Residential schools in Canada operated for more than 160 years, with the last federally run schools closing in the 1990s.

How long were residential schools open?

  • A network of church-run and government-funded residential schools for Indigenous children existed from the 19th century into the late 1990s.
  • Many historians and official sources describe the system as lasting “more than 160 years,” with formal federal involvement beginning in the 1880s.
  • The last federally run residential school closed in 1996 in Saskatchewan (some sources note 1997 for the final closure in the broader system). This means children were still in these schools within living memory.

Key timeline at a glance

  • 17th century: Early church-run boarding schools for Indigenous children begin in what is now Canada, laying foundations for later systems.
  • 1800s: A formal residential school system expands, especially after Confederation and the 1876 Indian Act.
  • 1880s: Direct, systematic federal government involvement in residential schools intensifies.
  • 1930s: System reaches its peak, with about 80 schools and roughly 17,000 Indigenous children enrolled at one time.
  • 1950s–1970s: Gradual shift toward day schools and integration into provincial systems, but many residential schools continue to operate.
  • Mid–late 1990s: Final residential schools close; the system’s active operation effectively ends.

Why this is a sensitive topic

Residential schools were designed to forcibly assimilate First Nations, Inuit, and MĂ©tis children into Euro-Canadian society, breaking cultural, linguistic, and family ties. Survivors and inquiries, including the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, have documented widespread physical, emotional, and sexual abuse, as well as neglect, poor living conditions, and high death rates among children.

These schools are now widely recognized in Canada as a tool of cultural genocide, and their impacts continue across generations in terms of trauma, loss of language, and social inequalities.

Quick Scoop: context for “how long”

When people ask “how long were residential schools open in Canada,” they are usually referring to:

  • The formal system backed by federal legislation and policy, which ran roughly from the late 1800s to the late 1990s (about a century plus).
  • The broader practice of separating Indigenous children from their families for schooling in church-run institutions, which traces back to earlier colonial periods and spans more than 160 years overall.

In other words, residential schools are not “ancient history” but a system that persisted into the very recent past.

TL;DR: Residential schools for Indigenous children existed in Canada for over 160 years, with formal federal residential schools most active from the late 19th century, and the last school closing in 1996–1997.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.