The Ontario government is investing $7 million through the Indian Residential School Community Engagement Fund to support community-led healing, commemoration and initiatives that honour missing children, Survivors, families and communities affected by the residential school system.
The fund provides up to $250,000 to eligible Indigenous communities and organizations to support engagement, public education and research activities addressing the impacts of the residential school system.
“The voices and priorities of Indigenous communities continue to guide our approach as we advance meaningful reconciliation in Ontario and support the sacred work of healing, truth-telling and commemoration,” said Greg Rickford, Minister of Indigenous Affairs and First Nations Economic Reconciliation. “We remain committed to working in partnership with communities to support Indigenous-led initiatives that honour Survivors, the children who never returned home, their families and communities.”
The fund can be used to support ceremonies, monuments, healing gardens, interpretive displays and commemorative plaques that foster reflection, remembrance and storytelling, as well as community engagement, mental health and addictions support, staffing and research activities. Funding applications are open until September 16, 2026.
The fund is part of a $20-million investment in 2026-27 that continues to support Indigenous-led burial investigations at former residential schools, along with public awareness efforts and culturally appropriate, trauma-informed supports for Survivors, families and communities. To date, Ontario has invested $144.5 million toward identifying, investigating, protecting and commemorating burials at these institutions across the province.
