Power through Testimony

Power through Testimony documents how survivors are remembering and reframing our understanding of residential schools in the wake of the 2007 Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), a forum for survivors, families, and communities to share their memories and stories with the Canadian public. The commission closed and reported in 2015, and this timely volume reveals what happened on the ground.

Drawing on field research during the commission and in local communities, the contributors document how residential schools have been understood and represented by various groups and individuals over time; how survivors are undermining colonial narratives about residential schools; and how the churches and former school staff are receiving or resisting the “new” residential school story.

Ultimately, Power through Testimony questions the power of the TRC to unsettle dominant colonial narratives about residential schools and transform the relationship between Indigenous people and Canadian society.

Brieg Capitaine is a professor of sociology at the School of Sociological and Anthropological Studies at the University of Ottawa. Karine Vanthuyne is an associate professor of anthropology at the School of Sociological and Anthropological Studies at the University of Ottawa.

Contributors: Janice Cindy Gaudet, Cheryl Gaver, Robyn Green, Jula Hughes, Lawrence Martin/Wapistan, Charles R. Menzies, Arie Molena, Ronald Niezen, Simone Poliandri, and Eric Taylor Woods

The contributors to Power through Testimony provide an important commentary on the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada and the limitations of its mandate.