Content warning
This webpage contains information about violence related to the Indian residential school system, which may be distressing to some readers.
Safe and respectful mental health and emotional support services are available without judgment and in complete confidentiality:
- National Indian Residential School Crisis Line: 1-866-925-4419
- Hope for Wellness Help Line: 1-855-242-3310 or chat online
- Wellness Together Canada:
- call 1-888-668-6810 or text WELLNESS to 686868 for youth
- call 1-866-585-0445 or text WELLNESS to 741741 for adults
Executive Summary
On 21 March 2023, the Standing Senate Committee on Indigenous Peoples (the committee) held a meeting to examine the important and sacred work of the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR) and the Office of the Independent Special Interlocutor for Missing Children and Unmarked Graves and Burial Sites associated with Indian Residential Schools (the Special Interlocutor). These two organizations are involved in education and research related to the effects of residential schools, missing children, unmarked graves and burial sites.
Specifically, the committee heard testimony from Elder Barbara Cameron, Residential School Survivor and member of the Survivors Circle, NCTR;[1] Stephanie Scott, Executive Director of the NCTR; Kimberly Murray, Independent Special Interlocutor; and, Donald Worme, K.C., Independent Legal Counsel of the Office of the Independent Special Interlocutor. The committee wishes to thank these witnesses who are honouring, amplifying, and uncovering the truth about the residential school experience from Elders, Survivors and their families.
This report begins with an overview of the history of residential schools in Canada and the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC). The report then discusses issues identified by witnesses which hinder Indigenous families from locating and bringing their children home, including access to records, measures to access and examine burial grounds, legal protections for burial grounds and unmarked graves and supporting the educational work of the NCTR. Based on this evidence, the report makes six recommendations that are focused on supporting Survivors, families and communities to find their missing children and finally bring them home.
[1] The Survivors Circle of the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR) serves to “[e]nsure that Survivors’ voices and perspectives remain central to NCTR programs and policies; and [p]rovide guidance and advice to the NCTR, the Governing Circle, the University of Manitoba and partners on anything important to the broader Survivor community.”
Recommendations
RECOMMENDATION 1
That Library and Archives Canada and Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada expedite the transfer of all records related to residential schools to the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation and provide the committee with a progress report by December 2023 and that the Government of Canada take all necessary action to ensure that provincial and territorial governments and all organizations and entities that have withheld records from the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation promptly release them.
RECOMMENDATION 2
That the Standing Senate Committee on Indigenous Peoples will hold a hearing with entities and organizations that have withheld records from the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation in the Fall of 2023.
RECOMMENDATION 3
That Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada extend funding for the Residential Schools Missing Children – Community Support Fund until 2033 and ensure that this funding is flexible to cover all locations where burial sites associated with former residential schools may be located.
RECOMMENDATION 4
That the Government of Canada facilitate the creation of a one-window entry into the provinces and territories to connect the Office of the Special Interlocutor and Indigenous families with regional information gathering expertise to recover children missing from residential schools.
RECOMMENDATION 5
That the Government of Canada provide adequate, predictable, stable and long-term funding to ensure the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation can fulfil its mandate.
RECOMMENDATION 6
That the Government of Canada take every action necessary to combat the rise of residential school denialism.
Ottawa – Organizations that have still not disclosed documents relating to Indigenous children who attended Indian Residential Schools will be asked to attend a Senate committee meeting to explain themselves.
The Senate Committee on Indigenous Peoples has released an interim report on the work of the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR) and the Office of the Independent Special Interlocutor for Missing Children and Unmarked Graves and Burial Sites associated with Indian Residential Schools.
The report, Honouring the Children Who Never Came Home: Truth, Education and Reconciliation, provides an overview of a March 21, 2023 committee meeting that featured testimony from Independent Special Interlocutor Kimberly Murray, NCTR executive director Stephanie Scott, and Indian Residential School Survivor and Elder Barbara Cameron. It was released Wednesday, July 19, 2023.
The report includes a table produced by the NCTR summarizing a list of records that could shed light on what happened to the children who attended residential schools and never came home. The committee is determined to hold hearings in the fall of 2023 with entities and organizations that have not released the records.
The report also makes five other recommendations focused on supporting residential school Survivors, families and communities. The recommendations — which include providing stable funding for the NCTR and for the Residential Schools Missing Children Community Support Fund — are intended to enable families and communities to finally bring their children home.
Quick Facts
- Between the late 1800s and the 1990s, the federal government and several Christian churches operated the Indian Residential School system. More than 150,000 First Nations, Inuit and Métis children attended; many were forced to leave their families and were mistreated, malnourished and abused.
- The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) found that one-third of student deaths were not recorded by government or school administrations, that cause of death was not recorded for half of the students who died and that residential school children died at a higher rate than non-Indigenous children.
- The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation is the permanent home for all statements, documents and other materials gathered by the TRC. Part of its mandate is to promote public education and understanding of the history and effects of residential schools, including by maintaining a national register of children who died while attending these institutions.
- The Office of the Independent Special Interlocutor has a two-year mandate to identify needed measures and make recommendations for a new federal legal framework to ensure the respectful and culturally appropriate treatment of unmarked graves and burial sites of children associated with former residential schools.
Quotes
“It is disheartening that so many governments and organizations still have not released information that could bring a measure of peace to the families and communities whose children died at residential schools and associated institutions. Canada cannot reconcile with its past without facing this truth.”
- Senator Brian Francis, Chair of the committee
“We are determined to hold accountable the entities that have yet to fully support the crucial work of the Special Interlocutor and the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation. The importance of their work to Indigenous communities cannot be overstated — we ask organizations with undisclosed documents to co-operate with us.”
- Senator David M. Arnot, Deputy Chair of the committee
“Federal government departments, provincial governments and religious organizations are standing between Indigenous peoples and the truth of what was done to them in Canada’s name. There is still time for them to do the right thing.”
- Senator Dennis Patterson, member of the Subcommittee on Agenda and Procedure
Associated Links
- Read the report: Honouring the Children Who Never Came Home: Truth, Education and Reconciliation.
- Watch or download clips of witness testimony.
- Follow the committee on social media using the hashtag #APPA.
- Subscribe to email alerts for Senate committees.
- Sign up for the Senate eNewsletter.
For more information:
Jérémie Spadafora
Communications Officer | Senate of Canada
343-550-6111 | jeremie.spadafora@sen.parl.gc.ca
Witnesses’ testimonials
Elder Barbara Cameron
Elder Barbara Cameron, Survivor of Residential School and member of the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation’s Survivors Circle, speaks during a meeting of the Senate Committee on Indigenous Peoples on March 21, 2023.
Transcript
On one particular occasion, I had a young lady challenger, and I was really happy for her questions. She questioned why Indigenous people, why Anishinaabe people, complain. As an immigrant, she was very happy to be here. I said, “Yes, I understand what you’re saying, but if you sit where I’m sitting, where do you go? Where do you go to practise your culture, speak your language, do your ceremonies? You go to your own homeland. There you have it. You can return anytime and be home and do all of those things that you grew up with. We here, Canada is our homeland. This is where we were placed. Unfortunately, our language, our culture, our beliefs, all of that has been taken from us, and it’s very difficult just surviving day to day. There is nowhere to run. Where do we go to find that?” At once, she understood.
Kimberly Murray
Kimberly Murray, Independent Special Interlocutor for Missing Children and Unmarked Graves and Burial Sites associated with Indian Residential Schools, speaks during a meeting of the Senate Committee on Indigenous Peoples on March 21, 2023.
Transcript
The next guiding principle that I want to speak about is that Indigenous families and communities have a right to know what happened to their children who died in Indian residential schools. That right to know, that right to the truth, as you all know, is a recognized international right. Survivors, communities and Canadians have a right to the truth. That includes a right to the records and to access those records. We have an ongoing challenge in this country with getting the documentation from the federal government, the provincial governments, the universities, the municipalities — the list goes on and on — where these records are. Communities have a right to that truth, and they have the right to have sovereignty over their own data and information.
Stephanie Scott
Stephanie Scott, Executive Director of the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, speaks during a meeting of the Senate Committee on Indigenous Peoples on March 21, 2023.
Transcript
The honourable senators will be aware that the Government of Canada and various religious archives who ran the schools failed to disclose all the records to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Recent agreements with the federal government, with the religious orders, including the oblates, are starting to rectify this. It’s been a very long process and we’re going into year 8 since the mandate of the TRC ended. We know that millions of additional records will be provided to the NCTR and through us to survivors, families and communities.
Senators who participated in the study
Brian Francis
PSG - Prince Edward Island
David M. Arnot
ISG - Saskatchewan
Michèle Audette
PSG - Quebec (De Salaberry)
Mary Coyle
ISG - Nova Scotia (Antigonish)
Margo Greenwood
ISG - British Columbia
Nancy J. Hartling
ISG - New Brunswick
Patti LaBoucane-Benson
GRO - Alberta
Yonah Martin
C - British Columbia
Dennis Glen Patterson
CSG - Nunavut
Donald Neil Plett
C - Manitoba (Landmark)
Karen Sorensen
PSG - Alberta
Scott Tannas
CSG - Alberta
Ex-officio members of the committee:
The Honourable Marc Gold, P.C. and/or The Honourable Patti LaBoucane-Benson
The Honourable Donald Neil Plett and/or The Honourable Yonah Martin