Question Period Note: Residential Schools National Monument

To address the legacy of residential schools and advance reconciliation, the Government committed to implement the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, including Call to Action 81, which calls for the creation of a Residential Schools National Monument in Ottawa to honour Survivors and all the children who were lost to their families and communities. Work on Call to Action 81 is in the planning stages, specifically regarding engagement with Indigenous peoples.

• Call to Action 81 of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission calls on the federal government, in collaboration with Survivors, to install “a publicly accessible, highly visible, Residential Schools National Monument in the City of Ottawa to honour Survivors and all the children who were lost to their families and communities.”
• In August 2021, the federal government announced
$20 million to build this monument. Planning work has already begun.
• This important Indigenous-driven project will embrace a Survivor-centric approach and be guided by a culturally-informed process.

• The Government of Canada is named as the lead in this call to action. Canadian Heritage (PCH) is the designated department given its responsibility as lead department for monuments in the Capital under the Policy on National Commemorative Monuments on Federal Lands in Canada's Capital Region.
• PCH organized a Survivor Engagement Workshop in October 2019, in Ottawa. It was the first formal exchange with Indigenous communities on the development of a vision for the monument. The workshop was designed and led by Dr. Marie Wilson, former Truth and Reconciliation Commissioner, who subsequently engaged with the National Indigenous Organizations to share the results of the workshop in January and February 2020.
• The project will require a more extensive, robust, and culturally competent approach to reflect the Survivors-First vision developed at the 2019 workshop.
• The timeline for completion of a national monument is on average five years. PCH has committed to undertaking this monument in a timely manner and will be looking at ways to shorten processes without compromising the integrity of the project.
• The next step is the creation of a Steering Committee, the primary advisory body that will provide advice and feedback throughout the project and make recommendations at key decision points, including the following: site selection, design competition approach and jury composition, interpretation program and content, and outreach and programming for inauguration. This committee will meet for an initial meeting in coming months.
• PCH is working closely with its federal partners to ensure that consultation and engagement with Survivors and Indigenous communities is done in a coordinated and meaningful manner, and that reconciliatory efforts permeate every aspect of this Survivor-centric monument project.

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