The discovery of unidentified graves sparked a reconciliation conversation across the country

Murray Sinclair says something was difficult for him after the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada released its final report on the history and legacy of residential schools.

It was the constant resistance that some people still had to believe what had happened in those institutions, he said, even after the six-volume report was published in December 2015.

Six years later, the former chairman of the commission says he has noticed a change in response.

“I can’t say it has disappeared, but it has certainly been overwhelmed by those who now say, ‘This should never have happened.’

Sinclair, like so many other indigenous leaders, says the First Nations discovery of hundreds of unmarked graves at former residential school sites has led more people to learn and accept what survivors of these institutions experienced.

“That has moved the credibility of the other issues related to residential schools, the history of colonialism and the impact of colonialism on quite a few levels,” he said in a recent interview.

It is estimated that no fewer than 150,000 Indigenous children in Canada were forced to attend these government-funded and church-run institutions for more than a century.

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Thousands of residential school survivors described how their culture was repressed and they suffered physical, sexual and emotional abuse, as well as neglect and malnutrition.

The National Center for Truth and Reconciliation maintains a memorial registry with the names of more than 4,000 children who died in these institutions.

In late May, Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc Nation in the interior of British Columbia made the shocking announcement that ground-penetrating radar had located 215 unidentified graves believed to contain the remains of children who died in a residential school. .

In three weeks, the federal government fulfilled three more of the commission’s 94 calls to action, according to the Yellowhead Institute, a First Nations-led research center at Ryerson University, which is renaming itself because of the role of its namesake in the residential school system.

That included Parliament marking September 30 as the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation, amending the wording of Canada’s citizenship oath to include mention of indigenous rights, as well as the appointment of an indigenous languages ​​commissioner.

Eva Jewell, research director at the Yellowhead Institute, helped track the progress made to date on the TRC recommendations. She says that while it was surprising to see the speed at which Canada advanced three more, it did so under the international spotlight on a genocide.

Furthermore, he added, the calls to action he delivered were largely symbolic.

“If Canada’s response to these revelations was to act on the symbols, then what will it take for Canada to work on the substance?”

“It’s a disturbing question,” says Jewell.

From now on, he hopes that September 30 becomes a day when people reflect on the highlighted calls to action. One of the barriers to promoting reconciliation, the researcher believes, is Canada’s focus on symbols.

“It is important to remind Canadians (not to) let reconciliation become a performance.”

“If it’s still just a performance, indigenous peoples won’t be interested in it, I don’t think so. And I think at some point, Canadians will be exhausted as well,” he said.

The liberal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau came to power in October 2015 and made reconciliation a top priority. The CVR had issued its calls to action earlier that year and Trudeau, who was an opposition leader at the time, had called for its full implementation.

The findings of the nameless graves, which prompted both indigenous peoples and non-indigenous Canadians to react with shock, pain and calls for justice, have increased scrutiny of Trudeau’s commitments.

Lynne Groulx, executive director of the Native Women’s Association of Canada, says she has never seen as much support from Canadians and the corporate world from the organization as she did in 2021.

Despite the greater awareness that the majority have of reconciliation, she says that the action plan that Ottawa unveiled earlier in the year to address the findings of a 2019 national investigation into murdered and missing indigenous women and girls did not comply. with the expectations of your organization.

“There is a lot of expectation on this side of the table that reconciliation means action. It really means action,” Groulx said.

Among the chronic issues she says need to be addressed, including housing and health, is access to safe water in First Nations.

Trudeau missed his own deadline, set during the 2015 election campaign, to end all long-term drinking water advisories within five years. But the promise to lift them all lives on, and the government says it is working to make this happen.

In early December, Indian Services Canada reported that 42 of those advisories remained in effect in 30 different communities, primarily in Ontario, but also in Manitoba and Saskatchewan.

For Cindy Blackstock, a longtime First Nations child advocate and social worker, the discovery of unmarked graves resulted in increased awareness of the more recent inequalities the government has allowed for indigenous children today.

She is one of the parties involved in confidential negotiations with Ottawa to secure a settlement agreement that would see the federal government compensate indigenous children who were separated from their families due to chronic underfunding of child and family services in the reserve, as well as make systemic changes. to child welfare.

The damages were awarded by the Canadian Court of Human Rights, a decision that the federal government had appealed in Federal Court.

Negotiations began in the fall after federal ministers announced they hoped it would lead to an out-of-court settlement. The talks will expire on Friday. The fall economic statement showed that Ottawa is preparing to pay $ 40 billion.

Blackstock said he believes that figure would not have been on the table if more people had not paid attention to the case and to the issue of child welfare for indigenous children.

She believes the public understood the connection between the government’s role in the residential school system and how those who survived listed changes in child welfare at the top of the TRC’s 94 recommendations.

“People really care about these kids,” Blackstock said.

The Indigenous Residential Schools Resolution Health Support Program has a hotline to help survivors of residential schools and their families suffering with the trauma invoked by the memory of past abuse. The number is 1-866-925-4419.

This Canadian Press report was first published on December 30, 2021.