The Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Canada's Indian residential schools uses the term cultural genocide for what happened to the 150,000 or so aboriginal children and their families while the schools operated.

"Residential schooling was always more than simply an educational program: it was an integral part of a conscious policy of cultural genocide," the TRC's summary report states.

In media interviews, TRC chair Justice Murray Sinclair has also revealed that the TRC has documented the deaths of over 6,000 residential school students as a result of their school experience, adding that there are probably more. It appears more about the number will await a later commission report.