Alberta students to learn more about impact of residential schools

The Alberta government is overhauling the school curriculum to incorporate recommendations from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to ensure students learn more about the legacy of abuse.

Provincial officials do not have a timeline for the changes, but saywork has already started.

"There is about a half a page within the Grade 10text book, information about residential schools so they don't go into depth about it. It's not enough," said AmandaGould, First Nation,Metisand Inuitliaison for students at an Edmonton school.

• A history of residential schools in Canada

The TRCtravelled the country, listening to six years of testimony from nearly 7,000witnesses. The documentprovides stories from survivors, including tales of children taken from parents, siblings separated, and abuse and neglect at residential schools.

Seventeen-year-old Emerald Blesse,who just returned from the national ceremonies where she sharedideas about reconciliation, says shelearned of thedevastating impact of residential schools from her great grandfather.

"They're just hiding all the stuff what happened to the aboriginal people."

Shehas always questioned why there's hardly any mention of the shameful history in school, she says.

Learning moreabout the history and legacy of residential schoolscan help studentsunderstand the plight of indigenous people, said teacherTerry Godwalt.

"As a result of not having it in the curriculum I think the kids see it as a little box in a text book,a pictureof little children standing in front of a school."

Thelong-awaited summary report released this week blasts more than 100 years of Canada's aboriginal policy, saying in theintroduction that the "establishment and operation of residential schools were a central element of this policy, which can best be described as 'cultural genocide.'"

The TRC will release a final report of its recommendations next week.