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Institutional Child Abuse

Background

The abuse of children in institutions run by or on behalf of governments raises serious questions about the health of our society and its governing bodies. The path to healing for the survivors of the abuse, their families, their communities and, in the case of Aboriginal people, their nations, is a difficult one.

Helping survivors, their families and their communities - our communities - to heal is a responsibility of the society that allowed those children to be victimized. Each one of us is a member of that society.

It is important to remember that although children suffered as individuals, many were institutionalized or targeted for abuse for broader reasons, such as their race, class or gender. The Aboriginal community suffered particular harm. Residential schools for Aboriginal children set out to deny them the value and benefit of their language, their culture, and their families. Children with special needs, whether physical or developmental, were also particularly vulnerable to abuse.

The Commission's Report Restoring Dignity: Responding to Child Abuse in Canadian Institutions provides a survey of what happened to these children and their families and communities, as well as to children in child welfare facilities and youth detention centres. It examines potential responses to the abuse these children suffered, and seeks to identify those responses which are best suited to satisfying the needs of survivors.