An expert committee formed to help Indigenous communities find unmarked graves at former residential schools says the federal government is ending its funding at the end of this year.
The National Advisory Committee on Residential Schools Missing Children and Unmarked Burials is led by survivors and co-administered by the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR) and the federal department of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs (CIRNAC).
The organization was formed after 200 potential burial sites were detected through ground-penetrating radar at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School site, an incident that sent shock-waves across the country and received international attention.
Crystal Gail Fraser has been on the national advisory committee since it formed in 2022. Fraser, who Gwich’in and grew up in Inuvik, N.W.T., is a historian whose research focuses on residential schools. She currently teaches at the University of Alberta.
But just under three years since it was formed, Fraser says the organization will cease operations when its current funding agreement expires on March 31st.
“The fact that our funding is being pulled came as a shock,” she said. “This work is just underway. We’ve seen real need from communities to connect with academics, to get free, reliable advice.”
The decision comes after funding cuts announced in July for unmarked grave searches, and funding delays for residential school non-profit Survivors’ Secretariat.
Fraser says losing the government’s support for residential school research on the ten year anniversary of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s final report is a betrayal.
“You know, all of the signals that we’ve seen from this government has been ongoing engagement with the process of truth and reconciliation,” Fraser said.
“And when it comes to residential school histories and children who have either died or disappeared as a result of their institutionalization… we are still very much in the truth process.”
Raymond Frogner is head of archives and senior director of research with the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation. He said members of the committee were able to provide direct, free support to communities looking to investigate unmarked burial sites and missing children.
“Assistance with forensics, ground-penetrating radar, geography, archival research, genealogy,” he explained.
More than 100 Indigenous communities in Canada are involved in residential schools grave searches, and many encounter barriers trying to access information and resources to carry out that work.
“The national advisory committee was a very strong resource base that communities could turn to without the onerous weight of private industry charging them exorbitant prices and maybe even losing control of the records they were going to create in their investigations,” said Frogner.
In 2015, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission determined that at least 3,200 children died while in federal custody at residential schools.
At the time, chair Murray Sinclair told CBC that because burial records were often incomplete, he was “absolutely convinced the number is much higher, perhaps as much as five to 10 times as high.”
Ten years later, despite important milestones in the ongoing effort to acquire complete records, Frogner says significant gaps remain. Negotiations with provinces over the sharing of coroner’s records and vital statistics are ongoing.
“There’s many, many questions that still are left to be answered,” said Frogner. “Losing NAC is a tremendous loss for the investigations of these questions.”
Judy Gingell is with the Yukon Residential Schools Missing Children working group. She says the national advisory committee has been instrumental to their efforts.
“It’s a loss, of good information, of research, of support,” she says the federal government’s decision to end funding to the group.
“It’s just not right. Cruel, as far as I’m concerned.”
Gingell says she knows of Elders who last saw their children getting on a truck to go to residential school in the fall, and only learned their child had passed away when they did not return by truck in the spring.
“Our Elders have no idea where the children are that passed.”
In a statement released on Thursday, the National Advisory Committee urged the federal government to reconsider and renew their funding so they could continue their work.
CIRNAC did not respond to a request for comment from CBC by deadline.
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 is also available 24 hours a day, seven days a week through the Hope for Wellness hotline at 1-855-242-3310 or by online chat.
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