Jean Chrétien says he never heard about abuse in residential schools while he was minister

WARNING: This story contains details some readers may find distressing.

Former prime minister Jean Chrétien said Sunday that during his tenure as minister of what was then Indian Affairs, he never heard anything about abuse happening in residential schools. 

Chrétien made the comments during an appearance on the popular Radio-Canada talk show, Tout le Monde en Parle.

“This problem was never mentioned when I was minister. Never,” said Chrétien, now 87, of his time in the department from 1968 to 1974.

During the French interview, Chrétien appeared to draw a comparison between his own experience attending a conventional college boarding school as a teenager to that of Indigenous children who were forced