Honouring the Truth Reconciling for the Future

312 • Truth & Reconciliation CommissionI therefore conclude that given their meaning, the language in section 11of Schedule N does not exclude documents archived at lac from Canada’sobligation to the trc. The context in which the Settlement Agreement wascreated provides further important support for that conclusion in several ways.[para. 71]First, telling the history of Indian Residential Schools was clearly seen as acentral aspect of the mandate of the trc when the Settlement Agreement wasmade. Since Canada played a vital role in the irs [Indian Residential School]system, Canada’s documents wherever they were held, would have beenunderstood as a very important historical resource for this purpose. [para. 72]Second, the Settlement Agreement charged the trc with compiling an historicalrecord of the irs system to be accessible to the public in the future. Here too,Canada’s documents, wherever housed, would have been seen to be vital to thistask. [para. 73]Third, the story of the history and the historical record to be compiled cover over100 years and dates back to the nineteenth century. In light of this time span, itwould have been understood at the time of the Settlement Agreement that muchof the relevant documentary record in Canada’s possession would be archived inlac and would no longer be in the active or semi-active files of the departmentsof the Government of Canada. [para. 74]Fourth, it would have been obvious that the experienced staff at lac would havevastly more ability to identify and organize the relevant documents at lac thanwould the newly hired staff of the newly formed trc. It would have made littlesense to give that task to the latter rather than the former, particularly given itsimportance to the trc’s mandate. [para. 75] 156Although the difficulties the trc encountered in obtaining lac documents werespecific to the Commission’s mandate, they highlight broader questions concerningthe role of state archives and archivists in providing documents that reveal the factsof why and how a targeted group of people have suffered harms on a massive scale.As part of a growing trend towards demanding better government accountability andtransparency, and the evolution of new privacy and freedom of information legislation,archives have become more directly connected to struggles for human rights andjustice. 157Archives and access to justiceLibrary and Archives Canada’s federal government departmental records pertainingto Aboriginal peoples are vital to understanding how human rights violationsoccurred and their subsequent impacts. In 2005, the United Nations adopted the