Interim report on unmarked graves finds Indigenous communities still face insufficient funding, lack of access to records

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Indigenous communities still can’t access the records and funding needed to search for unmarked graves around former residential schools, according to the lawyer appointed to liaise between First Nations and all levels of governments on the issue.

In a progress report submitted to Justice Minister David Lametti on Thursday, Kimberly Murray outlined five common concerns she has heard from Indigenous communities since being named independent special interlocutor for missing children and unmarked graves and burial sites in June.

Several of the troubles have persisted since the spring of 2021, when the discovery of possible unmarked graves near the defunct Kamloops Indian Residential School first propelled the issue onto the national agenda. At the Kamloops site, the community of Tk’emlúps te Secwe̓pemc used ground-penetrating radar to locate 200 subterranean soil disturbances that archaeologists say are consistent with the presence of burials.

Since then, Ottawa has set aside at least $238.8-million for community search and commemoration activities. So far it has spent $88,795,529 on 84 projects. Provincial governments have kicked in additional funds.

But much of the public funding earmarked for burial searches is dedicated to communities where residential schools were physically located, Ms. Murray said in an interview. When the schools operated, however, they often drew children from dozens of communities, some located hundreds of kilometres away.

“For those other communities, they’re not sure how to participate in the recovery or how to do their own research or whether they can access funding,” Ms. Murray said.

She found that government funding is restricted to locating possible graves, and does not extend to exhuming, conducting forensic DNA work or paying for legal costs.

“Communities are having to fund that work through other means because Canada’s money doesn’t allow for it.”

Long before the Kamloops discovery, Indigenous groups had criticized governments and churches for withholding archival records detail resident-school activity, such as attendance lists and staff journals. Years later, the problem persists, according to Ms. Murray’s report, despite assurances from the federal government and the Catholic Church in Canada that relevant archives would be released.

She said communities that have hired lawyers are getting preferential access to records. Others have taken up to eight months to negotiate access.

“That whole question of who’s determining relevancy of the records is rearing its ugly head. … There’s lots of disparities and issues and barriers and processes that are being put in place that are blocking access.”

The report states that the dozens of simultaneous community searches have burdened Canada’s forensic archeology expertise, leading to delays in collecting and analyzing evidence.

Some former residential-school sites have fallen into private hands. Communities worry about a lack of laws to landowners from disturbing the suspected burial sites and barring access to searchers.

Ms. Murray is five months into a two-year mandate as special interlocutor. A large part of the job involves devising new laws to protect search areas and guarantee continuing access. She’s also researching ways of investigating and prosecuting criminality linked to the schools without involvement by the RCMP and other Crown institutions that lack trust within Indigenous communities.

Mr. Lametti said he’s still reviewing Ms. Murray’s report.

“The appointment of Kimberly Murray was a critical step in ensuring unmarked graves and burial sites near former residential schools are respectfully and appropriately treated and protected,” the Justice Minister said in a statement.