Our Mission

The Legacy of Hope Foundation (LHF) is a national Indigenous-led, charitable organization founded in 2000 with the goal of educating and raising awareness about the history and many legacies of the Residential School System. These include the direct and ongoing impacts on First Nation, Métis, and Inuit Survivors, their communities, and their descendants. Our mission is to educate towards creating just and equal relationships of reconciliation and healing for all Canadians, to expand awareness of and access to the rich legacy of the contributions of Indigenous Peoples in Canada and the world, and to make known the histories of Indigenous Peoples in Canada, including the histories of injustice

The LHF works in partnership with First Nations, Métis, and Inuit peoples, communities, and organizations, and with governmental agencies, foundations, educational institutions, and others across the country to develop educational materials, commemoration projects, and research initiatives that support our mission. Our vision for Canada is that informed, capable, and respectful persons live as equals in a mutually beneficial, caring, dignified, and just relationship of reconciliation, for the better future of all Peoples and the Land. Our mission and our vision guide our daily work, our interactions with one another, and with all of our partners.

The LHF fulfills our mandate by: working in partnership with First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples, communities and organizations across Canada; and undertaking communications, research, and policy activities that support the development and implementation of our educational and commemoration projects. All of these activities are informed by the experiences and stories of Residential Schools Survivors, their families, and communities.

Our work is guided by ethical guidelines and principles for working with Survivors and Indigenous communities. These ethical guidelines are based on: 1) a deep concern and compassion for and honouring of Survivors, their families, and communities; and 2) a clear understanding of the need for and importance of the oral tradition of Indigenous peoples. We take as our fundamental guiding principle that the work of the LHF must contribute to the health, safety, well-being, and healing Survivors, their families, and communities, and towards promoting reconciliation in Canada.

About Legacy of Hope Foundation

From the early 1830s to 1998, thousands of First Nation, Inuit and Métis children were forced to attend residential schools in an attempt to assimilate them into the dominant culture. Those children suffered abuses of the mind, body, emotions, and spirit that can be almost unimaginable.

Over 150,000 children, some as young as four years old, attended the government-funded and church-run residential schools. It is estimated that there are 80,000 residential school Survivors alive today.

We develop innovative, unique, and effective educational programming on residential schools and the long-term effects they have on Survivors, their families, and their communities. Accessed by hundreds of thousands of Canadians, these resources include websites, travelling exhibitions, secondary school curriculum, and an oral history collection of Survivor testimony.