Residential school survivor group calls on feds to provide records to identify four deceased children

A photo of the Shingwauk Residential Schools Centre in Algoma University. (File)

The Children of Shingwauk Alumni Association (CSAA) says the federal government is refusing them access to records that would allow them to identify four young victims.

In a news release Wednesday, the CSAA said they are trying to identify four children who died while in the care of the Shingwauk and Wawanosh Residential Schools in Sault Ste. Marie in the 1910s.

Last week, the group sent an open letter to Patty Hajdu, Minister of Indigenous Services, and Marc Miller, Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs, urging them to provide their researchers with access to government databases and records to identify the Indigenous children.

“Knowing their names is essential to honour, recognize, and commemorate the lives of these four children who were taken from their families, robbed of their culture, and never returned home,” association president Irene Barbeau said in the news release.

"Researchers have pursued every available means to identify these four children, but these efforts have not succeeded," the association said.

The problem is the federal government destroyed many records related to Indigenous peoples and residential schools such as Shingwauk and Wawanosh, the group said.

“The only way left for us to identify these children is by searching the Indian Register, Treaty Annuity Paylists, and all remaining records that the federal government keeps hidden away from Indigenous peoples and their community,” said Ed Sadowski, an independent researcher who has worked with the association for more 30 years.

The federal government responded to the requests by saying privacy legislation prevents the release of those records.

“The CSAA is asking for access to records that are over 100 years old. There are no privacy concerns that justify withholding access these to documents,” said Vivek Krishnamurthy, a privacy law expert with the Samuelson-Glushko Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic at the University of Ottawa who is supporting CSAA’s efforts.

The association is calling upon Hajdu and Miller to allow the full resources of their departments to cooperate with them to identify the children.

A memorial event will be held by CSAA in July to unveil a plaque bearing the names of children who passed away at Shingwauk and Wawanosh Residential Schools.

“The federal government must act immediately on its promise to respect reconciliation," Barbeau said.

"This is an ongoing relationship based on mutual respect and understanding, not antagonism. As survivors, we deserve every opportunity to identify these four children, and these children’s lives deserve to be commemorated and memorialized respectfully by our community. This is non-negotiable.”

The open letter is available here.

The Children of Shingwauk Alumni Association was founded in 1991 by survivors of the Shingwauk and Wawanosh Residential Schools.

Based in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, it's a volunteer-led, grassroots organization that supports residential school survivors, their families, and communities.