Residential school site searches so far just ‘tip of the iceberg’: Miller

A national Indian Residential School Crisis Line is available for anyone affected by residential schools. You can call 1-866-925-4419 24 hours a day to access emotional support and services.

Canada’s Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister says the searches on the grounds of former residential schools to date are just the beginning.

There are currently 70 searches underway for unmarked graves at former residential school sites. Mark Miller says it could take 10 years or more for communities to complete searches, exhume bodies, and then use records or DNA to try and identify them.

“Some communities want answers yesterday. There are others that don’t want to be rushed into things,” he said.

“Most of us aren’t really prepared for what that truth ultimately will reveal, as a country. We’re really at the tip of the iceberg, in terms of discoveries.”

The Pope has confirmed he will make a formal apology on Canadian soil in July, and Indigenous leaders are now pushing for an apology from the Queen.

The head of the Métis National Council has told the CBC she will make a formal request to Prince Charles at a meeting this week during his visit to Canada. The request is supported by Veldon Coburn, who teaches Indigenous studies at the University of Ottawa.

“Indigenous peoples would like to hear form the mouth of Queen Elizabeth II at this time … Have it come right from the top,” Coburn said.

The Vatican says Pope Francis’ visit to Canada this summer will include stops in Alberta, Quebec, and Nunavut. It says the capital cities of Edmonton, Quebec City, and Iqaluit will act as bases for the trip from July 24 to 29.

The visit comes after the Pope’s historic apology for the Roman Catholic Church’s role in Residential Schools in Canada.

However, the Pope is not set to visit Kamloops during his trip. Nearly one year ago, the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc Nation announced ground-penetrating radar had found the possible remains of about 200 children on the site of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School.

Related articles:

• Pope Francis coming to Canada, but will not be stopping in Kamloops

• ‘I am very sorry’: Pope Francis apologizes to Indigenous delegates for residential schools

The Nation’s chief says word that her community and other neighbouring ones weren’t on initial itinerary plans was disappointing.

“I’m still holding onto a hair of hope that maybe he will change his mind, I’m not too sure. But … in British Columbia alone, there are 204 First Nation communities … that have been impacted by the Residential School that was run by the Roman Catholic Church,” said Kúkpi7 Roseanne Casimir Friday.

The 2015 report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission had found, through records and accounts shared by survivors, that thousands of children had died at these institutions, or gone missing. Still, the discovery in Kamloops brought the devastation caused by the church-run, government-funded residential school system into focus for many non-Indigenous Canadians, and renewed calls for justice.

Miller says that since there are 140 former residential school sites in Canada, the searches to date are just the “tip of the iceberg” and the federal government will keep offering financial supports.

With files from Mike Lloyd, Kareem Gouda, and Hana Mae Nassar