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Coming to Terms with the Canadian Past: Truth and Reconciliation, Indigenous Genocide, and the Post-war German Model

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Replicating Atonement

Part of the book series: Palgrave Macmillan Memory Studies ((PMMS))

Abstract

MacDonald offers a much-needed overview of the Indian Residential Schools (IRS) in Canada and the creation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) of Canada. His chapter explores the similarities and differences between the TRC and other truth commissions, focusing on its non-judicial and victim-centered aspects. He examines debates about the applicability of Holocaust atonement models to redress for the IRS system and the more general debates about genocide and reconciliation that developed during the six-year mandate of the TRC. Specific reference to foreign genocides and their aftermath were downplayed in favor of commemoration which had a far more domestic, Indigenous focus.

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Acknowledgements

My thanks to the SSHRCC and the University of Guelph for funding this research. Thanks also to Kim Murray, Paulette Regan, Murray Sinclair, Marie Wilson, Wilton Littlechild, Ry Moran, Aimee Craft, Michael Cachagee, Tricia Logan, Sheryl Lightfoot, A. Dirk Moses, Shelagh Rogers, Andrew Woolford, Adam Muller, and Matt James. The research and writing of this chapter were made possible by SSHRCC Insight Grant 430201.

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  1. University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada

    David B. MacDonald

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Correspondence to David B. MacDonald .

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  1. Einstein Forum, Potsdam, Germany

    Mischa Gabowitsch

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MacDonald, D.B. (2017). Coming to Terms with the Canadian Past: Truth and Reconciliation, Indigenous Genocide, and the Post-war German Model. In: Gabowitsch, M. (eds) Replicating Atonement . Palgrave Macmillan Memory Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65027-2_7

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