Harold describes feeling trapped in the huge, strange residential school.

The schools are called “residential” because children lived there. But they were forced to live there. And the buildings were designed to confine and control them, not to provide comfort and care. In many ways they were more like prisons than schools.

Learn more about this story at:
witnessblanket.ca/story/brick-fragment

Learn more about residential schools through the voices of Survivors at:
witnessblanket.ca/

The Witness Blanket is a large-scale work of art inspired by a woven blanket. It contains hundreds of items. They were reclaimed from residential schools, churches, government buildings and traditional and cultural structures from across Canada. It stands as a national monument to recognize the atrocities of the Indian residential school era. It honours the children and the Survivors. It symbolizes ongoing reconciliation.

The Witness Blanket team collected over 880 objects from every province and territory in Canada. They travelled over 200,000 kilometres, visited 77 communities and met more than 10,000 people.

They interviewed Survivors in their homes or on the sites of residential schools they were forced to attend. These Survivors’ stories have been woven throughout this website. The emotional power of objects and the voices of Survivors combine to bear witness to the legacy of Canada’s residential schools.