Has Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission achieved what it set out to do?

Residential school survivor Joe George, right, of the Tsleil-Waututh First Nation, and elder Marie George embrace
during the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada National Event in Vancouver, B.C., September 2013.
The residential school system is one of the most painful chapters in Canada's history. (CP/Darryl Dyck)

Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission opens its final national public hearings in Edmonton today.

For years there had been whispers of what went on in Canada's government-sponsored, church-run Indian residential schools. But in 1990, Manitoba Chief Phil Fontaine went public with his personal experiences.

If we took an example, my Grade 3 class ... if there were 20 boys in this particular class, every single one of the 20 would have experienced what I experienced. They've experienced some aspect of sexual abuse. And as a result of the abuse that we experienced ... of course what occurs is a distortion of your sense of morality. As the cliche goes ... the abused becomes the abuser and that's been the experience.Former Manitoba Chief Phil Fontaine

Prime Minister Stephen Harper apologized in the House of Commons in 2008:

Two primary objectives of the residential school system were to remove and isolate children from the influence of their home, families, traditions and cultures and to assimilate them into the dominant culture. These objectives were based on the assumption that aboriginal culture and spiritual beliefs were inferior and unequal. Indeed some sought as was infamously said "to kill the Indian in the child."Prime Minster Stephen Harper

Since then, Truth and Reconciliation Commissioners visited more than 500 communities and heard testimony from more than 6 thousand people. The goal of the Commission has been to lance the boil -- to listen to the survivors' stories, acknowledge their suffering and help Canadian society heal.

Today we ask: Has the Truth and Reconciliation Commission achieved what it set out to do?

Three urban aboriginal young people who live with the legacies of both the residential schools and the Truth and Reconciliation process joined us today.

• Jenna Broomfield is a 24 year old Inuit woman from Labrador. She's a student at the University of Alberta. She will take part in a youth panel as part of the Truth and Reconciliation hearings in Edmonton today.

• Michael Redhead Champagne is 26. He runs a group called Aboriginal Youth Opportunities in north Winnipeg. He was Cree from northern Manitoba.

• Melody Mckiver is 25. She is Anishinaabe, but she lives in Ottawa. She is a musician and co-founder of Niigaan: In Conversation, a spin-off of the Idle No More movement which fosters discussion between indigenous and non-indigenous Canadians.

Have thoughts you want to share on this discussion?

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This segment was produced by The Current's Sarah Grant and CBC Edmotnon Network Producer Gillian Rutherford.

Last Word: Dennis Saddleman Poem

Dennis Saddleman spoke at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in May. Although, "spoke" is hardly the right word. The B.C. man performed some of his poetry, something he says has helped him heal. Few people hearing Mr. Saddleman would doubt he's been terribly injured. His poem, Monster, gets today's Last Word.