“Inaction is denialism,” Deputy Leader Mamakwa responds to the 220 additional ‘known’ deaths in Ontario’s Residential Schools identified by Coroner

QUEEN’S PARK – Deputy Leader of the ONDP and critic for Indigenous and Treaty Relations Sol Mamakwa (Kiiwetinoong), made the following statement in response to the news of the 220 additional deaths linked to Indian Residential Schools in Ontario that were identified by a Coroner's probe:

“Inaction is a form of denialism. We cannot forget these children, whose deaths are not just heartbreaking, but each one is an injustice committed by the government, in a project of colonialism and systemic cultural genocide.”

“Although First Nations people in Ontario have always known about our relatives who never came home from the government-run Indian Residential Schools, it is still painful to hear, and especially to learn the stories of the atrocities and criminal negligence that led to the deaths of these children. The 656 deaths confirmed by the Ontario Office of the Chief are just the deaths from the recognized Indian Residential Schools and does not include the deaths of First Nations children at other government-run institutions, including the Indian Hospitals.”

“As Indian Residential School survivors across Ontario continue to search the school sites and adjacent crown lands for the remains of these children, the Ontario bureaucracy cannot continue put up barriers. It is past time for this government to commit fully to the actions needed to move forward with Truth and Reconciliation. Survivors of Indian Residential Schools deserve to heal, and all of us must take the steps that Survivors have told us again and again are needed.”

Background:

The Final Report of Independent Special Interlocutor for Missing Children and Unmarked Graves and Burial Sites, Kimberly Murray, laid out at least 13 obligations which called for action from provincial governments. The Ontario government must respond to the news reported today with a commitment to fulfilling the obligations in that report, including:

• Obligation 5, to: fund “search and recovery efforts for any purposes deemed necessary by Indigenous communities or organizations leading investigations”;
• Obligations 17 and 20, to: “place immediate moratoriums on record destruction” and follow the direction of Indigenous Peoples to determine “what government records are of “historical” value and ought to be preserved”;
• Obligation 21, to establish, in legislation, “a permanent office to provide support for families and communities of missing and disappeared children”;
• Obligation 28, to ensure that all laws relating to the repatriation of Indigenous human remains are aligned with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples;
• And, among the many others important obligations: Obligation 32, to enact commemoration laws in collaboration with Indigenous Peoples about the missing and disappeared children and their burials. This includes protecting “collective memory against historical negationism” and regulating educational curricula.