Question Period Note: Indian Residential School sites – Unmarked Burials

• Our thoughts are with Survivors, their families and communities as the heartbreaking truth about residential schools unmarked burials continues to be revealed.

• Funding is available to support communities, Survivors and their families on their healing journey through researching, locating, and memorializing those children who died while attending Indian residential schools.

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If pressed on the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation or the National Residential School Death Register

• Since 2017-18, Canada has partnered with the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation to continue the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission on the National Residential School Student Death Register. We are also collaborating with the Centre to lay the ground work for an online registry of residential school cemeteries and unmarked burial sites.
• Gathering this information, documenting the legacy of residential schools, and making it public will contribute to inter-generational healing while providing important information for Survivors and families.

If pressed on funding
• On August 10, 2021, the Government of Canada announced $83 million for the Residential School Missing Children’s – Community Support Funding program, supplementing the $33.8 million announced in Budget 2019.

• Budget 2022 allocated an additional $122 million over the next three years, bringing the Government of Canada's total investment to $238.8 million to date to implement the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Calls to Action 72 to 76 on residential schools missing children and burial information.

• These investments support community-led efforts to locate, document, commemorate, and memorialize burial sites associated with former residential schools and to honour families’ wishes to bring the children’s remains home.

If pressed on the Creation of a National Advisory Committee on Residential Schools Missing Children and Unmarked Burials
• Canada has implemented a National Advisory Committee on Residential Schools Missing Children and Unmarked Burials. It will consist of 12-15 members with specific expertise in areas such as forensic anthropology, archeology, archival research, Indigenous protocols and preservation of evidence. The Committee held its inaugural meeting on July 19, 2022.

• The search for missing children, on this scale, is complex and requires the assistance of experts.

• The Committee will offer technical expertise and advice to advance this important work. Primarily they will engage with communities to identify needs and provide information and educational materials.

• The Committee is co-administered by the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation and Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada.

Catholic Church financial obligations under the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement

• Under the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement, the Catholic Entities committed to a number of financial obligations including a cash contribution, provision of in-kind services and making best efforts to raise funds to support healing and reconciliation programs.

• In 2013, when an issue arose regarding deduction of undue administrative costs from amounts owed to the Aboriginal Healing Foundation, Canada took steps to hold the Catholic Entities accountable.

• Through negotiation, Canada and the Catholic Entities were able to reach an agreement to reimburse the successor of the Foundation, the Legacy of Hope Foundation.