Missing children and burial information

Background and current status

The implementation of Call to Action 72 is led by Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada in partnership with the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation. The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation engages with Survivors and Indigenous communities to build the primary information repository for the National Residential School Student Death Register and the publicly available Memorial Register.

The development of the National Residential School Student Death Register and the Memorial Register began during the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's Missing Children and Unmarked Burials Project. The purpose of this project was to record and analyze information relating to missing children and student deaths at former Indian residential schools and the presence and condition of cemeteries and burial sites. At the conclusion of its mandate, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission acknowledged that significant work still needed to be done and therefore developed the missing children and burial information calls to action.

In 2017 and 2018, Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada provided funds to the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation to support the development of the National Residential School Student Death Register, a database holding information about children who died while attending Indian residential schools. The investment supported:

• the preparation of information previously collected by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's Missing Children and Unmarked Burials Project for analysis and research
• community-level Survivor-centered engagement on access and privacy considerations
• a documentary research project to inform next steps of the database development

Since these initial investments, the Government of Canada has continued to support the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation in the ongoing development and maintenance of the National Residential School Student Death Register and the public-facing Memorial Register.

Recent budget investments

Budget 2022 announced an investment of $6 million over 5 years to support the continued implementation of Call to Action 72.

Recent progress

The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation launched the Memorial Register in September 2019 from information obtained while establishing the National Residential School Student Death Register. The Memorial Register is a public-facing, searchable, and continuously updated online registry that contains the names of children who died or went missing while attending an Indian residential school. National Residential School Student Death Register information continues to be reviewed, analyzed, and updated by the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation.

Next steps

The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation continues to accept new information and review existing documents in its collection that may provide relevant information for the National Residential School Student Death Register and the Memorial Register.

As the information is reviewed and analyzed, the National Residential School Student Death Register and Memorial Register are updated.

Background and current status

The implementation of Call to Action 73 is led by Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada in partnership with the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation and Geomatics Services with Indigenous Services Canada. The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation engages with Survivors and Indigenous communities to build the primary information repository for the National Residential School Cemetery Register.

The development of the National Residential School Cemetery Register began during the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's Missing Children and Unmarked Burials Project. The purpose of this project was to record and analyze information relating to missing children and student deaths at former Indian residential schools and the presence and condition of cemeteries. At the conclusion of its mandate, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission acknowledged that significant work still needed to be done and therefore created the missing children and burial information related calls to action.

Survivors, families, and communities decide what information they wish to share with the Government of Canada, the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, and other partners to support the documentation of cemeteries.

Recent budget investments

Budget 2022 announced an investment of $7.6 million over 5 years to support the continued implementation of Call to Action 73.

Recent progress

Supported by with Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada, the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation continues to develop the National Residential School Cemetery Register.

Next steps

The National Residential School Cemetery Register is currently under development. Once completed, it will be hosted and maintained by the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation.

Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada will continue working with the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation and other partners on the implementation of Call to Action 73 to:

• work with families, Survivors, and communities to provide information on student deaths and burial locations
• work to fill information gaps in the information that has been collected to date
• improve access to information on the burial locations of deceased family members

Background and current status

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission's Calls to Action 74 to 76 are being implemented by Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada through the Residential Schools Missing Children Community Support Fund, which was launched on June 7, 2021.

The Residential Schools Missing Children Community Support Fund supports Survivor-centric, community-led, and culturally appropriate efforts to locate, document, and memorialize burial sites associated with former Indian residential schools, and honour families' wishes to repatriate children's remains.

Between July and September 2020, Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada hosted a series of 16 virtual national engagement sessions to inform its strategy for the implementation of Calls to Action 74 to 76. These sessions brought together more than 140 participants from a wide variety of organizations and expert disciplines across Canada, including residential school Survivor organizations, Indigenous organizations and Indigenous women's organizations, academics, archaeologists, and provincial and territorial heritage experts. These engagement sessions significantly informed the development and delivery of the Residential Schools Missing Children Community Support Fund.

In July 2022, the National Advisory Committee on Residential Schools Missing Children and Unmarked Burials was established to ensure Indigenous communities have access to independent, trusted, and expert information in their efforts to locate, identify, and commemorate missing children who died while in the care of residential schools. The National Advisory Committee is co-administered by Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada and the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, and brings together individuals with experience and expertise in areas such as Indigenous laws and cultural protocols, forensics, archaeology, archival research, criminal investigations, and working with Survivors. The National Advisory Committee is guided by a Circle of Survivors, comprising First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Nation members, ensuring that Survivors' voices and perspectives remain central to the Committee's work.

Recent budget investments

Prior to the Budget 2024 announcement, the Government of Canada had invested $232.1 million to support the implementation of Calls to Action 74 to 76 including:

• Budget 2019 investment of $27.1 million over 3 years beginning in 2021 to 2022
• August 2021 off-cycle investment of $83 million over 3 years beginning in 2021 to 2022
• Budget 2022 investment of $122 million over 3 years beginning in 2022 to 2023

Depending on the passing of the Budget Implementation Act, Budget 2024 proposes to provide an additional investment of $91 million over 2 years beginning in 2024 to 2025.

Recent progress

The Residential Schools Missing Children Community Support Fund currently has 146 agreements in place with Indigenous communities and partners for a total of $216.6 million as of April 26, 2024. These funds will support community-led and Survivor-centric efforts to locate, document, and memorialize burial sites associated with former Indian residential schools, and honour families' wishes to repatriate children's remains.

For more information, see:

• Residential schools missing children - community support funding
• Residential schools missing children community support funding recipients

In early 2023, the National Advisory Committee launched its website, published a navigator document, and began hosting a series of webinars and regional knowledge sharing gatherings to provide guidance to Indigenous communities and families. The National Advisory Committee has hosted three webinars, covering factors to consider when preparing for ground searches and knowledge gathering around potential burial sites, ground search technologies, and forensics, and has held knowledge sharing gatherings in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories and Truro, Nova Scotia.

Next steps

Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada will continue to:

• support communities through the Residential Schools Missing Children Community Support Fund
• collaborate with Survivors, Indigenous communities, the National Advisory Committee, and others to support the work of locating, documenting, and commemorating cemeteries and unmarked burials associated with former Indian residential schools and honouring families' wishes to repatriate children's remains
• ensure Survivors, Indigenous communities, and families guide this work at their pace, in accordance with the principles identified in Call to Action 76