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Indian Residential School Memorial Monument

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Coming soon. Installation and inauguration: September 30, 2024

This monumental sculpture invites you to bear witness to the lasting harm caused by Canada’s Indian residential school system.

In May, 2021, the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc Nation announced that the unmarked graves of Indigenous children had been found at the site of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School. Kwaguʼł master carver Stanley C. Hunt responded by creating this massive red-cedar sculpture as a memorial to the children who never returned from Canada’s residential schools.

The Indian Residential School Memorial Monument is not a traditional totem pole or memorial pole. It is unique.

Carved from the trunk of a red cedar tree, the work is 5.5 metres (18 feet) tall and 1.2 metres (4 feet) wide, and features 130 unsmiling children’s faces. A large raven looks down upon them protectively. Emblems such as the maple leaf and the cross, and abbreviations for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and North-West Mounted Police, have been carved upside down.

It is a compassionate work of remembrance. It holds governments, churches, and police forces accountable for creating and running the residential school system. It is a call for all of us to bear witness.

In many Indigenous traditions of the Pacific Coast, witnesses remember, tell stories, and carry the past forward into the future. Visitors to the monument are invited to become witnesses to truth, and to contribute to a future of reconciliation.

The Indian Residential School Memorial Monument is located in the Four Seasons Salon on Level 1 of the Museum, just past the Canadian Stamp Collection. Installation and inauguration: September 30, 2024.

Image Gallery

  • Large truck in front of a sandstone-coloured Museum building, with the Monument lying on a long trailer.Canadian Museum of History, IMG2023-0309-0003-DmThe Indian Residential School Memorial Monument arriving at the Canadian Museum of History.
  • Two medium-skinned men with white hair —one holding an Indigenous drum — standing in front of a large orange and black carving.Canadian Museum of History, IMG2023-0309-0036-DmStanley C. Hunt and Mervyn Child.
  • A medium-skinned man wearing leather and fur headwear, fur necklace, and cloth vest covered with simple, colourful patterns, standing outdoors in front of a large orange and back carved surface.Canadian Museum of History, IMG2023-0309-0074-DmStanley C. Hunt speaking outdoors, in front of the Indian Residential School Memorial Monument.
  • A group of people outdoors near the Monument. Some are touching its surface.Canadian Museum of History, IMG2023-0309-0056-DmUpon its arrival, Stanley, his family, and many Museum staff participated in an outdoor eagle-down ceremony to bless the Monument.
  • A view of the lower body of the Monument, lying on its side. The large cylindrical shape is covered with carved faces set within a bright orange grid.Canadian Museum of History, IMG2023-0309-0043-DmThe Monument was carved and transported lying down. It will be raised upright for the first time when it is installed at the Museum.
  • A massive carved and painted wood sculpture being hoisted onto a platform inside a loading dock. Workers in bright orange vests help, while others look on.Canadian Museum of History, IMG2023-0309-0099-DmStanley C. Hunt watches as Museum staff unload the Monument at the Museum. Its massive size required careful handling and heavy equipment to transport, store, and exhibit the work of art.
  • A large cylindrical sculpture is hoisted off a flatbed with wide straps. It features children’s faces painted black within an orange grid. A large carved black raven looks down upon the children from the top.Canadian Museum of History, IMG2023-0309-0087-DmThe Monument being hoisted off the flatbed of a large truck. At the top of the sculpture, Raven watches over the children.