Tk'emlps te Secwpemc chief cautiously optimistic about federal pledge to release residential school records

The chief of Tk'emlps te Secwpemcsays therelease of more federal records on residential schools, promisedbyCrown-Indigenous Relations Minister Marc Miller, will help survivors resolve some of their unanswered questions.

"So many of our survivorsare aging. They deserve peace, in their final resting years, to be truly believed,"Rosanne CasimirtoldCBC Radio's The CurrentonFriday.

Tk'emlps te Secwpemcmade international headlines in Maywhen it was one of the first First Nations to report the preliminary results of a searchforunmarked graves.Approximately 200 potential burial sites have been identified at the Kamloops residential school using ground-penetrating radar.

Miller said earlier this week the federal government plans on releasing a "voluminous" amount of recordsto the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR) within the next 30 days.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau toldIndigenous leaders in Kamloopsin Octoberthat the federal government had turned over all of the records in its possession, a claim the NCTR disputed.

Casimir said releasing recordsis "crucial to the healing path forward" giventhe recent discoveries of unmarked graves.

"I think having full access to these records and these documents it's going to be providing families answers," said Casimir.

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She expects the records to be "traumatizing in so many different levels," but said uncovering the truth of what happened at the schools will lead to healing.

Casimirwas one of 13delegates who were scheduled to attend a meeting with the Pope in mid-December, but that trip was postponed over COVID-19 concerns.

She saidshe plans on asking Pope Francis to visit her nation sohe can hear stories directly from residential school survivors.

She is optimisticthe Catholic Church will also releaseresidential school records.

"All I can do is hope that those documents, those records are going to be released as well," said Casimir.

"It's about the truth, and it's acknowledgingthe role of Catholic Church and of the deaths of the children that were placed in their care."

Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, director of the Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre at the University of British Columbia, said there is a growing need to have an Indigenous archive.

"We do not have an Indigenous archive," Turpel-Lafond toldThe Current.

"That's a mandatory deposit that includes all of the records from the residential schools, especially fromthe largest denomination that ran them, the Catholic entities."

Turpel-Lafond, who is from Muskeg Lake Cree Nation in Saskatchewan,saidmany of the announcements about releasing records so far have been vague.

She said she would like to see the Canadian government enact legislation that would force the Catholic Church to turn overrecords.

"It's been done in Ireland and elsewhere. It's the only way to get it done,"said Turpel-Lafond.

"If they don't do itI think we can say they're dragging their heels."