Death records of residential school students to be shared with National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation

WARNING: This story contains distressing details.

A new information-sharing agreement with Manitoba will help uncover what happened to children who went to residential schools and ended up in unmarked graves, Indigenous groups say.

Stephanie Scott, executive director of the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, called it "an important contribution to all ongoing efforts to find all of our children."

"The families and communities have a right to know about the children that did not return home from school and know where their little ones lay buried," she saidat a signing event Monday morning in therotunda of the legislative building in downtown Winnipeg.

A newinformation-sharing agreement with the provincial government will allow the Manitoba Vital Statistics Branch to share with the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation any records, including death records, of Indigenous children who attended residential schools in Manitoba.

"I believe that trust starts and ends with truth, and it's my hope that we are building trust today,"Government Services Minister James Teitsmasaid.

"We cannot lose sight of the harsh reality of the information that is being shared. It is a grim and sobering reminder of the generational impact that residential schools have had on our province and on our nation."

Bornfrom the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which was active from2008 to 2015, theNational Centre for Truth and Reconciliation wascreated to be the stewardof all the statements, documents and sacred items gathered during that time, Scott said.

It is also mandated to continue the TRC's research,education and community engagement. One of the TRC's 94 calls to action, No.71, called upon provincial and statistics agencies to provide death recordsof all Indigenous children in the care of residential school authorities.

"Through this agreement, the NCTR will be able to access information in death certificates [that] will help families and the NCTR to fill in some of the gaps that currently stop us from finding out further truth about residential school children who did not return home and are in unmarked burials," Scott said.

"Where we have the name of a student who attended a particular school but we have no information on when or how they diedor where they were buried, we may now be able to add that crucial information to the historical records."

Scott doesn't expect vital statistics to have information about every studentwhose life isbeing researched, "but each new piece of information that we gain matters and helps to complete the narratives about what happened to the children who did not make it home."

Grand Chief Cathy Merrick of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs andGrand Chief Garrison Settee of Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanakboth called the signing of the agreement ahistoric moment, but long overdue.

"Today is the day when we embark on a journey where nations will be able to find answers," Settee said.

Merrick said the access to death certificates will "give hope to our people that have been seeking that closure" and give identities to those in unmarked graves.

"They need to be talked about. Their names need to be talked about, because they never had that in the residential schools. They were numbers to the governments," she said.

A national Indian Residential School Crisis Line is available to provide support for survivors and those affected. People can access emotional and crisis referral services by calling the 24-hour service at 1-866-925-4419.

Mental health counselling and crisis support is also available 24 hours a day, seven days a week through the Hope for Wellness hotline at 1-855-242-3310 or by online chat.