Sexual assault support workers gathered in Saskatoon Thursday and Friday for a conference and the Indian Residential Schools was a big part of the discussion.

Linda Opoonechaw gave a presentation on the history and impact of the residential schools in Canada during the conference.

“What I wanted to communicate to everyone listening was that even though the residential schools were closed in 1996 the impacts of sexual abuse at the schools is going to have a rippling effect into the next generations.”

She says the healing journey for Indigenous people will take a long time.

“There was such a ferocious assault on our people and the impacts on our people is going to take hundreds of years before we get back to where we were,” said Opoonechaw.

The two-day conference was hosted by the Saskatchewan Sexual Assault and Information Centre.