Canada must provide compensation to the families of children missing from residential schools, says Kimberley Murray

Many of the indigenous children who died and were buried in Indian residential schools are not missing, but are “victims of enforced disappearances,” says Kimberly Murray.

Murray, who is the special interlocutor for missing children and unmarked graves and burial sites linked to Indian residential schools, fired its final report during a ceremony Tuesday in Gatineau, Que.

It outlines 42 “legal, moral and ethical obligations” of governments, churches and other institutions with respect to children who have not returned from school, including an obligation for Canada to provide full compensation to the families of missing and missing children.

“Too often governments fail to implement recommendations, so I have decided to outline the legal, moral and ethical responsibilities that governments, churches and other institutions have,” Murray said at the ceremony.

From 1870 to 1997, more than 150,000 First Nations, Métis and Inuit children were forced to attend church-run, government-funded residential schools. As of 2021, the National Center for Truth and Reconciliation documented over 4,100 child deaths in schools.

Following the discovery of potential unmarked graves on former residential school sites, Murray was appointed special interlocutor in 2022 for a two-year term to identify measures and recommendations for a new federal legal framework for unmarked graves and burial sites.

Murray, a member of Kanehsatà:ke, a Kanien’kehá:ka (Mohawk) community northwest of Montreal, has held national meetings in Montreal, Iqaluit, Toronto, Vancouver, Winnipeg and Edmonton for the past two years.

Residential school survivors, Indigenous leaders and advocates gathered in Gatineau Thursday for a final meeting and report release.

42 duties

Murray said the obligations in her report flow from the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Peoples’ Law, international human rights law and Canadian constitutional law.

“The greatest and most important responsibility we all have is to survivors,” Murray said.

Murray calls on the federal government to establish an Indigenous-led national commission to investigate missing and missing Indigenous children and unmarked burials, and to enact legislation to protect burial sites, support families in obtaining records and address long-term issues, sufficient and flexible financing.

He also wants the government to label missing children victims of “enforced disappearances” and refer the case of enforced disappearance of children to the International Criminal Court as a crime against humanity.

“Canada has ongoing international legal obligations to establish the truth, hold perpetrators accountable for what happened to children, their families and communities, and make reparations,” she wrote in her final report.

“Yet Canada, as a perpetrator of atrocities and massive human rights violations, cannot investigate alone. This creates a fundamental conflict that is unacceptable to indigenous peoples.”

Murray is also calling on federal, provincial and territorial governments, churches, the RCMP, universities and media organizations to apologize for the many harms they have suffered in supporting residential schools.

An Indigenous-led reparations framework

Murray presented the reparations framework as part of her final report. She said the framework is not a one-size-fits-all model.

It must be Indigenous-led, it said, and based on a human rights-based approach, subject to Indigenous cultural laws and protocols, supported by adequate and sustained funding, coordinated across jurisdictions through national repatriation legislation and policies, and providing support for Indigenous families and communities involved in the repatriation process.

“The truths I have heard must form the basis for a new legal framework that allows for the dignified and proper recovery, protection and honor of missing and missing children and their burial,” Murray wrote in the rally program.

“The disappearance and death of thousands of indigenous children is the ultimate act of injustice. Under international law, survivors, indigenous families and communities who are victims of genocide, crimes against humanity and mass human rights violations have the right to know the truth and have the right to redress for these egregious harms.”

Justice Minister Arif Virani was present at Tuesday’s assembly to receive the report.

“It is time for us to carefully review this report and its recommendations to consider how we can move forward together,” he said.

“This work will require time and collaboration between Indigenous, federal and provincial governments, communities and religious institutions, among others. While today’s meeting marks an ending in some sense, it is by no means the end. Rather, it is a milestone in our ongoing efforts to address the intergenerational trauma of residential schools.”

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A national Indian residential school crisis line has been established to provide support to former students and those affected. You can access emotional and crisis support services by calling the 24-hour national crisis line: 1-866-925-4419.

Mental health counseling and crisis support are also available 24 hours a day, seven days a week through the Hope for Wellness hotline at 1-855-242-3310 or via online chat at www.hopeforwellness.ca .