Oblates to open Rome archives for search of residential school records

Catholic religious order that operated some residential schools in Canada says it will open its archives in Rome to researchers.

The Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate has agreed to grant the Winnipeg-based National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation full access to records in the Italian city.

"We want to make sure that the families, the survivors, the families of the children who didn't come home have access to their history," said Rev. Ken Thorson of the OMI Lacombe Canada based in Ottawa.

The centre's head archivist, Raymond Frogner, is expected to make an initial visit to the archives this spring.

The records might include letters from missionaries to leaders in France and Rome. Thorson said the correspondence would probably be from the early years of the Oblates and would explain how the mission was going in the country that would be become Canada.