[1]: 11 It was launched in response to status and rights issues brought to light following events such as the Oka Crisis and the failure of the Meech Lake Accord.
It proposed specific solutions, rooted in domestic and international experience, to the problems which have plagued those relationships and which confront Aboriginal peoples today.
The five-volume, 4,000-page report covered a vast range of issues; its 440 recommendations called for sweeping changes to the relationship between Aboriginal, non-Aboriginal people and the governments in Canada.
[6] Georges Erasmus denounced the historical role of the Roman Catholic Church in Canada in the forced assimilation of Aboriginal Peoples, citing the abandonment of indigenous languages, cultures and traditions.
[7] Despite the majority of the RCAP recommendations remaining unimplemented, the Summary of the Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada credits the Report of the Royal Commission of Aboriginal Peoples with drawing the attention of non-Indigenous Canadians to the lived experiences of Indigenous peoples in Canada and redirecting the nature of related conversations.