Residential School Documents Advisory Committee confirms membership at inaugural meeting

Following the Residential School Documents Advisory Committee’s inaugural meeting, Cadmus Delorme, former Chief of Cowessess First Nation and Chairperson of the Residential School Documents Advisory Committee; Stephanie Scott, Executive Director of the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR); and the Honourable Marc Miller, Minister of Crown−Indigenous Relations, announced the membership of the Committee and provided an update on the exercise to identify documents related to residential schools.

Six committee members were identified through consultations with the NCTR, the Assembly of First Nations, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, and the Métis National Council. They are:

Eugene Arcand: Survivor, Muskeg Lake First Nation, Saskatchewan

Maata Evaluardjuk-Palmer: Survivor, Mittimatalik (Pond Inlet), Nunavut

Shirley Horn: Survivor, Missanabie Cree First Nation, Ontario

Brenda Macdougall: Chair of Métis Research, University of Ottawa

Dr. Gwen Point: Intergenerational Survivor, Skowkale First Nation, British Columbia

Ted Quewezance: Survivor, Keeseekoose First Nation, Saskatchewan

Committee membership will also include representation from the NCTR, as well as:

Agriculture Canada

Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada

Department of Justice

Employment and Social Development Canada

Health Canada

Indigenous Services Canada

Library and Archives Canada

National Film Board

Parks Canada

Privy Council Office

Public Services and Procurement Canada

RCMP

Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat

Independent Special Interlocutor for Missing Children and Unmarked Graves and Burial Sites associated with Indian Residential Schools

In December 2021, Minister Miller directed the department to conduct a broader internal review of existing documents to ensure transparency and full sharing of all relevant documents, while respecting Survivors’ wishes, legislation, court orders, settlement agreements and ongoing litigation processes. In addition to the internal review, the Minister requested the development of a new structure to govern document sharing and the formation of an advisory committee to identify and propose recommendations for sharing relevant documents of historical interest. The Residential School Documents Advisory Committee is the result of this direction.

Through an initial scoping review, the departments and agencies noted above have identified as many as 23 million additional documents related to residential schools and the implementation of the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement (IRSSA) for the committee to consider. This collection goes beyond the type of documents that were required to be disclosed to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission under IRSSA and are in addition to the more than 1.5 million documents and higher-quality images recently provided to the NCTR through the MOU signed in January 2022. These newly scoped documents will include duplicates of records previously provided to the NCTR. It will take time for departments and agencies to finalize the search and remove duplication, and for the Committee to recommend processes to gather the documents into an accessible and standardized collection.

The independent Committee will provide recommendations to the Government of Canada on removing barriers to sharing documents, while respecting Survivors’ and their families’ wishes, legislation, court orders, settlement agreements and ongoing litigation processes. One of the top priorities of the independent Committee is to ensure that stakeholder views—including those of Indigenous nations, communities and Survivors—are reflected in discussions and decisions regarding the important work of identification, review of, and recommendations on sharing of residential school-related documents of historical interest to the NCTR.

Reviewing and reforming our processes connected to the sharing of documents related to residential schools is key to fulfilling our moral obligations—to rebuild trust, accountability and transparency, and address the legacy of residential schools.