ONE IS TO MANY (OMAZINIBII’IGEG)
Current Reality
Justice Murray Sinclair, who heads the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, says the federal government stopped recording the deaths around 1920 after the chief medical officer at Indian Affairs suggested children were dying at an alarming rate. Sinclair has guessed up to 6,000 children may have died at the schools but it’s impossible to say with certainty. (Global News, May 31, 2015)
https://globalnews.ca/news/2027587/deaths-at-canadas-indian-residential-schools-need-more-study-commission
October 29, 2024: Kimberly Murray, the Independent Special Interlocutor issued her Final Report and the Indigenous-led Reparations Framework for Missing and Disappeared Children and Unmarked Burials associated with Indian Residential Schools:
- Executive Summary
- Upholding Sacred Obligations: Vols. 1 and 2
- Sites of Truth Sites of Conscience
The report identifies 42 obligations that governments, churches, and other institutions must meet to implement an Indigenous-led Reparations Framework for Truth, Accountability, Justice, and Reconciliation.
July 25, 2024: “Missing Records, Missing Children” identified the Provincial Archives of Alberta, vital statistics offices from Manitoba and Québec as all “never responded or declined to appear before the Senate Standing Committee on Indigenous Relations” to discuss missing records relating to Residential Schools. Also refusing to release all records for various reason are: Library and Archives Canada, Crown and Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada (CIRNAC) and the governments of Manitoba, Québec, Ontario, Saskatchewan and the Northwest Territories.
TABLE: Residential Schools that have discovered unmarked graves
Current Number: 2,671 unmarked graves vs 594 “official” recorded deaths
|
Indian Residential School
|
Date of Discovery
|
# of unmarked graves
|
Official recorded deaths
|
First Nation
|
|
Kamloops IRS, BC
|
May 27, 2021
|
200
|
51
|
Tk’emlüps te Secwépemc FN
|
|
Muscowequan IRS, SK
|
June 1, 2021
|
35
|
–
|
Muscowequan First Nation
|
|
Brandon IRS, MB
|
June 10, 2021
|
104
|
78
|
Sioux Valley Dakota First Nation
|
|
Marieval IRS, SK
|
June 25, 2021
|
751
|
8
|
Cowessess First Nation
|
|
St. Eugene’s IRS, BC
|
June 30, 2021
|
182
|
19
|
Ktunaxa Nation, community of Aq’am
|
|
Kuper Island IRS, BC
|
July 13, 2021
|
160
|
120
|
Penelakut First Nation
|
|
St. Joseph’s Mission IRS, BC
|
Jan. 26, 2022
|
93
|
Williams Lake First Nation
|
|
|
Jan. 25, 2023
|
66
|
28
|
||
|
St. Philip’s IRS, SK
|
Feb. 15, 2022
|
12
|
2
|
Keeseekoose First Nation
|
|
Fort Pelly IRS
|
42
|
2
|
||
|
St. Bernard’s IRS, AB
|
Mar. 1, 2022
|
169
|
10
|
Kapawe’no First Nation
|
|
Gordon’s IRS, SK
|
April 21, 2022
|
15
|
49
|
George Gordon First Nation
|
|
Blue Quill IRS, AB
|
May 17, 2022
|
TBD
|
27
|
Saddle Creek Cree Nation
|
|
April 19, 2023
|
19
|
–
|
||
|
Pine Creek IRS, MB
|
Oct. 14, 2022
|
71
|
21
|
Pine Creek First Nation
|
|
Qu’Apelle IRS SK
|
Jan. 12, 2023
|
TBD
|
Star Blanket Cree Nation
|
|
|
St. Mary’s IRS, ON
|
Jan. 17, 2023, Oct. 30, 2023
|
171
22 |
36
|
Wauzhushk Onigum Nation
|
|
St. Augustine IRS, BC
|
April 20, 2023
|
40
|
5
|
shîshålh Nation
|
|
St. Bruno’s IRS,
Joussard IRS |
June 26, 2023
|
88
|
–
|
Driftpile Cree Nation
|
|
Beauval IRS, SK
|
Aug. 29, 2023
|
93
|
–
|
English River First Nation
|
|
Chooutla IRS, YT
|
Sept. 26, 2023
|
15
|
20
|
Carcross, YT
|
|
St. Mary’s IRS, BC
|
Sept. 22, 2023
|
96
|
Sto:lo First Nation
|
|
|
Total:
|
2,444
|
476
|
See “TABLE: Discoveries of Unmarked Graves” below for more details on 2,671 unmarked graves vs NCTR’s record of 551 reported deaths.
March 22, 2024 – The International Commission on Missing Persons, based in The Hague, issued an interim report from an international group hired to provide advice on identifying and locating the unmarked graves of children who attended residential schools says Canada should continue funding searches beyond 2025. (See Call to Action # 75 for details)