Missing Aboriginal children: six months of intensive work and already some answers

For years, the families have remained without explanation or have stood still, but since the entry into force of Law 79, it is the beginning of a response that is emerging – and for some, already some concrete elements – concerning their children whom they have lost track of after their birth in an institution or after a medical evacuation.

According to the 2021-2022 annual report (New window) made public on Thursday, the Family Support Branch is researching information on at least 55 children. In some cases, the same family is looking for several children. Most of the children come from the Atikamekw and Innu nations and were born between 1933 and 1978.

The various requests have already made it possible to obtain medical files for a few children, but also for parents. Nine death certificates have also already been issued.

Significant work has been done, says the Minister responsible for Aboriginal Affairs, Ian Lafrenière, in the report. There is still a lot of work to do, but I am very proud of this momentumhe says.

Indeed, from the 1950s to the 1980s, dozens and dozens of Aboriginal children from isolated communities disappeared, sent to hospitals in Quebec from which they never returned. Some families testified at the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (ENFFADA). Some also confided in the journalist of the show InvestigationAnne Panasuk, since last year became special adviser for family support in this file.

But others had not started research and approached the Directorate of Family Support, Anne Panasuk, or the Association of Awacak Families upon hearing of the new law, the report says.

According to the report, a significant awareness-raising and communication work remains to be done with, in particular, the Nordic nations under agreement [Cris, Inuit et Naskapis] and other First Nations.

The report also states that among the older children, two of them died in the context of their schooling in residential school.

The law aims to make certain information held by institutions, public bodies and religious congregations accessible to families, in order to enable them to shed light on the circumstances of the disappearance or death of a child.

According to the Executive Director of the Association of Awacak Families-Little Beings of Light (in Atikamekw), Françoise Ruperthouse, Awacak carries within her this suffering of losing a child and this memory of all the obstacles that precede the adoption of the law.. The association worked closely with Anne Panasuk and the Family Support Department.

” From the shadow of mistrust, we are moving towards the light of trust. »

A symbolic date

For the family of Agathe Awashish of Opitciwan, the application of Bill 79 made it possible to find a file but above all a date to begin to heal decades of silence and pain.

For a long time, this Atikamekw said nothing. Then after the first reports by Anne Panasuk (New window) in 2015 about missing children in Indigenous communities, she started speaking out.

Agathe Awashish couldn’t remember the year, but her eldest was two or three years old, and it was summer when she took the train from the Oskélanéo logging camp near Opictciwan to give birth in Amos.

Agathe Awashish remembers giving birth after midnight, maybe around 2:30 a.m. She heard her baby boy crying, then nothing. She has never seen him. Never heard again.

The next day, someone came to announce his death. She did see, through the window, a small coffin passing by, but was it that of her son? Then Agathe left by train, empty-handed, with a heavy heart. With her husband, fifty years of silence. And for eight years, research carried out by his children who have given nothing. Except since the entry into force of law 79.

I took steps, but it was unsuccessful., says Chantale Awashish, Agathe’s daughter. Requests for information, files at the Amos hospital, investigators on the file. Nothing. By force, Chantale admits to having even doubted her mother’s story, which however never varied.

After sending a new request, thanks to the law, the Awashish family received Joseph’s file within a few days.

Joseph was indeed born on August 11, 1961 at 2:30 a.m. Agathe Awashish cried upon learning this information. It was upsetting for her. She says she never forgot himsays Chantale, who made the trip to attend the tabling of the report at the National Assembly in Quebec.

The file also indicates that Joseph died of a congenital anomaly of the heart.

Chantale and her family say they are happy to finally have information. Next August 11, she will organize a small ceremony for her mother and for Joseph.

At the same time, I have other questions. The research is not over. We still have things to do and I can’t waitsays Chantale Awashish, 58 years old.

The next steps are to find where his brother is buried and to request an exhumation and a DNA test. If it’s him, we’ll take him to Opitciwan and bury him with our people, his people.

The report states that Obtaining a child’s medical records is often only the start of several other searches aimed, in particular, at understanding the circumstances of a death or identifying a burial site – in most cases unknown to the families.

” I want her to go in peace, when her time comes. »

Chantale Awashish will continue to search for answers for her 81-year-old mother and for other families. In Opitciwan alone, around thirty families are looking for a missing child, according to Chantale Awashish, who is part of the Awacak association.

Recommendations and experts

According to the report, families want to speak to medical experts for full analyzes of the information they receive. This need shows the necessary bond of trust to be forged with the information obtained and the partner institutions, in order to continue the journey towards truth and healing.says the report.

Ten general practitioners or specialists who are First Nations members or who have worked with Aboriginal families have already confirmed their willingness to support families. Nurses and other health and social services specialists must be met to form a team of experts.

Three recommendations have also already been made in the report by the monitoring committee. It recommends setting up a uniform way of archiving the information collected in order to respect confidentiality, to develop an information management protocol and finally, that the information is kept and not destroyed.

The Family Support Department is a permanent member of the law monitoring committee. She collaborates with the families, the special advisor, the Awacak Association, the indigenous organizations and the institutions covered by the law for the realization of her mandate. Its director reports directly to the ministry responsible for Aboriginal Affairs.