ABSTRACT
The Indian Residential Schools Settlement marks a coming of age for Canada. As a literary genre, coming of age focuses on the psychological and moral growth of the protagonist from youth to adulthood and in which character change is extremely important. This chapter presents a history of the residential schools and the negotiations leading to settlement. It discusses the challenges of achieving reconciliation between Canada, the first peoples, the churches and the non-aboriginal populations of the country, what has been done and what needs to be done to create the conditions for reconciliation. While negotiating the mandate of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), the Assembly of First Nations' (AFN) position was that the TRC's mandate had to be built upon Aboriginal values with the understanding that reconciliation is an ongoing individual and collective process and requires commitment from all those affected.
