Survivors urge all political parties to support residential school burial investigations

WARNING: This story contains details of experiences at residential schools.

As Canada's federal election heats up, residential school survivors and their advocates are urging political parties to pledge full support for investigations into unmarked burials and missing children linked to the institutions.

The previous Liberal government announced several initiatives following the findings of potential unmarked graves at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School in 2021. Four years later, the programs face questions about their future.

Last fall, an advisory committee working on identifying historical documents resigned, citing inadequate funding. Then in February, Canada discontinued funding for the expert committee advising Indigenous communities undertaking searches.

"The government of Canada, today, in 2025, should support this," said Cadmus Delorme, who was chair of the eight-person documents committee.

Delorme was also chief of Cowessess First Nation in 2021, when the community announced 751 suspected unmarked burials were located at the site of the former Marieval Indian Residential School in Saskatchewan. He said Canada "has a fiduciary financial responsibility in this moment," as communities still seek closure.

"We have to address certain things we inherited — we can't just forget about it — and this is one of them."

Meanwhile, Crown-Indigenous Relations has announced, then reversed, funding caps to the investigations themselves, and some communities continue to face delays and red tape.

"This is Canada's fault. They're to blame," said Janalee Jodouin, finance and project lead for the Wiikwogaming Tiinahtiisiiwin Project.

"They need to bring the children home, period. It's not rocket science. They need to fund it and they need to fulfil their promises."

The project was started by Grassy Narrows First Nation to investigate the former McIntosh Indian Residential School in northwestern Ontario. The group announced in January it located 114 unmarked burial features on the property, of which 106 were in the historical cemetery area.

Frustrated with Canada's lack of ongoing financial commitment, Jodouin invited CBC Indigenous to meet with the project's elders advisory last week to hear about the impact.

In the meeting, one survivor likened the institution to a work camp where she was made to do hard labour. Another recalled witnessing kids being beaten. Others described the Catholic-run school's devastating legacy.

"I don't understand why they would try to erase the Indian again by not making this known," said Steve Lands, a former McIntosh student and project co-ordinator.