Image Credit: CFJC Today

By Adam Donnelly

TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION

PM’s claims regarding release of residential school records called into question

Oct 20, 2021 | 10:43 AM

KAMLOOPS — Just days after the Prime Minister visited Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc, a statement he made during that visit is being called into question.

On Monday (Oct. 18), Prime Minister Justin Trudeau claimed the Canadian government had released all the residential school records they possessed to the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR) in Winnipeg.

“The Federal government has turned over all records we have for residential schools,” Trudeau said during remarks Monday afternoon. “When it comes to the Kamloops Indian Residential School, we have full or partial records going back to the late-1800s. Everything but the first two years this school was in existence.”

He also told those gathered at the Tk’emlups Powwow arbour that the government would support efforts by the band to help recover records still held by church organizations that ran the residential school program.

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“If there’s more, we’ll work to find it, and if there [are] other organizations like the church that has it, we’ll stand by you and make sure we get that information, too. Because we can’t have reconciliation without truth.”

However, on Tuesday (Oct. 19), the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation refuted the prime minister’s claims that all records were handed over to them.

In a statement posted on its website, the NCTR said: “Unfortunately, this is not accurate. At present, we are still waiting for Canada to provide the final versions of school narratives and supporting documents used in the Independent Assessment Process (IAP) to the NCTR.”

The statement continues, saying negotiations for those records have been ongoing since 2015, and that the NCTR is still unable to access Indian Hospital records, federal health records, and day school records and concludes by saying: “If the Prime Minister is telling all Canadians and Indigenous Peoples that the NCTR holds all records, it is time for that to be true.”

Read the full statement here.