Residential school timelines, unmarked graves part of new web resource for survivors - Action News
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Residential school timelines, unmarked graves part of new web resource for survivors

A new onlineresource is being launched to help Canada's residential school survivors find information about compensation, unmarked gravesitesand other issues. It comes as federal Crown-Indigenous Minister Marc Miller has pledged to release more documents.

Launch comes as Canadian delegation prepares for Vatican visit

A person stands in front of steps filled with children's toys and clothes. The person is wrapped in a banner.
Shoes and stuffed toys cover the steps of the former Mohawk Institute Residential School in Brantford, Ont., on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. A new online resource with information for survivors, a project of the University of British Columbia, will be available starting Tuesday. (Bobby Hristova/CBC)

A new onlineresource to help residential school survivors find information about compensation, unmarked gravesitesand other issues was launched Tuesday.

The development comes asaCanadian delegation ofsurvivors andCatholic bishops prepares to visit Pope Francis at the Vatican this month and follows news this week thatfederal Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Marc Miller has pledged to release more documents.

The new collection of online resources has been curated by the University of British Columbia'sIndian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre in Vancouver.

The centre's academic director, former Saskatchewan judge Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, says she hopes itwill keep everyone focused on the rights and needs of survivors. That includes the need for fullrecord disclosure and compensation.

"This is a very important moment in Canadian history, and this collection is important," she said. "There needs to be accurate, publicly accessible, transparent information."

Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, academic director of the Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre at UBC, hopes its new web portal will keep everyone focused on the rights and needs of survivors, from proper compensation to record disclosure. (Mike McArthur/CBC)

The portal includes detailed timelines of the landmark 2006 Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreementand the Catholic Church's court case against the federal government. In that case, a Saskatchewan judge approved a controversial $1.2 million buyout of the church'sremaining financial commitments to survivors. The federal government appealed the decisionbut then dropped the challengebefore it got to court.

Many of the documents were unearthed over the summer during a CBC News investigation. Others are gleaned from papers written by former Truth and Reconciliation Commission counsel Tom McMahon and others.

Turpel-Lafond, amember of the Muskeg Lake Cree Nationin central Saskatchewan, said the new web portal is only a partial record. She says the Catholic Church and federal government are still withholding documents.

"We just urge the federal government and the Catholic entities to have full transparency. This has to come out," she said. The site invites further document submissions from survivors and the public.

The UBC Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre is launching a new online resource for residential school survivors, researchers and the public. It includes a detailed timeline of the 2006 compensation agreement, as well as the actions of the federal government and Christian churches. (UBC IRSHDC)

Miller, in an interview with The Canadian Press, promised this week to release more documents and saidthat could happen in the next month or two.

The Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations issued a news release on Monday evening saying Miller's promise is a good "first step" but that the promised documents form only a small minority of those still being kept from survivors.

The delegation from Canada is scheduled to meet with Pope Francis at the Vatican later this month, provided there is no change in travel restrictions due to the COVID-19 omicron variant.

The groupis expected to request that Francis come to Canada to issue along-awaited apology for the church's central role in the residential school system. Most survivors interviewed recently by CBC News say the apology is important but can only come with full compensation and document disclosure.