“Without truth, justice, and healing, there can be no genuine reconciliation.” - Truth and Reconciliation Commission Final Report, 2015

Seven years later, the full truth of what happened in residential schools is still not known.

TW Our team spent a year investigating St. Michael’s Residential School in Duck Lake, SK. We found 290+ allegations of sexual and physical abuse across decades. We published names of dozens of alleged abusers, mostly priests and nuns.

We also discovered children died at the school.

In the late 1970s, my dad was a special constable in the RCMP. One night when he was on patrol, he pulled over a vehicle because he suspected the driver was drinking. When he got to the window, he recognized the driver. It was a priest who had abused him in residential school. I first heard this story about a year ago, when my brother shared it. I felt sick when I read this post. It made me realize that despite all of my reporting on residential schools, I didn’t know anything about my dad’s experience. I didn’t know where he went or for how long.

As part of the residential school settlement, the Catholic Church agreed to raise $25 million to compensate residential school survivors for the emotional, physical & sexual abuse, malnutrition, & cultural shaming suffered in Catholic-run schools. cbc.ca/news/canada/sa… But most of that money was never raised. Canada's 12 million Catholics donated less than $4 million of the promised $25 million — roughly 30 cents per person.

Overcrowded housing could make self-isolation impossible, says Neskatanga chief cbc.ca/news/indigenou… The CEO of an organization that represents several fly-in communities in northern Ontario says the COVID-19 virus poses a potentially "devastating" threat to First Nations that are already dealing with a bad flu year and face overcrowded conditions due to housing shortages.

Sen. Lynn Beyak broke Senate’s code of conduct by posting racist letters about Indigenous people online, ethics officer says /via @globeandmail theglobeandmail.com/canada/article… Legault says he proposed that Beyak delete the racist letters from her website, post a formal apology and complete a cultural-sensitivity course with an emphasis on Indigenous issues, but she hasn’t done any of those things.

“A flight should have been the first choice. You don't send a heart patient on a 10 hour bus ride,” said Neckoway. “He had asked for an escort which was subsequently denied. He got on bus and he never made it," she said. winnipeg.ctvnews.ca/heart-patient-… Donkey's family said he recently had stents put in his heart. They say he was called by the doctor for a follow up appointment at St. Boniface Hospital, but wasn't offered a flight to get there.

There is a TB crisis in Nunavut at this very moment. Crisis affecting 14 communities & many children :Stephen Lewis aidsfreeworld.org/commentary/201… "What became painfully evident was that TB is driven by the social determinants of health. Time and again, we heard of food insecurity..."