The Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission is holding hearings in the Beaufort-Delta region of the Northwest Territories this week and next.

The commission’s Inuit subcommission will hold a public hearing today in Tuktoyaktuk for former students of residential schools, and take private statements tomorrow.

Jennifer Hunt-Poitras, co-director of the Inuit subcommission, said the meetings were not part of the original plan, but were added because the communities asked for them.

“That was what people wanted,” she said.

“People wanted to be able to gather in their own communities and talk about their experiences publicly. They wanted to be able to have that opportunity for healing in the community and just be heard.”

After Tuktoyaktuk, the hearings move to Ulukhaktok, Sachs Harbour and Paulatuk.