Ottawa is spending $2 million for an international organization to provide first Nations With options to identify possible human remains buried near residential schools.
A statement from the office of Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Mark Miller said it is signing a technical agreement with the International Commission on Missing Persons.
Based in The Hague, the organization works in various countries to help identify the remains of people missing or killed in conflicts and disasters following the 2013 Lac-Mégantic rail disaster in Quebec.
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Miller’s office says the organization will conduct a “cross-country outreach campaign” with Indigenous communities interested in options to help identify or repatriate potential remains of children forced into residential schools.
It says the group will provide expert information on DNA analysis and “other forensic approaches for consideration” and then prepare a final report for the federal government.
Miller’s office says the organization’s work will be independent of government and that “local Indigenous facilitators will lead every step of the process” to ensure discussions are held in a sensitive manner.
“Indigenous communities across Canada are leading the difficult and important work of uncovering the truth on former residential school sites, and our government will continue to support them in that process, regardless of whether they choose to use the services of (the organization) Or not,” the minister said in a statement.
The Canadian Press first reported last November that government officials were considering contracting the international organization to assist in the case, according to a heavily redacted briefing note obtained under federal access-to-information laws.
The internal document said First Nations were seeking a national strategy to address the unmarked graves and officials felt the organization was a credible voice.
At the time, Kimberly Murray, who is serving as an independent special interlocutor on the issue, said she expressed concern because it was unclear whether the organization’s requests for help were coming from indigenous communities.
The former executive director of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which investigated the residential school system, was appointed to his role in June 2022 and aims to advise the government about safeguarding potential cemeteries.
First Nations in western Canada and Ontario are using ground-penetrating radar technology to search land near former residential schools for the existence of possible graves.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission estimated that approximately 6,000 Indigenous children had died while being forced to attend church-run, federally funded institutions.
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The Indian Residential School Resolution Health Support Program has a hotline to help residential school survivors and their relatives cope with trauma from the memory of past abuse. The number is 1-866-925-4419.
The Hope for Wellness Help Line provides immediate, toll-free telephone and online-chat based emotional support and crisis intervention to all Indigenous people in Canada. The service is available 24/7 in English and French and on request in Cree, Ojibwe and Inuktitut.
Trained counselors are available by phone at 1-855-242-3310 or by online chat at hopeforwellness.ca.
© 2023 The Canadian Press