Collingwood council is calling on the federal government to take the actions suggested six years ago to find, name, record, and commemorate the victims of the Canadian residential school system.
Council is petitioning the government on three calls to action outlined in the 2015 report from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission related to missing children and unmarked graves at former residential schools.
The motion, led by Mayor Brian Saunderson, was supported unanimously on the spot by the rest of council.
“I believe the federal government over the last six years has taken little action,” said Saunderson. “Hearing and listening to the stories and confronting that truth is pivotal if we’re going to move forward.”
It calls on the feds to allocate sufficient resources to the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation to allow it to develop and maintain the National Residential School Student Death Register.
Secondly, council is pushing for Canada’s government to inform families of children who died at residential schools of the child’s burial location and respond to those families’ wishes for commemoration ceremonies and markers, and reburial where requested.
Finally, the third call to action is for the government to work with Indigenous communities across Canada to develop and implement strategies and procedures for the ongoing identification, documentation, maintenance, commemoration, and protection of residential school cemeteries.
Council is sending their resolution to the Federation of Canadian Municipalities in the hopes of gaining the support of the nearly 2,000 member municipalities who could help lobby the federal government to follow through on the three calls to action.
“I believe that recommendations 71-76 of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission report calls for … all levels of government to work closely with community stakeholders to locate these children and confront these truths,” said Saunderson.
In the last few weeks, ground-penetrating radar has revealed mass, unmarked graves at former residential schools in Canada.
In May, 215 children were found in unmarked graves in BC at the former site of Kamloops Indian Residential School.
On June 24, Cowessess Chief Cadmus Delorme announced the remains of 751 people, mainly Indigenous children, were found in unmarked graves near the former Marieval indian Residential School.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission estimated thousands of children died and were buried at residential schools.
The First Nation people leading the searches have said they expect to find hundreds more unmarked graves and burial sites under former residential schools.
