WINNIPEG
The work moving forward for what Canada calls reconciliation rests in the hands of the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation.

Ry Moran, who helped the Truth and Reconciliation Commission gather 7,000 survivor statements and more than five million documents, now leads 15 staff members at the new National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg. - photo courtesy of the University of Manitoba

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) released its five-volume final report with recommendations and closed its doors in December.

The 94 calls to action carefully constructed by the commission are aimed at many institutions, but the national centre housed at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg is the repository of knowledge regarding the residential school system and what has been widely condemned as the cultural genocide of indigenous Canadians.

"There can't be reconciliation without truth because how are we going to know what we're going to reconcile without that cold hard look at ourselves in the mirror as a nation," said Ry Moran, the new national centre's director.

"So that truth needs to happen. The reality is a lot of people still don't fully understand the truth. Still don't fully understand the reality between indigenous and non-indigenous Canadians. Still don't understand the full impact or goal of the residential school system and other elements of the aggressive assimilation agenda of the Canadian state, and the actions of the churches and the whole variety of other agents in society."

Moran lists the conversations that need to happen among Canadians: racism, prejudice, treaties, dispossession from lands, children in care, missing and murdered indigenous women.

"That's all part of the same story in many ways. So we have an ongoing obligation to make sure that history is understood. That means not just relying on the primary source material but making sure the TRC report continues to see the light of day, making sure we have an active voice out there where we're continuing to educate the public and being a resource for people out there as they start their own journey of discovery."

The centre has two homes - one at Chancellor's Hall at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg and one on the Internet.

Moran explains the centre "is built upon a vision of an open, dynamic, interactive archive that has partners in a variety of institutions and communities across the country."

"We have all these things in place in nascent form. So the website is up. We're starting to provide access to the material. But the full realization of millions of records being accessible, the full activation of the network, is going to take years."

The partner network needs to be extended to the North and that's a very high priority for Moran and his staff of 15 people this coming year, he said.

The "partner network" is intended to include universities, colleges and other organizations from coast to coast to coast. The centre's website at nctr.ca has an open call for potential partners, who would "undertake activities to support the centre's purpose and objectives - archival activities, research activities, and public engagement, education and reconciliation activities."

A partner could also "provide advice and guidance to the centre" and "may be granted delegated access to restricted materials within the collection."

Moran became involved in the work of the commission from the early days of its establishment in 2010, after a false start when the Indian Residential School Agreement was signed in 2006. The agreement requires a centre that is "accessible to former students, their families and communities, the general public, researchers and educators who wish to include this historic material in curricula."

Moran is intimate with the material.

"I was responsible for the statement gathering and the document collection, elements of the TRC's work, which really saw me see the collection develop, from zero - zero statements and zero documents - to the collection we have now, which is about 7,000 survivor statements and really over five million documents."

The website has material on all residential schools in Canada, including Nunavut.

"That said, the information that is available online right now represents a somewhat cautious, initial public offering of information. We tried to play it pretty safe. We've wrapped our initial round of community engagement sessions," said Moran, whose team did an initial consultation in Iqaluit.

He adds it is those sessions that helped steer the centre regarding the appropriate line between enhanced access through the website versus restricted access through other means.

"The more we put online the better it is in terms of accessibility. But the more information is available the more potential for personal information to be online increases. So we want to be really careful about that."

Moran says one of the big jobs ahead is making more and more information available online. "But that has to be done with the utmost sensitivity and respect to survivors' rights to privacy and anonymity."

Nevertheless, there is pressure to make as much as possible available because "that's what's going to drive the conversation around truth and reconciliation.

"Fundamentally, the further we move along the journey of reconciliation, the more we need to understand the truth because without that understanding the truth is going to keep tripping us up in terms of implementing some of the calls to action."

We welcome your opinions. Click here to e-mail a letter to the editor.