Hon. Brian Francis moved:

That the twentieth report of the Standing Senate Committee on Indigenous Peoples, entitled Missing Records, Missing Children, deposited with the Clerk of the Senate on Thursday, July 25, 2024, be adopted and that, pursuant to rule 12-23(1), the Senate request a complete and detailed response from the government, with the Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations being identified as minister responsible for responding to the report, in consultation with the Minister of Indigenous Services Canada, the Minister of Canadian Heritage and the President of the Treasury Board.

He said: Honourable senators, I stand before you today in my capacity as the Chair of the Standing Senate Committee on Indigenous Peoples. Starting in the late 1800s, the Government of Canada, in partnership with many churches, including the Catholic Church, operated Indian residential schools. This system operated alongside other federal laws and policies designed to disrupt, displace, assimilate and eradicate Indigenous peoples. It is estimated that more than 150,000 Indigenous children were forced to attend these institutions, and some were transferred to multiple institutions. Too many suffered from neglect, disease and abuse; too many never returned home.

It was not uncommon for parents not to be notified when their child was transferred to other institutions or of the child’s death and the location of their burial. Many were buried in unmarked graves, but they were never forgotten by their loved ones. The records related to residential schools and associated sites, such as hospitals, sanitoria or reformatories, are critically important to uncovering, documenting and sharing the true and complete history of Canada, but also to undertaking and addressing the ongoing intergenerational impacts of the harmful, assimilative and genocidal tactics imposed on generations of Indigenous peoples.

Unfortunately, many barriers continue to prevent families and communities from accessing records detailing the lives and deaths of Indigenous children at residential schools and associated institutions.

In late July, the committee released an interim report entitled Missing Records, Missing Children which delves into this subject. You may wonder how we got here. In July 2023, our committee released an interim report entitled Honouring the Children Who Never Came Home: Truth, Education and Reconciliation.

Under the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement, the parties, which included the Government of Canada and the churches that operated the residential schools, agreed to disclose all relevant documents in their possession or control, subject to the privacy or access to information legislation, to the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, or NCTR, which was created to permanently archive the records of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada and which continues to expand this collection to promote ongoing research and learning. However, in March of 2023, representatives from NCTR and the Office of the Independent Special Interlocutor for Missing Children and Unmarked Graves and Burial Sites shared that records were outstanding. As a result, we committed to holding public hearings in the fall of 2023 to better understand why the disclosure obligations were not fulfilled.

Between September 2023 and April 2024, our committee held 10 meetings and heard from 39 witnesses. We extended invitations to all outstanding record holders identified by the NCTR in 2023 in an appended list. Between September 2023 and April 2024, our committee held 10 meetings and heard from 39 witnesses. We extended invitations to all the outstanding record holders identified by the NCTR in 2023 in an appended list. Among them were officials from Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada and Library and Archives Canada, as well as coroners and other officials from Manitoba, the Northwest Territories, Ontario, Quebec and Saskatchewan. The witnesses from the Catholic Church, which was the only one listed, included representatives from the Oblate General House archive in Rome; and in Canada, the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, the Archdiocese of Keewatin-Le Pas, Deschâtelets-NDC Archives and the Sisters of Charity Halifax.

While most eventually agreed to appear, a few invitations went unanswered or were declined after persistent requests. We were troubled not to hear from the Provincial Archives of Alberta and vital statistics agencies from Manitoba and Quebec. At the same time, we were pleased that several witnesses located additional records after receiving our invitation.

For example, the Archdiocese of Keewatin-Le Pas released them the day before. We were grateful to all witnesses who participated in this study, including First Nation leaders who spoke about their efforts to access records and overcome barriers.

Among the key findings, the witnesses identified several barriers preventing Indigenous peoples from locating, accessing and reviewing records. For example, many records have been lost or destroyed, and it can be incredibly difficult to find existing ones due to little or no information on how or where to find them. In addition, the records are scattered across Canada and held by governments, churches and others. Some are even in Rome.

As a result, Indigenous families were forced to navigate multiple jurisdictions and complex bureaucracies to find any information.

The interim report also provides insights into provincial and territorial approaches to retrieving records related to residential schools, including some promising developments. For example, the committee heard that Quebec passed legislation that allows greater access to records related to the disappearance or death of children admitted to provincial institutions and religious organizations, which has resulted in a few requests for exhumation, repatriation and burials.

In Ontario, the Office of the Chief Coroner created a residential school death investigation team to review deaths that may have occurred in the institutions within the province. In addition, it was able to locate additional information for over 30% of the Indigenous children from Ontario listed in the Memorial Register and discovered 70 deaths that were not included in this registry. These developments are a good start, but much work remains at all levels of government.

In total, the report includes 11 recommendations, including calling on the Government of Canada to compel Catholic entities, particularly the oblates, to release all relevant records that include personal files to the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, or NCTR, without further delay.

We also call on the Government of Canada to increase funding to ensure the NCTR can properly manage its growing collection, potentially including 24 million records, and increasing funding to expedite location, transcription, digitization and, in some cases, translation of records in Catholic entities housed by the Royal BC Museum and the Société historique de Saint-Boniface.

Further, with the knowledge that a significant amount of money and time has been used to fight survivors of St. Anne’s Residential School in court, we call on the Government of Canada to adopt the formal policy of proactively disclosing records and prioritizing negotiation and mediation over litigation.

Colleagues, ahead of September 30, I urge you to read the interim report, entitled, Missing Records, Missing Children.

Indigenous peoples have an individual and collective right to know the truth of what happened to us and our families and communities. And society at large has a duty to not simply remember but also confront the history.

The Government of Canada must also take concrete steps to support the ongoing search for justice, truth and healing. The interim report provides a clear road map to move forward in the spirit of reconciliation.

Thank you, wela’lin.

Hon. Senators: Hear, hear.