Indian Residential School records still scarce: Senate report

Press Release

July 25, 2024

Ottawa – Indigenous peoples continue to lack complete and timely access to historical records about Indian Residential Schools, despite legal obligations for those documents to be turned over, the Senate Committee on Indigenous Peoples has found.

The committee’s report, Missing Records, Missing Children, highlights the barriers to locating, accessing and reviewing records that may contain key information about the lives and deaths of Indigenous children at residential schools. Those barriers include a lack of information on where records for an Indigenous child, family or school are kept, and lengthy delays in accessing federal records.

Records are scattered across the country and searching them is a daunting prospect. The committee heard how one small non-profit organization that houses some of the historical records related to residential schools is processing 122 linear metres of records — approximately the length of 10 city buses. Indigenous peoples must also navigate federal and provincial jurisdictions, among others, to access records. Some of these records are restricted by the federal government’s access to information and privacy regimes or by provincial legislation. Other records have been destroyed or have not yet been disclosed.

The obligations to remit documents are set out in the 2006 Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement, which was related to a class action lawsuit brought by residential school Survivors against Canada and some Christian churches. Parties are required to submit relevant documents to the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation.

The report makes 11 recommendations, including that the federal government support and fund Indigenous-led approaches to locating and retrieving records across multiple jurisdictions. The recommendations reflect the principles that Indigenous peoples should have ownership, control, access and possession of records that relate to them.

QUICK FACTS

Following its July 2023 report, Honouring the Children Who Never Came Home: Truth, Education and Reconciliation, the committee agreed to hold additional hearings to better understand the reasons why governments and some Catholic entities have not transferred residential school records to the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation.

In 2023, it was estimated that 13 federal departments have 23 million records related to residential schools. Public Services and Procurement Canada alone has several warehouses of paper records that need to be reviewed for relevant materials.

Catholic entities operated the majority of the 139 federal residential schools in Canada. Among these, the Oblates ran more residential schools than any other. While some Oblate records have been turned over, the committee is still concerned that other Oblates records remain outstanding.

Under the terms of the Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement, all parties agreed to collect historical statements, documents and other materials related to residential schools. The documents should be housed at the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, which has a mandate to promote public education and understanding of the history and effects of residential schools, including by maintaining a national register of children who died while attending these institutions.

QUOTES

“It is unacceptable that Indigenous peoples continue to encounter so many barriers to accessing records related to the lives and deaths of our children at Indian Residential Schools. Canada has a duty to honour this history and address the lasting impact of residential schools on Indigenous communities. To properly do so, the federal government must urgently ensure we have complete and timely access to all relevant records, as well as the funding and support necessary to lead this difficult and emotional work.”

– Senator Brian Francis, Chair of the committee

“Indigenous people should not have to file access to information requests to learn about family and community members who went missing from Indian Residential Schools. These records ultimately belong to them; they have a right to know their histories.”

– Senator David M. Arnot, Deputy Chair of the committee

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