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Results: 31 - 45 of 125
Daniel Quan-Watson
View Daniel Quan-Watson Profile
Daniel Quan-Watson
2021-06-03 11:15
I can say that unreservedly.
In fact, the consultation about how the money should be spent got exactly that reaction across the country, from every single indigenous group we had. We were frequently told that it was the Crown's fault that those children were there, and that we needed to respect, now, the fact that it was the indigenous community's role to decide what to do with what was found.
So yes, unreservedly, I can commit to what you have suggested.
View Cathy McLeod Profile
CPC (BC)
In summary, do you also commit, specifically to TTS, to send to this committee everything that has been done in terms of calls to action 73 through to 76?
Daniel Quan-Watson
View Daniel Quan-Watson Profile
Daniel Quan-Watson
2021-06-03 11:16
Yes. We will provide a full report of what we have done in relation to this particular first nation, as well as any other information that might be wanted by the committee.
View Cathy McLeod Profile
CPC (BC)
I will be pleased to let them know, because those are some of the things they are concerned about. From their perspective, they have not felt that there has been much movement on 73 to 76.
Thank you.
View Adam van Koeverden Profile
Lib. (ON)
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Thank you so much to the officials who have joined us here today to share their insight and perspectives with us. It's so important that Canadians know and hear from you as we are navigating this together.
All Canadians from coast to coast to coast are shaken, upset and distraught by this discovery of the remains of 215 children, and the loss to the families who have these memories. It's reverberating, certainly in British Columbia and Kamloops, but across the country as well, and it's absolutely heartbreaking.
Yesterday we heard that $27 million was made available, which was first allocated in 2019, to support this ongoing work from call to action 74. As my colleague mentioned, it calls on the federal government to work with churches and indigenous community leaders to inform families of children, and to respond to families with appropriate commemoration ceremonies. This is heartbreaking work. This is tragic work.
I'm also glad to hear that there was some federal funding utilized in this discovery. Thank you for highlighting that.
My question is for whoever would like to take it.
Can you explain to the committee why the funding for this very important initiative was delayed, and do you believe that $27 million will be enough to support hurting communities across the country in continuing this important work?
Daniel Quan-Watson
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Daniel Quan-Watson
2021-06-03 11:18
I'd be happy to take that, Mr. Chair.
In budget 2019, as was noted, this money was made available. One thing that was very important and we knew at the time was that something as sensitive as this issue should not be something that the federal government simply decides in its own office spaces as to exactly what to do.
There will be many different approaches that indigenous communities want in order to deal with this. It's important to remember that, while the Kamloops school is situated in Kamloops, those children were taken, sometimes, from hundreds of kilometres away. One thing that many indigenous communities have reminded us of again and again is that they will not disturb other communities' ancestors' remains without engaging properly with them.
How to deal with these issues is very sensitive. We know that some communities have told us already that they intend simply to memorialize the location and not do further work. There will be other instances where people want to do deep forensic work, or at least work that resembles forensic work, for different reasons. We knew it was our job to listen to what they had to say. We knew it was our job not to repeat the mistakes that had been made in the past, which, in fact, led to many of these situations in which government simply made its own decisions about what it thought was best. Therefore, we conducted a consultation process.
As you can imagine, many of the people we most needed to speak to were those with living memory of the schools. Many of those are elders. Many of those consultations do not work well in the format we're using today. There were delays as a result of COVID-19, because many of the people you talk to don't have either the technical ability or, frankly, the Internet access to do this type of work. However, we conducted that consultation, and we came up with the approach that was announced yesterday.
The core of that is very much along the lines of what your colleague just asked about in the final question, which is whether we will respect the wishes of indigenous groups, what they want to do and want not to do. We got a universal message that it's what they were asking us, and we will do that.
View Adam van Koeverden Profile
Lib. (ON)
Thank you, Mr. Quan-Watson.
My second question builds on that. There have been calls across the country to investigate and search the grounds of every former residential school, and for the forensic work to begin immediately, but there have also been very important calls from indigenous communities that all of this work needs to be community led. It needs to be community informed. Those decisions need to be guided by the communities, the families in question and the people it will impact emotionally, physically and personally in such profound ways.
Would anybody like to comment on the importance of this work continuing to be community led?
Daniel Quan-Watson
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Daniel Quan-Watson
2021-06-03 11:21
I'll just speak quickly to it.
Again, there are many living relatives of some of the people who died at these schools—brothers and sisters, nieces, nephews and, in some instances, parents. The idea that the Crown would go in against their wishes to begin work is, I think, something that we would reject outright, but, where they want that work done, we would definitely support that. It was, again, at the core of the consultations we heard, and perhaps my colleague Mr. Reiher could speak quickly to the key messages he heard when he was managing those consultations.
Martin Reiher
View Martin Reiher Profile
Martin Reiher
2021-06-03 11:22
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Deputy.
Indeed, we heard that this work is extremely complex and very difficult to do. Building relationships based on respect, trust and developing partnerships with communities will be paramount. Residential schools had students from multiple communities, as the deputy mentioned, so it will be important to be inclusive of all impacted communities. It's important to ensure that the processes for memorialization and commemoration are community led, culturally appropriate, based on ceremony, respectful of protocols and focused on helping families acknowledge their loved ones.
We also heard that this initiative will put those impacted by the legacies of Indian residential schools at risk of re-traumatizing, and it's important to include true, mindful practices. We heard very well that CIRNAC must respect and follow the information of government protocols that communities have in place, as well as the family wishes, to ensure that we have the appropriate balance between family healing, privacy and the desire to let Canadians know about this tragic situation.
View Sylvie Bérubé Profile
BQ (QC)
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I represent the constituency of Abitibi—Baie‑James—Nunavik—Eeyou, in which Cree and Anishnabe people live. We're all saddened by this terrible discovery last weekend. My thoughts are with the families and communities who are deeply affected by this tragedy. Today, we simply want to understand what happened. Meegwetch.
In the 2019 budget, the government announced an investment of $33.8 million over three years to implement calls to action 72 to 76 of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada.
However, it seems that, in reality, most of the money announced hasn't been spent. I'm just trying to understand why. Is the process stalled at the Treasury Board of Canada, or have other projects not been developed?
Daniel Quan-Watson
View Daniel Quan-Watson Profile
Daniel Quan-Watson
2021-06-03 11:25
Thank you for the question.
I wouldn't say that the money was blocked. It's just that there was no question of spending the money without knowing what the communities involved wanted done.
The communities told us that the government was making unilateral decisions during the residential school era and that this was the source of the issue. While the discussions concerned the children who died, there was no question of going back to that era of unilateral decision‑making by the federal government.
We conducted consultations to find out how the communities wanted to proceed. We listened to them. The response announced yesterday is based on what we heard.
View Sylvie Bérubé Profile
BQ (QC)
The Toronto Star also reported that the research that led to the appalling discovery in Kamloops was funded by provincial, not federal, dollars. Why is this the case?
Daniel Quan-Watson
View Daniel Quan-Watson Profile
Daniel Quan-Watson
2021-06-03 11:26
I can confirm that the funding came from the federal government, specifically the Department of Canadian Heritage. The details of the grant are online. I believe that the amount was approximately $40,000 from a program set up in part to respond to the calls to action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada.
View Sylvie Bérubé Profile
BQ (QC)
Last December, I received the response to one of my written questions regarding the implementation of calls to action 81 and 82. The government responded that only 0.5 full‑time equivalent employees were responsible for the implementation of call to action 82. As you may recall, this call to action consists of the construction of a national monument in Ottawa to honour the victims of residential schools.
Don't you think that this isn't enough to implement the call to action?
Kristi Carin
View Kristi Carin Profile
Kristi Carin
2021-06-03 11:27
Unfortunately I don't have that information in front of me, but we can commit to providing a written response to the committee.
Results: 31 - 45 of 125 | Page: 3 of 9

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