Supreme Court order could erase nearly 40,000 residential school testimonies

In 2017 the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that the Independent Assessment Process, created to assess compensation claims under the Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement, must delete its roughly 38,000 testimony files by 2027 unless survivors themselves request retention. The decision rests on the original confidentiality promise made to claimants and alleged perpetrators. Survivors such as Geraldine Shingoose, who testified about severe abuse at Muskowekwan Indian Residential School, feel the planned destruction threatens the visibility of their experiences, whereas former Assembly of First Nations chief Phil Fontaine has explicitly asked for his record to be destroyed to avoid further trauma.

Only a handful of claimants have so far retrieved their files, raising concerns that many were not adequately notified. Advocates like Connie Walker, who leads the Indian Residential School Records Project at Toronto Metropolitan University, stress the importance of preserving these accounts to counter denialism and support healing. The controversy highlights a tension between respecting promised privacy and preserving a painful yet crucial part of Canadian history.