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 provide important information for Survivors and families and contribute to inter-generational healing.

If pressed on Funding for Unmarked Burial Sites

• Building on previous budgets, Budget 2022 allocated an additional $135.6 million over the next three years, including $13.6 million over the next five years for the registers, bringing the Government of Canada's total investment to $252.4 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.

• As of August 16, 2023, 114 funding agreements are in place that will provide more than $149 million to Indigenous communities and organizations to support their community-led and Survivor-centric efforts.

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.