Permanent Collection · Hall of Continuity

The Continuity

One apparatus, re-housed every generation

Dimensions: 1831 to the present; never closed
Date: Manufactured 1831. Re-housed continuously. Conserved 2026.

The Vitrine — Evidence

Figure01
Indigenous children in foster care
About half of all children in foster care in Canada are Indigenous; in some provinces, roughly 84%.
Primary source ↗
Primary document02
Statistics Canada — Indigenous children and the child-welfare system
Primary source ↗
Primary document03
Indigenous Services Canada — Reducing the number of Indigenous children in care
Primary source ↗

Wall LabelAs authorized

Canada has reckoned with the residential-school era and entered a period of reconciliation. Historic wrongs have been acknowledged; institutions have been reformed; the relationship has been renewed.

The museum presents this piece as a closed chapter — a system that ended, and the apology that followed.

Conservation Notes

01
Placement
Each generation re-housed the duty in a more acceptable institution — school, agency, tribunal — so the function would read as care.
02
Layering
'Residential school' overpainted as 'child welfare,' 'apprehension' as 'protection,' 'continuity' as 'reform.'
03
Integration
The institution's name changes every generation. The removal does not.