Special interlocutor calls for 20-year probe into missing Indigenous children

A final report into missing children and unmarked graves at residential schools is calling on the federal government to create an Indigenous-led national commission with a 20-year mandate to investigate missing and disappeared Indigenous children.

Kimberly Murray, who has been serving as Canada’s special interlocutor on unmarked graves for two years, released her final report Tuesday in Gatineau, Que., during a gathering with Indigenous residential school survivors and experts from across the country.

Sitting on the stage behind an empty chair meant to honour and remember children who never made it home from residential schools, Murray spoke sombrely about her work and the impact it has had over the duration of her tenure.

She said the commission must reflect Indigenous Peoples’ sovereignty, be governed by Indigenous laws and examine the systemic patterns of genocide and crimes against humanity. Its mandate should be no less than 20 years.

“Canada has legal and moral obligations to ensure that a full investigation is conducted into the disappearances and deaths of these children,” Murray said.

More than 150,000 Indigenous children were forced to attend residential schools, the last of which closed in 1996.

An estimated 6,000 children died in the schools, though experts say the actual number could be much higher.

In recent years, communities have been searching the grounds of former residential schools in hopes of bringing their missing children home.

In an interim report last year, Murray documented attacks from denialists on communities exploring possible discoveries of unmarked graves.

Her final report comes after two years of engagement with survivors and Indigenous communities across Canada.

Her office says it brings forward “legal, moral and ethical obligations that Canada must fulfil to address the legislative and structural gaps that exist in identifying, protecting and commemorating missing and disappeared children and their burials.”

The two-volume report lays out 42 “obligations” for governments, churches and other institutions to achieve truth, accountability, justice and reconciliation.

Murray said she’s calling them “obligations” rather than recommendations because the government often ignores the latter. By calling them obligations, Murray says the federal government will need to recognize its role in writing wrongs.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 29, 2024.