Transport Canada organized a department-wide "healing circle" after employees questioned claims that 215 children were buried at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School, according to internal records obtained through Access to Information.

The documents, first reported by Blacklock's Reporter, show then-Deputy Minister Arun Thangaraj condemned comments made during a departmental reconciliation webinar, calling them "uninformed, wrong and hurtful."

"We wanted to address the offensive comments made during the learning event," Thangaraj wrote in a memo to staff. "To be clear, those comments are uninformed, wrong and hurtful."

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The webinar, titled The Ugly History, focused on Canada's residential school system and was hosted by the deputy minister as part of the department's reconciliation initiatives.

According to internal emails, unidentified employees posted comments in the webinar's chat that managers described as "questionable," "vile" and "triggering." The session was not recorded, and the chat messages were not preserved. However, correspondence among managers indicates the discussion centred on claims of unmarked graves at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School.

One regional director said the comments forced management to repeatedly shut down the discussion.

"I posted a message in capital letters that the comments section was now closed. I had to post that three times as people kept commenting," the manager wrote. "After the session I had people come to see me in tears."

Another executive told staff the comments had undermined the purpose of the event, which was intended to continue discussions surrounding the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

In response, Transport Canada invited all employees to participate in a virtual healing circle organized by the department's Indigenous relations team.

"In response to the distressing comments shared during our recent educational session on Canada's Indian Residential Schools, we must do more to advance reconciliation and make Transport Canada a more inclusive and safe place to work," the invitation stated. Employees were encouraged to "listen, share, reflect and heal."

The records also show Thangaraj told employees it was an "established fact" that 59 of the 140 residential schools covered by the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement had documented cemeteries and noted Parliament had unanimously recognized the residential school system as genocide.

The controversy stems from a 2021 announcement by the Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation that ground-penetrating radar had identified 215 potential unmarked graves at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School. To date, no human remains have been excavated or recovered at the site, although the federal government has provided more than $12 million to support investigative work, including potential exhumations.