Ontario to deliver official response on Truth and Reconciliation Commission report Monday

Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne is set to deliver an official response by the province to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's final report alongside opposition and Indigenous leaders Monday morning.

The provincial government made the announcement in a news release Sunday afternoon, calling Monday a "historic day."

The response will be preceded by a sunrise ceremony led by Indigenous elders Shelley Charles and Jim Dumont an will be followed by an workshop open to the public focusing on the "history of the relationship between European settlers and Indigenous Peoples in Canada," the release states.

• Ontario public servants to receive indigenous cultural sensitivity training
• Truth and Reconciliation Commission final report points to 'growing crisis' for indigenous youth
• TRC report: 5 stories of residential school escapees who died

​The Truth and Reconciliation Commission's report, titled Honouring the Truth, Reconciling for the Future, released in Dec. 2015 is the culmination of thousands of hours of heart-wrenching testimony heard in more than 300 communities over a span of six years. 

More than 6,000 indigenous women and men who were abused and lived told their stories.

'Concerted effort to extinguish' culture

Within its over 3,700 pages are stories of children forcibly separated from their families, communities, language and culture who ended up suffering shocking rates of mental, physical and sexual abuse.

"Removed from their families and home communities, seven generations of aboriginal children were denied their identity through a systematic and concerted effort to extinguish their culture, language and spirit," commission chair Justice Murray Sinclair said in the final report.

In February, Ontario announced it would be introducing mandatory indigenous cultural sensitivity and anti-racism training for all public service employees in response to recommendations from the commission.

The province also announced it would be developing a plan to ensure that the impact of residential schools, the history of colonization and the importance of treaties is added to the curriculum in Ontario's public schools.