Full Truth about Residential Schools Stymied by Discord
By Michael Woods
Canadians may never learn the full history of the Indian residential school system because the federal government and a commission responsible for studying the matter are at odds over how to assemble the facts, the auditor general has found. The federal government and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission have disagreed on basic questions such as who will cover what costs, the time frame that should be covered, and which documents are relevant to the historical record, according to the audit tabled in the House of Commons on Tuesday. The result, the audit found, is that with only 15 months remaining in the commission’s five-year mandate, no one knows what’s needed to create the historical record, what remains to be done, and how much time and money is needed to do the job. “We are concerned that the lack of cooperation, delays and looming deadline stand in the way of creating the historical record of Indian residential schools as it was originally intended,” said Auditor General Michael Ferguson. The government-funded, church-run residential school system isolated aboriginal children from their families and attempted to strip them of their identities. About 150,000 children passed through the schools. Many children experienced physical, emotional and sexual abuse, and many died at the schools. The commission, a cornerstone of the 2006 Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement, was established in July 2009 with a five-year mandate. But disagreement and a lack of coordination plagued the project from its outset, Ferguson’s report shows. In a press conference, Ferguson said the blame for the lack of progress lies with both the federal government and the commission. But, he said, “there were definitely some places where the government departments needed to step up a little bit more, to try to help lead this towards reconciliation.” No department was made responsible for coordinating the provision of documents to the commission until February 2010, when Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada was chosen, the report said. Then, the government and the commission couldn’t agree on the scope of the work to be done, including what constituted “relevant documents” and where to search for them. The federal government developed its own definition of “relevant” documents, but didn’t share it with the commission for two years, the audit found. That definition didn’t include documents at Library and Archives Canada. In January, an Ontario Superior Court judge sided with the commission in that dispute, saying Canada’s obligation extended to documents at Library and Archives Canada. Library and Archives Canada has estimated that finding and digitizing the documents could cost about $40 million and take 10 years. The relevant documents could stretch for about 20 kilometres; the auditors calculated that represents about 69,000 boxes. Aboriginal Affairs Minister Bernard Valcourt said in a statement on Tuesday that the government “is committed to a fair and lasting resolution” to the legacy of Indian residential schools, highlighting the 3.5 million documents the government has already provided to the commission. “We agree with the auditor general that Canada and the TRC can work more closely together to ensure the objectives of the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement are met, and we are working jointly with the Commission to develop a project plan to fulfill document disclosure requirements,” Valcourt said. Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada hasn’t taken adequate steps to provide all relevant documents to the commission, the report found. The audit found no federal government estimate of the cost of providing documents, and no budget had been set. The total cost of providing relevant documents remains unknown, the report said. The report also found the commission could not estimate whether its budget would cover its share of the cost of collecting documents. There was also disagreement on the digitization formats and quality of the documents to be provided. The commission decided on formats for documents in July 2011, but didn’t share the formats and requirements with Canada until this year. Aboriginal Affairs, meanwhile, set out a less detailed description format for the digitized documents. That decision was made to save time and money, the audit found, without analyzing the needs of potential users. In its response to the audit, the government says it will work jointly with the commission to develop a plan for providing the documents, and it will comply with the January court decision. The commission said it is working with the federal government to determine the work that remains, but says there “remain numerous other issues related to Canada’s documents, and there is a need to consider timing and budgetary constraints.” Contact: mwoods@postmedia.com
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