'Canada's responsibility': Trudeau responds to report of unmarked graves at residential school site

WARNING: This story contains details some readers may find distressing.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said today the pain and griefIndigenouscommunities are feeling after a preliminary reportof 751 unmarked graves foundnear a former residential schoolin Saskatchewan is "Canada's responsibility to bear."

"I recognize these findings only deepen the pain that families, survivors, and all Indigenous peoples and communities are already feeling, and that they reaffirm a truth that they have long known," Trudeau saidin a media statement.

"The hurt and the trauma that you feel is Canada's responsibility to bear, and the government will continue to provide Indigenous communities across the country with the funding and resources they need to bring these terrible wrongs to light. While we cannot bring back those who were lost, we can and we will tell the truth of these injustices, and we will forever honour their memory."

The Cowessess First Nation announced a preliminary findingtoday of 751 unmarked graves at a cemetery near the former Marieval Indian Residential School.

"This is not a mass grave site. These are unmarked graves," Cowessess Chief Cadmus Delorme told a virtual news conference thismorning.

Delorme said there may have been markers for the graves at one point. He said the RomanCatholic church, which managedthe cemetery, may haveremoved markersat some point in the 1960s.

He said it's not immediately clearwhetherall of the unmarked graves belonged to children. Oral traditionin Cowesses First Nation says thatboth children and adults were buried there, Delorme said.

Trudeau said Thursday evening that he's spoken on the phone to bothDelorme and Perry Bellegarde, national chief of theAssembly of First Nations, about the unmarked graves.

"We're committed to working together in true partnership to right these historic wrongs and advance reconciliation in concrete, meaningful, and lasting ways," Trudeauwrote on Twitter.

Thediscovery follows a similar discovery last month at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School. The Tk'emlps te Secwpemc First Nation in B.C. announced the discovery of a grave site adjacent to the former residential school and said that preliminary findings indicatethe remains of 215 children are buried there.

"The findings in Marieval and Kamloops are part of a larger tragedy. They are a shameful reminder of the systemic racism, discrimination, and injustice that Indigenous peoples have faced and continue to face in this country," Trudeau said in his statement.

"And together, we must acknowledge this truth, learn from our past, and walk the shared path of reconciliation, so we can build a better future."

'Not good enough': Marion Buller

Marion Buller, who served as chief commissioner of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, said todayshe wants to hear more from the prime minister than just "thoughts and prayers."

"It's a nice statement. A very well-crafted statement of sympathy and empathy but there's no action there,"Buller toldCBC News Network.

Buller pointed outthat Trudeau has said repeatedly that no relationship is more important to Canada than the Crown-Indigenous relationship.

"Prove it with concrete action. Release the documents. Stop the action in federal court regarding the application of Jordan's principle. Take responsibility. Acknowledge. Move forward. Come up with things that we all can do,that you can do [as]governmentif you're re-elected," Buller told host SuhanaMeharchand.

Bullerwas referring todocuments and records that some churches whichran residential schools have so far refused to release.

The federal government is in court fighting a Canadian Human Rights Tribunal rulingthat, in part, widened the application ofJordan's Principle which states that First Nation children on reserves must not be kept waiting for vital social services because governments can't agree on who should pay for them.

'More work needs to be done': Erin O'Toole

Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole said today his party acknowledgesthe "deep sorrow and mourning that all Indigenous people and survivors of Residential Schools are experiencing at this time."

"Our hearts grieve for the Cowessess First Nation and the surrounding Indigenous communities who are sharing this trauma," O'Toole said in a media statement.

"This discovery is a sombre reminder that so much more work needs to be done to address the devastating and harmful effects that residential schools had, and still have, on many survivors today."

In December,O'Toolewalked back comments he made to Ryerson University students claiming the residential school system was designed to "provide education" to Indigenous children before it went off the rails and became a "horrible program."

In his statement today, O'Toolepointed to his call for the Liberal government to provide a swift timeline and funding to deliver on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's Calls to Action 71 through 76 which focus on missing children and identifying burial sites.

The Liberal government's 2019 budget set aside $33.8M over three yearsto develop and maintain the National Residential School Student Death Register and work with parties to establish and maintain an online registry of residential school cemeteries.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh is calling on the federal government to implement every one of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's94 recommendations.

"Chief Cadmus Delorme's announcement that 751 unmarked graves have been found at Marieval Residential School is heartbreaking and further proof of the genocide against Indigenous people in this country,"Singh saidin a statement today.

"Indigenous people deserve more than words and promises. These horrific discoveries make it undeniably clear: the federal government has failed and is continuing to fail First Nations, Inuit and Mtis communities."

According to a CBC News tracker, 13 of the TRC's recommendations have been completed, 61 are in progressand 20 have not yet been started.

The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation says more than 150,000 First Nations, Inuit and Mtis children attended residential schools in Canada.

Former senatorMurray Sinclair, who served as chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, estimates that at least 6,000 children died while in the residential school system.

The TRCdescribes the intent of the schools as "cultural genocide."

How to get help

Support is available for anyone affected by their experience at residential schools, and for those triggered by the latest reports.

A national Indian Residential School Crisis Line has been set up to provide support for residential schoolsurvivorsand those affected. People can access emotional and crisis referral services by calling the 24-hour national crisis line: 1-866-925-4419.