This past January, I wrote about Jean and I going to Iqaluit to a gathering on unmarked burials of children who went to residential schools. Last week, we went to Gatineau, Que., where the final report on unmarked burials was released.
Just a bit of history. For years, residential school survivors spoke about children who had died or mysteriously disappeared while in SA国际影视传媒渢he mission.SA国际影视传媒� In fact, clients of mine have told me about these types of things, as well as children being born and taken away from girls impregnated by priests or brothers.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission documented several former residential schools that had unmarked graves and recommended SA国际影视传媒淐alls to ActionSA国际影视传媒� regarding this. But nothing was done. Not cool.
Then suddenly, the TkSA国际影视传媒檈mlups te Secw茅pemc First Nation in Kamloops reported that they had used ground-penetrating radar to discover 215 suspected unmarked graves at CanadaSA国际影视传媒檚 former largest Indian residential school. Whoa! This was in May 2021 and it caught the attention of the world. Following this discovery, other First Nations found more suspected unmarked graves and burial sites at former Indian residential schools.
Responding to this, the federal government appointed Kimberly Murray in June 2022 as the independent special interlocutor for Missing Children and Unmarked Graves and Burial Sites Associated with Indian Residential Schools.
Her mandate was to SA国际影视传媒渨ork with First Nations, Inuit and Metis survivors, families and communities to identify needed measures and recommend a new federal legal framework to ensure the respectful and culturally appropriate treatment of unmarked graves and burial sites associated with former residential schools.SA国际影视传媒�
I have to give credit to the federal government for moving quickly on this and for allowing Murray to do her work without interference.
Settler amnesty
Murray is a lawyer and a member of Kanesata:ke, a Mohawk community northwest of Montreal. She got a standing ovation after speaking about her five-book final report, called Upholding Sacred Obligations, which includes a 272-page executive summary.
Murray says she found "settler amnesty and a culture of impunity" that protected the people involved in children disappearing and other acts. It has also shielded the state from accountability.
She says the Canadian government has taken steps to protect Canada and people who were involved, such as getting wording changed in international documents before signing them and refusing to sign other documents that could not be changed.
Eugene Arcand, a member of the Survivor Circle, said, SA国际影视传媒淭he report documents CanadaSA国际影视传媒檚 deliberate distortion of international human rights law to avoid accountability for the crimes committed through the residential school system and related institutions. The special interlocutor calls this cover up SA国际影视传媒榮ettler amnesty and impunity.SA国际影视传媒� These shameful acts have been ongoing under the guise of truth and reconciliation for decades.SA国际影视传媒�
Disappeared by the state
Murray said she found that children who were buried at residential schools aren't missing: they were disappeared by the state. She says that makes them victims of "enforced disappearance," which is a crime against humanity under international law.
Murray does not make recommendations; instead, she provides a list of obligations. Starting on page 209 of the executive summary, there is a list of 42 obligations, including legal ones, which she says institutions like governments and churches should abide by. One obligation is to SA国际影视传媒渞efer the enforced disappearance of Indigenous children to the International Criminal Court.SA国际影视传媒�
Natan Obed, president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ITK), said, "If Canada wants to stand firm and tall in an international context, and uphold itself as a nation-state that abides by the rule of law and cares for its citizens, it also has to understand when it does not hold up to those standards that it is accountable.SA国际影视传媒�
Former AFN national chief Ovide Mercredi also spoke to this in a rousing speech that received a long and loud standing ovation.
Below is a partial list of the obligations that Murray calls the SA国际影视传媒渒ey components.SA国际影视传媒�
Finding and protecting truth
-Fully implement TRC Calls to Action 71-76 and expand the scope to include cemeteries and burial sites associated with other institutions.
-Provide long-term, sufficient and flexible funding for Indigenous-led investigations, and support survivor gatherings and recording of survivorsSA国际影视传媒� truths.
-Amend or enact legislation to establish an Indigenous burial site designation to protect burial sites and include robust enforcement mechanisms.
-Enact federal right to truth legislation requiring all records relating to Indigenous peoples to be registered in a national records registry and establish a moratorium on the destruction of government records.
Upholding international obligations
-Establish a national commission of investigation that adopts the human rights-based forensics guiding principles of the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances.
-Publicly acknowledge Indigenous children as victims of enforced disappearance and provide full reparations, including compensation to families and communities.
-Sign and ratify the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance; codify enforced disappearance as a crime under the Criminal Code and Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act.
-Refer the enforced disappearance of Indigenous children to the International Criminal Court.
Justice and accountability
-Uphold Indigenous PeoplesSA国际影视传媒� human rights, including the right to reparations for genocide and mass human rights violations by fully implementing the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
-Establish a national Indigenous data sovereignty strategy and action plan.
-Appoint an independent panel of experts to investigate the history and legality of land transfers of burial sites and repatriate these lands.
-Enact an Indigenous repatriation act and develop an action plan for implementation.
Reparations and countering settler amnesty
-Establish healing lodges and centres in Indigenous communities and provide sufficient health and wellness supports.
-Issue apologies for the harms of genocide, colonization and mass human rights violations.
-Enact commemoration laws to protect against historical negationism and spread of hatred, and regulate education curricula.
-Include provisions in Bill C-63: An Act to Enact Online Harms Act, to address harms of denialism and amend the Criminal Code, making it an offence to promote hatred against Indigenous Peoples.
ISA国际影视传媒檓 looking forward to seeing the Government of CanadaSA国际影视传媒檚 response to this. How about you?
