connie Walker, host of Stolen: Surviving St. Michael's and lead of the Indian Residential School Records Project at Toronto Metropolitan University, explains the push to build a permanent national archive. We then turn to Red Dress Day and the ongoing crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and Two Spirit people. Storyteller and educator Carolyn Roberts joins us to discuss her new children's book, "Tess's Red Dress," and how it helps families and classrooms confront a reality that is still unfolding. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

People in this episode

Host: TVO

Guests: Connie Walker, Carolyn Roberts

Topics covered

  • residential schools
  • Indigenous rights
  • survivor testimonies
  • missing and murdered Indigenous women
  • national archive
  • children's literature

Keywords

  • residential schools
  • survivor testimonies
  • Canada
  • Indigenous women
  • national archive
  • Connie Walker
  • Carolyn Roberts
  • Tess's Red Dress
  • Red Dress Day

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Toronto Metropolitan University

Books & works: Tess's Red Dress

Places: Canada, St. Michael's

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