Journalist plans to create new archive of residential school survivor stories — before it's too late
CBC - April 14, 2026
A new project from award-winning journalist Connie Walker aims to create an archive of testimonies of abuse at residential schools before the accounts are destroyed in September 2027.
The project at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU), where she is the Velma Rogers Research Chair in the School of Journalism, aims to preserve residential school survivors' stories and raise awareness about the upcoming destruction of Independent Assessment Process (IAP) records.
The files are being retained until 2027 to give survivors a chance to request a copy, opt-in to having the file preserved by the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, or both.
CBC - April 7, 2026 Charlottetown, P.E.I - A retired Catholic priest in Prince Edward Island who pleaded guilty last year to sexually abusing a child in the late 1980s at St. Margarets Parish has been sentenced to five years in a federal prison. Brendon Earl Gallant, 80, was sentenced Tuesday in provincial court in Charlottetown. He pleaded guilty last summer to a charge of sexual assault . The Diocese of Charlottetown has apologized for Gallant’s actions and said he was removed from active ministry as soon as the diocese learned of the investigation.
CBC - March 23, 2026 St. John's, NL - A third sentencing date has been set for a P.E.I. Catholic priest, who pleaded guilty to sexually abusing a child in his St. Margarets Parish in the late 1980s, after the first two hearings did not go ahead. Brendon Earl Gallant, 80, pleaded guilty to a charge of sexual assault last summer . The court heard the victim was 12-years-old when Gallant took an interest in the child and began inviting him for sleepovers, where he would give the boy alcohol and invite him to sleep in his bed. The Diocese of Charlottetown has apologized for Gallant’s action and said he was removed from active ministry as soon as he learned of the investigation. If Gallant is sentenced to less than two years in jail, he’ll be able to serve that sentence on the Island. Any more time and he’ll go off Island to a federal penitentiary.