Question Period Note: Indian Residential School Sites (Call to Actions 72-76) – 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 or Memorial Registers

• Canada has partnered with the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation to continue the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s work on the National Residential School Student Death and Memorial Registers.
• In 2019, the Centre launched a searchable online Memorial Register compiled from information collected while establishing the National Residential School Student Death Register.
• The Centre is developing an online registry of residential school cemeteries and unmarked burial sites.
• This work will contribute to inter-generational healing while providing important information for Survivors and families.

If pressed on Funding for Unmarked Burial Sites

• Building on previous budgets, 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 for next steps.

If pressed on the Creation of a National Advisory Committee on Residential Schools Missing Children and Unmarked Burials

• Canada has established a National Advisory Committee on Residential Schools Missing Children and Unmarked Burials, and is co-administrating the Committee with the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation.

• The Committee brings together a diverse range of expertise on matters such as forensic anthropology, archeology, Indigenous law and protocols, archival research, search technologies, privacy laws, and preservation of evidence.

• The Committee will engage with communities to identify needs and provide information and resources.