Feds expand Residential School fund that uncovered no 'unmarked graves'

The budget expansion comes despite the Tk’emlups te Secwepemc First Nation distancing itself from the 'mass grave' claim, instead referring to preliminary findings as 'anomalies.'

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  • August 19, 2024
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Feds expand Residential School fund that uncovered no 'unmarked graves'
The Canadian Press / Jeff McIntosh
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The Trudeau government aims to increase funding for Indigenous communities amid the search for thousands of missing children who attended Residential Schools despite uncovering no remains to date. 

Spending to date totalled $216.5 million, reported Blacklock’s Reporter. That includes $7.9 million for Tk’emlups te Secwepemc First Nation, whose "unmarked graves" discovery in May 2021 prompted federal support through the Fund. 

A mere two months ago the First Nation distanced itself from the "mass grave" claim. In June, they referred to preliminary findings as "roughly 200" anomalies, "some of which might be unmarked graves of former students."

Politicians and media had popularized the "mass grave" term after the "unmarked graves" discovery in Kamloops, British Columbia dominated headlines. 

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters at the time: "I think Canadians have seen with horror those unmarked graves across the country, and realize what happened … is an irrefutable part of our present."

"I apologize for any hurt or re-traumatization these changes may have caused," said Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Gary Anandasangaree. "We know this funding and these supports will never be enough to fully repair the intergenerational trauma," he added.

After heralding complaints from Indigenous leaders and communities, the federal government repealed an April 1 regulation that capped individual "field work" grants at $300,000. Crown-Indigenous Relations did not detail the increased financial support.

"Our intention was to fund as many initiatives as possible but we recognize the lack of flexibility in these changes was a mistake," reads a department notice.

In May 2021, Tk’emlups Chief Roseanne Casimir had collected "very preliminary" results through ground-penetrating radar. She later clarified: "This is not a mass grave, but rather unmarked burial sites that are, to our knowledge, also undocumented."

Chief Casimir employed similar language in a May statement as the 2021 declaration, replacing "children" with "anomalies."

Her office received an independent site inspection report in the summer of 2022, proposing the "anomalies" were likely caused by ground disturbances going back decades. It cites irrigation ditches, backhoe trenches, and utility and water lines as potential sources.

The department in a separate June 19 note Unmarked Burials said investigations were ongoing. "The truth about Residential School unmarked burials continues to be revealed," it said. "Funding is available."

A 2023 Senate committee report labelled doubts around the 215 alleged graves as "Residential School denialism."

"Denialism serves to distract people from the horrific consequences of Residential Schools and the realities of missing children, burials and unmarked graves," said the Senate Indigenous Peoples Committee report, Honouring The Children Who Never Came Home. 

Rebel News earlier attempted to contact the Kamloops First Nation on criminalizing dissent but did not receive a response.

The 2015 Truth and Reconciliation Commission estimated that 4,100 children died at Residential Schools that operated until 1996. The Senate Indigenous Peoples Committee in a July 25 report acknowledged the figures were unsubstantiated and contradicted by some coroners’ reports.

"Indigenous communities need to access historical records to identify missing children who may have died while attending Residential Schools and whose remains may be located in unmarked graves and burial sites across Canada," said a committee report Missing Children, Missing Records.

The committee recommended "that Library and Archives Canada review its holdings of death records from before 1967 to identify Indigenous children who may have died while at Residential Schools."

 

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