QUESTION PERIOD — Crown-Indigenous Relations
Residential Schools
September 28, 2023
An estimated 150,000 First Nations, Inuit and Métis children were removed from their families and forced to abandon their traditions, languages, cultures and identities. Many children at Indian residential schools were physically and sexually abused, and thousands of children would never see their families again. The violence and intergenerational trauma perpetuated by the state and Church continue to live on for Indigenous peoples across Canada.
But the truth is challenged by the disturbing rise of denialism. Recently, residential school denialists attempted to dig up unmarked graves because they refused to believe that Indigenous children were buried there.
Senator Gold, what is the government doing to combat the rise of residential school denialism in Canada?
Thank you for your question and for underlining the harm that denialism causes to families, communities and to our prospects for moving forward with reconciliation.
This is one of the issues that was highlighted by Kim Murray, the Independent Special Interlocutor for Missing Children and Unmarked Graves and Burial Sites associated with Indian Residential Schools, who is working on this file, as you know. At her instigation, the Indigenous Peoples Committee has been dealing with this issue head-on by calling as witnesses groups she has identified as being less than forthcoming with records and information about residential schools.
Uncovering and sharing the full truth behind what happened is a critical piece of the work that needs to be done. This government will continue to support Indigenous peoples, communities, the search for the truth and the search for healing. Without truth, there can be no reconciliation, and a commitment of this government is to be standing side by side in this important work.
