When the Ontario government
released The Journey Together, its
response to the TRC Calls to Action, a significant focus was on educating all
Ontarians regarding the legacy of Residential Schools. This responded directly
to Calls to Action 62 to 65. The Journey Together committed up to $20 million
over three years to educate Canadians concerning the history and legacy of
Residential Schools. New commitments towards this end include restoring Mohawk
Institute in Brantford Ontario, the construction of a commemorative structure
in Toronto, and creating an anti-racism strategy informed by Indigenous
peoples.
Restoring Mohawk Institute
Mohawk Institute is one of
the few Residential Schools still standing in Ontario, but it was falling into
disrepair. The community at Six Nations and the staff at Woodland Cultural
Centre, who manage the former Mohawk Institute, initiated a grassroots campaign
called "Save the Evidence" to raise funds to preserve Mohawk
Institute "to ensure the physical evidence of the dark history of
Residential Schools in Canada is never forgotten."
In response to The Journey
Together, the Ontario government committed $10 million over three years to
restore Mohawk Institute and transform it into an interpretation centre.
Residential Schools Legacy
Structure
Responding to TRC Call for
Action #82, the Ontario government has established a partnership with Toronto
Council Fire native Cultural Centre and met with Survivors of Residential
Schools to design a reflective and commemorative monument. An artist has been
commissioned to develop this design, which is in process. The government is
currently considering the design and potential locations in Toronto for this
structure.
Missing Children, Burials,
and Residential Schools Records
In The Journey Together,
the Ontario government committed to "provide death and other relevant
records of “lost children” who attended residential schools to the National
Centre for Truth and Reconciliation and work with the federal government and
Indigenous communities to find cemeteries and burial sites on residential
school properties. Remains will be returned to Indigenous communities when
requested and/or memorial ceremonies and commemorative markers will be
arranged.”
The Archives of Ontario is
currently leading project that are currently ongoing, as guided by the research
staff at the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR), housed in the
University of Manitoba. search of its record holdings to identify the relevant
documentation of the Residential School system. Digitized copies of the
relevant records will be provided to the NCTR. This completed project will be
completed by the 2018-19 fiscal year. In 2016-17, the Archives of Ontario
completed a “high-level analysis” of government and private record groups
within the archives. In this coming fiscal year the archives staff will conduct
a physical search of the archives and digitize relevant records, ultimately
transferring these digitized records to NCTR in 2018-19. This was done at the
cost of $58,000.
Concerning locating
Residential School burial sites and cemeteries, the TRC working group could not
complete its work before the end of its mandate. The project to locate these
burial sites is being led by the Settlement Agreement Branch at Indigenous and
Northern Affairs Canada (INAC), and they indicated that they are in the early
stages of a national strategy. MIRR has informed COO that they were considering
starting this work in Ontario as of February 2017. They will complete their
work, as guided by First Nations, through non-invasive approaches such as
community engagement, surface examination, aerial photography, ground
penetrating radar, and geo-mapping.
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