Residential school survivor donates copy of TRC final report to Sask. Polytechnic

A Saskatchewan residential school survivor has donated one of his five physical copies of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's final report to Saskatchewan Polytechnic in Saskatoon.

Eugene Arcand of the Muskeg Lake Cree Nation is the province's representative on the Indian Residential Schools Survivor Committee, an advisory board to the TRC.

He spent 11 years at two Saskatchewan residential schools.

On Thursday, Arcand presented his second-last copy of the final report to staff atSaskatchewan Polytechnic, to be put on display.

To Arcand, the documents' new home felt entirely appropriate.

"When you look at the true history of residential schools, it was [through] the education process that the whole process of colonization and genocidal practices were used," he said.

"So in my mind, today, I shared the other boxes with education institutions both at the elementary, high school and, now, the adult level, to change that mentality, to change that behaviour."

Arcand had previously donated other copies of the report to Greater Saskatoon Catholic Schools, Saskatoon Public Schools and the Saskatoon Public Library.