Federal commitments still outstanding, nearly a year since first residential school burial site discovery
Almost a year since the first reported discovery of a burial site at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School, the federal government provided an update on the promises it has made since to “lift up the truth,” many of which are still a work in progress.
Crown Indigenous Relations Minister Marc Miller on Monday acknowledged that while the government has made steps on the path to reconciliation, “it’s been too slow.”
“We know that reconciliation doesn’t come easily but we remain committed to making further progress by addressing the past wrongs and the current impacts that are still felt today,” he said during a press conference in Ottawa.
The minister touched on a previously announced pledge to create a residential schools national monument in Ottawa, but with no clear timeline on when construction would start, and on another promise in Budget 2022 to provide $25 million over three years to Library and Archives Canada to support the digitization of documents relating to the federal Indian Day School system.
Another $78.3 million more has been distributed to Indigenous communities to support more than 70 initiatives in research, knowledge gathering, commemoration, memorialization and field work investigation around the sites of former residential school sites, Miller said.
On May 27, 2021, Chief Rosanne Casimir of the Tk'emlups te Secwepemc First Nation declared that the remains of 215 children had been found at the site of the former residential school in Kamloops, B.C.
Although that figure was later revised to 200, hundreds more unmarked graves have been identified across the country in the months since, with dozens of additional searches currently ongoing or being planned.
More than 150,000 First Nations, Métis and Inuit children were mostly forced from their families to attend the boarding schools from the late 1800s to 1996, with the goal of replacing Indigenous languages and culture with English and Christian beliefs.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which released its final report on the residential school system in 2015, says at least one in every 50 students died, with 4,100 having officially died, although the number is believed to be much higher.
Miller refuted a question from a member of the media suggesting that Monday’s news conference could have been perceived as government officials’ attempt to pat themselves on the back ahead of the grim anniversary, without announcing any new funding or initiatives.
“This is a process of reckoning and giving Canadians a snapshot of what we need to do as a country to be better and move forward in a way that we haven’t done in the past. So if anyone thought that we were going to stand here today and look for good press, you’ve totally missed the point and if that’s on me, it’s on me,” he said.
“The point is about showing Canadians that we’re trying to put our best foot forward about a very painful part of our history.”
Indigenous Services Minister Patty Hajdu echoed a similar sentiment.
“The process of truth is not a one-time announcement. It’s not a specific day. It’s not a specific investment. The process of coming to a realization for many Canadians last summer that Indigenous children not only were apprehended from schools and placed in residential schools …that was information for many Canadians,” Hajdu said.
“So part our journey as a government, as a country, as nations is telling each other the truth as we uncover it.”
Hajdu noted that as of this spring, her department has begun consultations with all First Nations who had a former residential school on reserve to determine the “wishes” of that community in how it would like to proceed.
She also touched on funding for enhanced mental health services, culture-based learning, and trauma-informed supports.
Justice Minister David Lametti meanwhile, provided an update on Ottawa’s proposal to appoint an independent special interlocutor who would liaise with First Nations, Inuit and Metis communities and the government on a new legislative framework to ensure culturally-appropriate treatment of the burial sites.
“We are now getting close to an appointment and there will be news to share very soon,” he said. “Sometimes good things take time.”
Budget 2022 sets aside $10.4 million over two years for Justice Canada to support the appointment of the interlocutor.
In relation to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s calls to action 72 through to 76 – centred on missing children and burial information – the ministers said Ottawa’s total investment in this area is “well over a half a billion dollars.”
The update comes following the Vatican’s announcement last Friday that Pope Francis is set to travel to Canada this summer to deliver an apology to Indigenous communities.
The scheduled trip to Alberta, Quebec, and Nunavut from July 24 to 29 is being met with mixed reactions as some are disappointed he won’t travel to provinces such as Saskatchewan, where many of Canada's residential schools were located.
With files from CTV News’ Michael Lee and Maggie Parkhill
IN DEPTH
Budget 2024 prioritizes housing while taxing highest earners, deficit projected at $39.8B
In an effort to level the playing field for young people, in the 2024 federal budget, the government is targeting Canada's highest earners with new taxes in order to help offset billions in new spending to enhance the country's housing supply and social supports.
'One of the greatest': Former prime minister Brian Mulroney commemorated at state funeral
Prominent Canadians, political leaders, and family members remembered former prime minister and Progressive Conservative titan Brian Mulroney as an ambitious and compassionate nation-builder at his state funeral on Saturday.
'Democracy requires constant vigilance' Trudeau testifies at inquiry into foreign election interference in Canada
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau testified Wednesday before the national public inquiry into foreign interference in Canada's electoral processes, following a day of testimony from top cabinet ministers about allegations of meddling in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections. Recap all the prime minister had to say.
As Poilievre sides with Smith on trans restrictions, former Conservative candidate says he's 'playing with fire'
Siding with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith on her proposed restrictions on transgender youth, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre confirmed Wednesday that he is against trans and non-binary minors using puberty blockers.
Supports for passengers, farmers, artists: 7 bills from MPs and Senators to watch in 2024
When parliamentarians return to Ottawa in a few weeks to kick off the 2024 sitting, there are a few bills from MPs and senators that will be worth keeping an eye on, from a 'gutted' proposal to offer a carbon tax break to farmers, to an initiative aimed at improving Canada's DNA data bank.
Opinion
opinion Don Martin: Gusher of Liberal spending won't put out the fire in this dumpster
A Hail Mary rehash of the greatest hits from the Trudeau government’s three-week travelling pony-show, the 2024 federal budget takes aim at reversing the party’s popularity plunge in the under-40 set, writes political columnist Don Martin. But will it work before the next election?
opinion Don Martin: The doctor Trudeau dumped has a prescription for better health care
Political columnist Don Martin sat down with former federal health minister Jane Philpott, who's on a crusade to help fix Canada's broken health care system, and who declined to take any shots at the prime minister who dumped her from caucus.
opinion Don Martin: Trudeau's seeking shelter from the housing storm he helped create
While Justin Trudeau's recent housing announcements are generally drawing praise from experts, political columnist Don Martin argues there shouldn’t be any standing ovations for a prime minister who helped caused the problem in the first place.
opinion Don Martin: Poilievre has the field to himself as he races across the country to big crowds
It came to pass on Thursday evening that the confidentially predictable failure of the Official Opposition non-confidence motion went down with 204 Liberal, BQ and NDP nays to 116 Conservative yeas. But forcing Canada into a federal election campaign was never the point.
opinion Don Martin: How a beer break may have doomed the carbon tax hike
When the Liberal government chopped a planned beer excise tax hike to two per cent from 4.5 per cent and froze future increases until after the next election, says political columnist Don Martin, it almost guaranteed a similar carbon tax move in the offing.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Indian envoy warns of 'big red line,' days after charges laid in Nijjar case
India's envoy to Canada insists relations between the two countries are positive overall, despite what he describes as 'a lot of noise.'
Stormy Daniels describes meeting Trump during occasionally graphic testimony in hush money trial
With Donald Trump sitting just feet away, Stormy Daniels testified Tuesday at the former president's hush money trial about a sexual encounter the porn actor says they had in 2006 that resulted in her being paid to keep silent during the presidential race 10 years later.
U.S. paused bomb shipment to Israel to signal concerns over Rafah invasion, official says
The U.S. paused a shipment of bombs to Israel last week over concerns that Israel was approaching a decision on launching a full-scale assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah against the wishes of the U.S.
Former homicide detective explains how police will investigate shooting outside Drake's Bridle Path mansion
Footage from dozens of security cameras in the area of Drake’s Bridle Path mansion could be the key to identifying the suspect responsible for shooting and seriously injuring a security guard outside the rapper’s sprawling home early Tuesday morning, a former Toronto homicide detective says.
Northern Ont. woman makes 'eggstraordinary' find
A chicken farmer near Mattawa made an 'eggstraordinary' find Friday morning when she discovered one of her hens laid an egg close to three times the size of an average large chicken egg.
Susan Buckner, who played spirited cheerleader Patty Simcox in 'Grease,' dead at 72
Susan Buckner, best known for playing peppy Rydell High School cheerleader Patty Simcox in the 1978 classic movie musical 'Grease,' has died. She was 72.
Jeremy Skibicki has 'uphill battle' to prove he's not criminally responsible in Winnipeg killings: legal analysts
Accused killer Jeremy Skibicki could have a challenging time convincing a judge that he is not criminally responsible for the deaths of four Indigenous women, a legal analyst says.
Bye-bye bag fee: Calgary repeals single-use bylaw
A Calgary bylaw requiring businesses to charge a minimum bag fee and only provide single-use items when requested has officially been tossed.
Alcohol believed to be a factor in boating incident after 2 men die: N.S. RCMP
Two Nova Scotia men are dead after a boat they were travelling in sank in the Annapolis River in Granville Centre, N.S., on Monday.
Local Spotlight
'It looked so legit': Ontario man pays $7,700 for luxury villa found on Booking.com, but the listing was fake
An Ontario man says he paid more than $7,700 for a luxury villa he found on a popular travel website -- but the listing was fake.
Investigating the tale of Winnipeg's long-running mystery bookstore
Whether passionate about Poirot or hungry for Holmes, Winnipeg mystery obsessives have had a local haunt for over 30 years in which to search out their latest page-turners.
'Love has no boundaries': Sask. couple in their 90s and 80s get married
Eighty-two-year-old Susan Neufeldt and 90-year-old Ulrich Richter are no spring chickens, but their love blossomed over the weekend with their wedding at Pine View Manor just outside of Rosthern.
Twin Alberta Ballet dancers retire after 15 years with company
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
Video shows gaggle of geese stopping traffic on Highway 1 near Vancouver
A mother goose and her goslings caused a bit of a traffic jam on a busy stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway near Vancouver Saturday.
B.C. mayor stripped of budget, barred from committees over Indigenous residential schools book
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three Quebec men from same family father hundreds of children
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
Here's how one of Sask.'s largest power plants was knocked out for 73 days, and what it took to fix it
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
Quebec police officer anonymously donates kidney, changes schoolteacher's life
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.