A survivor-led steering committee announced Tuesday that a tribute to survivors and victims of residential schools will be built on the west side of Parliament Hill.
Ottawa appointed the committee in April 2022 to select a site for a national residential schools monument in keeping with one of the Truth and Reconciliation CommissionSA国际影视传媒檚 calls to action.
Gov. Gen. Mary Simon, CanadaSA国际影视传媒檚 first Indigenous governor general, said at a ceremony Tuesday morning that the monument is a SA国际影视传媒渟ignificantSA国际影视传媒� step towards reconciliation..
SA国际影视传媒淲hile reconciliation and healing has no end date, and it doesnSA国际影视传媒檛 involve just one act or project, I would like you to remember every act is important. And this act is significant,SA国际影视传媒� Simon said in her speech at the ceremony.
SA国际影视传媒淭he site selection on Parliament Hill allows as many Canadians as possible the opportunity to see this monument. It represents our history,SA国际影视传媒� she said.
SA国际影视传媒淪o near to the House of Commons, it will serve as a constant reminder to parliamentarians that the policies and laws they create, debate, legislate and enforce have consequences.SA国际影视传媒�
The steering committee said it worked in collaboration with the Algonquin Anishinabe Nation and residential school survivors to determine a location for the monument.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez both attended the ceremony.
Jimmy Durocher, a Metis residential school survivor and member of the steering committee, said it was important that the monument encapsulate the effects residential schools have had on CanadaSA国际影视传媒檚 past, present and future.
SA国际影视传媒淭his is not finished,SA国际影视传媒� Durocher said during the ceremony.
SA国际影视传媒淭his business of finding unmarked graves is not done.SA国际影视传媒�
Durocher said Canadians need to acknowledge the history of residential schools and know the truth.
SA国际影视传媒淭he truth is sometimes very, very difficult. I know itSA国际影视传媒檚 hard for me. ISA国际影视传媒檓 an elder. ISA国际影视传媒檓 83 years old, and I find it very difficult to imagine something like this could happen to us here in Canada. But it happened. But you want to know the positive side of it? WeSA国际影视传媒檙e still here.SA国际影视传媒�
The last remaining residential school closed in 1996.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, which launched in 2008 and delivered its final reports in 2015, called the Canadian residential school system a government-supported form of SA国际影视传媒渃ultural genocide.SA国际影视传媒�
The commission estimated that more than 4,000 Indigenous children went missing from the schools across Canada.
Murray Sinclair, the former judge and senator who chaired the commission, has said he believes that figure was an underestimate and suggested the missing children could number SA国际影视传媒渨ell beyondSA国际影视传媒� 10,000.
Kimberly Murray, CanadaSA国际影视传媒檚 special interlocutor on unmarked graves, raised concerns in an interim report this week about increasing attacks from SA国际影视传媒渄enialistsSA国际影视传媒� who challenge communities when they announce the discovery of possible unmarked graves.
The Liberal government created her role as it looked for ways to respond to First Nations from across Western Canada and in parts of Ontario using ground-penetrating radar to search former residential school sites for possible unmarked graves.
MurraySA国际影视传媒檚 final report is due next year and is expected to contain recommendations on how the federal government can help communities search for the children who died and disappeared.
-By Liam Fox, The Canadian Press
