Canada's Residential Schools: The History, Part 2, 1939 to 2000, Volume 1 describes the history and the student experience of residential schools from Confederation to 1939. This title is part of the Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, Volume 1. This volume outlines the period in which the system was established and expanded. It was also the period of the most intense health crisis. By the end of the 1930s, government officials had come to question the value of the residential school system. The final section covers the years from 1940 to 2000, by which time the system had been brought to an end. While government officials had come to view the schools as costly and inefficient, the churches were reluctant to countenance their closure. It was not until the late 1960s that the federal government finally wrested control of the system away from the churches. Government plans to turn First Nations education over to the provinces met with opposition from Aboriginal organizations that were seeking “Indian Control of Indian Education.” Following parent-led occupation of a school in Alberta, many of the remaining schools came under Aboriginal administration. The closing of the schools coincided with a growing number of convictions of former staff members on charges of sexually abusing students. These trials revealed the degree to which sexual abuse at the schools had been covered up in the past. Former students, who came to refer to themselves as Survivors, established regional and national organizations and provided much of the leadership for the campaign that led to the federal government issuing in 2008 an apology to the former students and their families.
