Funding cuts to searches for unmarked graves at residential school sites raises concerns

The federal government is facing criticism for cutting funding for searches of former residential school sites – including from the Independent Special Interlocutor for Missing Children and Unmarked Graves and Burial Sites.

The Residential Schools Missing Children Community Support Fund allowed individual organizations and communities to receive up to  $3 million per year. Now, the funding is capped at $500,000– which is significantly lower than what organizations estimate is required to continue the work.

"We should be investing additional funding into the supports for communities, not removing them," said Kimberly Murray, the Independent Special Interlocutor for Missing Children and Unmarked Graves and Burial Sites. 

Wauzhushk Onigum Nation near Kenora, Ont., was one of the communities who received this funding before the cuts. The $2.9 million it received funded the search of St. Mary's Indian Residential School near Kenora. The search found 171 plausible burial sites, while cadaver dogs uncovered 22 'alerts' indicating the underground presence of historical human remains.

According to the Paths to Reconciliation map of unmarked burial sites on Canadian Geographic, there are an additional five sites in northwestern Ontario with active investigations. This includes McIntosh Indian Residential School and Pelican Lake sites. It also includes the sites of institutions like the Sioux Lookout Indian Hospital and Fort William Sanatorium

Funding restricted to certain sites, usages

In addition to the caps on funding, there are also limits to how the funding can be used. Murray said the funding criteria currently excludes searches at locations other than residential schools recognized by Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement. 

The funding wouldn't cover searches of non-recognized residential schools that Indigenous children were taken to and died at, said Murray. 

It also would exclude searches for the children who were taken to residential schools and later transferred to hospitals, sanitoriums or other institutions, Murray said. "Kids were transferred from the Indian residential schools to these other institutions and died at those institutions and are buried in graves on the site of those institutions, or in nearby cemeteries in mass graves and unmarked graves."

The groups that do qualify for funding will face restrictions on how they can use it, said Murrary. Memorialization efforts like purchasing headstones on unmarked graves or putting up fences to protect burial sites don't qualify, she said. 

"Commemoration, memorialization is a very big part of truth finding and really important to communities," she said. It's also the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's Call to Action #75. 

"We have to follow the truth where it takes us, and Canada is putting up barriers and roadblocks to following the truth and revealing the truth," said Murray. "And quite frankly, it's in breach of their international obligations." 

"It's just a continuing process of Canada creating amnesty for itself by pulling the plug on all these searches," she said. 

The funding cuts have been heavily criticized by some Indigenous groups. The Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs said it was outraged at the decision and that the funding cap was disrespectful to survivors and families impacted by residential schools. At a rally outside Parliament Hill Monday, survivors and supporters gathered to express their concerns about the funding cuts. 

In an emailed statement, a Crown-Indigenous Relations spokesperson said the government's adjustments to the funding program are aimed at allowing it to be distributed to as many community-led initiatives as possible. 

But Murray said that limiting the amount of money each group gets isn't an effective way to make sure multiple initiatives receive funding.

"What they should have done is just increase the funding," said Murray.  

A national Indian Residential School Crisis Line is available to provide support for survivors and those affected. People can access emotional and crisis referral services by calling the 24-hour service at 1-866-925-4419.

Mental health counselling and crisis support are also available 24 hours a day, seven day a week through the Hope for Wellness hotline at 1-855-242-3310 or by online chat.