Chief Allan Adam is speaking out about the Truth and Reconciliation document release, arguing that there was no consultation with survivors and that this needs to happen. Adams feels that the survivors, many who described abuse on many different levels that included physical, sexual, and psychological, should have a say in whether their stories and records are released to the public. Chief Adam released a statement which read “The issue of whether residential school documents should be destroyed or preserved and made public is now being debated at the Ontario Court of Appeal level. Once again, survivors were not consulted on this issue before it was brought to the courts. The consequences of making such documents public could have devastating effects on individuals, families and communities.”

Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation Chief Allan Adam is personally affected by the issue of the Truth and Reconciliation document release. Adam was a student at Holy Angels, a residential school in Fort Chipewyan, and he filed a claim against the Catholic Church and the federal government in the year 1997. Adams and many of the other survivors were promised that their records would be destroyed and that has not happened. Some of the survivors have agreed to have their files public but Chief Allan Adams was not one of these individuals. Adam also disagrees with a file retention time of 15 years, saying “This was a lengthy, challenging and traumatizing process in many regards for myself and for a lot of residential school survivors. The only decision acceptable for my residential school file was the destruction of it once it was completed, like I was promised at my hearing.” Do you think the files should be destroyed? Why or why not?