Memorial park at former Mohawk Institute among projects at risk due to funding cuts

An organization leading efforts to investigate the Mohawk Institute residential school in Brantford, Ont., says it will be forced to cancel plans for a memorial park and other projects after learning its funding will be dramatically reduced.

The Survivors' Secretariat had been waiting months for word on funding for the current fiscal year through Crown-Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada (CIRNAC).

Laura Arndt, lead for the Secretariat, said she was informed Wednesday that funding to organizations through the Residential Schools Missing Children Community Support program would be capped at $500,000 per year, a substantial reduction from the previously announced $3 million cap.

Arndt said the Secretariat's previous funding agreement of just over $10.1 million over three years came to an end on March 31. Discussions with Canada and Ontario around renewed funding began last fall.

The Mohawk Institute was run by the Anglican Church of Canada, and later the Government of Canada, from 1828 to 1970, making it the longest operating residential school in the country. Between 90 and 200 children taken from Six Nations and other First Nations were forced to attend the school each year.

A $3 million cap on funding was already concerning to Arndt.

"They're applying this cookie cutter approach that's going to give all applicants the same amount of funding and the fact of the matter is, it's not an equitable breakdown."

Arndt said about 10 per cent of all the children who attended residential schools in Canada attended the Mohawk Institute.

"We still don't have guidelines in front of us and being informed that what they're willing to provide to us is 14 per cent of what we originally had," Arndt said. 

She said the work they suspended while waiting for word on funding includes data collection that would ensure school records are kept with survivors' nations as well as the planned park on the grounds of the former school. 

Through records research, they have so far identified 96 child deaths at the school, nearly double the number listed by the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation. Arndt said ground search activity and record collection are expensive undertakings.

"If we have the funding we can finish the work," she said.

"The work is so important because we've got to remember these children to our communities."

She said when they first applied for funding through the Residential Schools Missing Children Community Support program in 2022, the money wasn't released until nine and a half months into the promised period.

She said these long waits retraumatize survivors.

"Every time we get a block in the funding ... and this is the horrible thing, survivors figure it's never going to happen," said Arndt.

"It's just a long, long history of broken promises."

The 2024 federal budget pledged $91 million over two years, starting in 2024-25, to increase the support provided to communities to document, locate, and memorialize burial sites at former residential schools.

In an emailed statement, a CIRNAC spokesperson said Canada has committed $323.1 million, including the $91 million announced in this year's budget, to implement the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's Calls to Action on missing children and burial information. The statement said the Residential Schools Missing Children Community Support Fund, established in June 2021, has approved 146 proposals for a total of $216.6 million.

Other survivors' organizations in limbo

Rick Oakes, executive director of Sonatanoron, an organization that represents survivors in Akwesasne, said he's waiting for an update on their 2024/25 funding request.

Oakes said the carryover amounts from previous funding will cover salaries until September and some of the events planned for survivors but they have not been able to commit to anything beyond that date.

Akwesasne didn't have a residential school so many children were taken to the Mohawk Institute or sent to boarding schools across the United States, Oakes said. 

"We need resources to provide mental health services to the survivors which is one of our main priorities," Oakes said.

"We have already started this process and this includes elders and traditional healers to assist in the healing of the survivors and their families."

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.