Canada must reveal ‘undiscovered truths’ of residential schools to heal

The man who led the country's Truth and Reconciliation Commission insists an independent investigation into decades of abuse of Indigenous children is essential

Canada urgently needs an independent investigation into the deaths of thousands of Indigenous children at church-run residential schools if the country ever hopes to finally confront the horrors of its colonial past, the man who led the country's Truth and Reconciliation Commission has told the Guardian.

Murray Sinclair, a former senator and one of the country's first Indigenous judges, warned that the undiscovered truths" of the schools are probably far more devastating than many Canadians realize - including the deliberate killing of children by school staff and the likelihood that such crimes were covered up.