Residential school survivors, indigenous leaders, and others as the Office of the Independent Special Interlocutor for Missing Children and Unmarked Graves and Burial Sites Associated with Indian Residential Schools holds its final meeting on Tuesday. , advocates are gathering in Gatineau, Kenya.
Special interlocutor Kimberly Murray will present an Indigenous-led reparations framework and present her final report at the gathering.
“The truth I heard is that we need a new legal framework to properly and respectfully recover, protect and honor missing children and their burials,” Murray said in the program for the rally. It has to be something that informs people.”
“The disappearance and death of thousands of indigenous children is the ultimate act of injustice. Under international law, survivors are victims of genocide, crimes against humanity, and gross human rights violations. Indigenous families and communities have a right to know that they are victims, and they have a right to compensation for these terrible losses.”
2 year assignment
From the 1870s to 1997, more than 150,000 First Nations, Métis, and Inuit children were forced to attend government-funded boarding schools run by the church. As of 2021, the National Center for Truth and Reconciliation has recorded more than 4,100 child deaths in schools. .
Following the discovery of potential unmarked graves at the former boarding school site, Mr Murray announced a two-year commitment to identify measures and recommendations for a new federal legal framework on unmarked graves and burial sites in 2022. He was appointed to the role for a term of .
Murray, a member of Kanesatake, a Mohawk community northwest of Montreal, has held national gatherings in Montreal, Iqaluit, Toronto, Vancouver, Winnipeg and Edmonton over the past two years.
In July, Murray published a report titled: The scene of truth, the scene of conscienceconcluded that the history of the boarding school burial ground was evidence of genocide and crimes against humanity, and could theoretically be prosecuted.
Justice Minister Arif Virani is also scheduled to attend Tuesday’s rally.
Neither Gary Anandasangaree, Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister, nor Patty Hajdu, Minister of Indigenous Services, would comment on whether Canada should pay reparations ahead of the report’s release.
“Canada has a long history of violent colonialism, which has caused much suffering, and Canada has paid reparations for many other harms,” Prime Minister Hajdu said Monday.
“I think these are issues that need to be resolved in conversations with Indigenous peoples, but what I can say is that in my mind reparations are only part of the agenda going forward. .”
Mr Anandasangaree said he was looking forward to receiving and reading Mr Murray’s report.
“Since 2015, as a government, we have made progress on a number of issues, including childhood harm caused by failed federal policy, and will continue to do so,” Anandasangari said on Monday. .
The announcement of the Indigenous-led reparations framework at 1 p.m. ET will be livestreamed on the Special Interlocutor’s Facebook page.
A national Indian Residential School Crisis Line has been established to provide support to former students and those affected. People can access emotional and crisis referral services by calling the 24-hour National Crisis Line at 1-866-925-4419.
Mental health counseling and crisis support is also available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, through the Hope for Wellness hotline at 1-855-242-3310 or online chat at www.hopeforwellness.ca.
