Canadian Indigenous residential school survivors and their advocates are urging all parties in Canada's federal election to pledge their support for investigations into unmarked burials and missing children linked to the institutions.
Four years ago, the Trudeau government announced several projects following the findings of potential unmarked graves at the former site of the Kamloops Indian Residential School. However, last year an advisory committee working on identifying historical documents quit, citing inadequate funding, and in February the federal government discontinued funding for the expert committee advising Indigenous communities undertaking searches.
Cadmus Delorme, who was chair of the eight-person documents committee, was serving as chief of Cowessess First Nation in 2021, when the community announced 751 suspected unmarked burials had been found at the site of the former Marieval Indian Residential School in Saskatchewan.
"The government of Canada, today, in 2025, should support this," he told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
"We have to address certain things we inherited — we can't just forget about it — and this is one of them."
Wiikwogaming Tiinahtiisiiwin Project finance and project lead, Janalee Jodouin, said the successive Canadian administrations were at fault.
"They're to blame," he told the CBC.
"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 Grassy Narrows First Nation initiated the project to investigate the former McIntosh Indian Residential School in northwestern Ontario. In January the group announced it had found 114 unmarked burial features on the property, of which 106 were in the historical cemetery area.
McIntosh survivor Geraldine Fobister told the CBC: "It is important that Canada knows what we have suffered, and then Canada should help us complete this project."
The Liberals, the party of former PM Justin Trudeau who are seeking re-election, told the national broadcaster they would "continue this important work to support survivors and communities and move forward on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's Calls to Action".
In January last year, Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre said Canada's federal government "should provide the resources to allow for full investigation into the potential remains at residential schools".
"Canadians deserve to know the truth and Conservatives will always stand in favour of historical accuracy," he said.
The NDP, Bloc Québécois and Green Party all told the CBC they support full funding for the investigations, while the People's Party of Canada said it would not support investigations.
In 2021 the Survivors' Secretariat was formed to investigate the former Mohawk Institute Indian Residential School in Brantford, Ontario.
Secretariat lead Laura Arndt told the CBC this month that cutting the resources of investigations would feed the reactionary phenomenon of residential school denialism.
"We are talking about the truth of history in this country, and a history that can't be talked about without using the word legacy when it comes to Indigenous people," she said.
"I'd like to see the parties really committing to taking forward the issues of Indian residential school survivors and having the records disclosed."
Through document analysis, the Secretariat has confirmed 101 known deaths at the Mohawk Institute — more than doubling the 48 listed by the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation — but the group is in funding dispute with Ottawa that still may force it to shut down.
13 YARN (13 92 76) - Culturally safe counselling.
For Canadian readers, there is a national 24-hour Indian Residential School Crisis Line on 1-866-925-4419.
