Senate report calls for Canada to compel Catholic entities to release residential school records

Indigenous peoples continue to struggle to access complete and timely records about Indian Residential Schools, according to a new report by the Senate standing committee on Indigenous Peoples.

The report, Missing Records, Missing Children, was released Thursday and includes 11 recommendations to improve access to residential school records, including for the Canadian government to compel Catholic entities to release documents to the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation.

"It's extremely important for the support of the survivors and the family members to bring closure because everyone is aging on," said Sen. Brian Francis, who is Mi'kmaw from Lennox Island First Nation and is chair of the committee.

"The sooner we can get answers the better."

The committee pledged to hold additional hearings following its July 2023 report, Honouring the Children Who Never Came Home: Truth, Education and Reconciliation, to better understand why some government and church entities had not transferred requests to the NCTR.

The committee held 10 hearings between September 2023 and April 2024.

It heard from 39 witnesses, who described barriers to locating, accessing and reviewing records that may contain key information about the lives and deaths of Indigenous children at residential schools.

Some of those barriers were legal, others involved policies within the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act. There was a lack of resources for translation, transcription or digitization.

"Some of the things that I heard during testimony was that there are jurisdictional issues. Some of the records are spread out across many different geographical areas in Canada. Records were improperly stored," said Francis.

"The other couple of areas that stick out for me was the lack of adequate funding to do the job properly."

The report stated that some invitees to appear before the committee never responded or declined to appear, including the Provincial Archives of Alberta and vital statistics offices from Manitoba and Quebec.

The NCTR said in an emailed statement that it fully supports all recommendations, particularly those concerning the transfer and release of records into its care.

The centre is actively working with governments and church bodies to access documents that never went to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, executive director Stephanie Scott said in the statement.

"We depend on their co-operation, transparency and collaboration — without it, we will not have a complete picture of this nation's history with respect to its treatment of First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples, what happened to the missing children, and where their families might find them," she wrote.

"Time is of the essence — each day survivors are aging, we are losing them, and they, along with their families and communities deserve to know the truth "

According to the senate report, agencies with outstanding records as of 2023 included Library and Archives Canada, Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada, the governments of the Northwest Territories, Manitoba, Quebec, Ontario and Saskatchewan, and several church entities.

Francis said several witnesses located additional records after receiving the committee's invitation or before their testimony.

"True, meaningful reconciliation… it's a marathon, not a sprint," said Francis.

"Some things are slower than others, but here we have a clear roadmap… if these recommendations are acted on the way, they should be in a timely manner, that we will have answers sooner than later."

CBC News has requested comment from the department of Crown-Indigenous Relations as well as from its minister, Gary Anandasangaree.

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.