The discovery of more potential graves on the site of a former residential school in B.C. is a stark reminder of Canada's dark history and its long road to reconciliation, Cindy Blackstock, executive director of the First Nations Family and Caring Society of Canada, says.
The discovery, found on the grounds of former Joseph's Mission Residential School near Williams Lake, B.C., is among hundreds of unmarked graves and anomalies found to date as Indigenous communities continue to grieve.
"We need to talk about our real reconciling of the country," Blackstock told CTV's Your Morning on Monday.
"The Government of Canada has not really fully taken on board the level of responsibility it has for residential schools and we see this in its continued litigation against residential school survivors."
While pledges for ongoing efforts towards reconciliation have been made by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, King Charles III and Pope Francis, Blackstock says the institutions they represent aren’t meeting the standards of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada's (TRC) .
The full release of records on residential school systems from the federal government, the Holy See and the Catholic Church is needed, she says, to fully understand the number of children who died from abuse and neglect since the current estimates are likely underrepresented.
The process to retain these records has become longwinded even after the 2006 Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement that required the federal government and religious groups to release the documents, and . However, in January 2022, Canada's Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Marc Miller announced the government would hand over thousands of previously undisclosed records from residential schools to the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR).
To date, the (NCTR) and the TRC have reported the deaths of in residential schools across Canada, however this number is likely to be over 6,000 in reality, according to former chairman of the commission.
Additionally, Blackstock says the records that are still in existence are even more essential since many death records weren't kept when the residential schools were still in operation, after chief medical officer of the Department of Indian Affairs Peter Henderson Bryce first sounded the alarm on the alarming death rates of the children in 1907.
The pressure needs to come from Canadians themselves, Blackstock said, and the federal government needs to be reminded of the importance of reuniting these children with their families to give them a proper burial on their own terms.
"We need to support these communities to find these children and then to be able to try to reunite them back with their families for sacred ceremonies," she said.
If you are a former residential school student in distress, or have been affected by the residential school system and need help, you can contact the 24-hour Indian Residential Schools Crisis Line at 1-866-925-4419, or the Indian Residential School Survivors Society toll-free line at 1-800-721-0066.
Additional mental-health support and resources for Indigenous people are available here.
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