Ottawa, Ontario                                                                                                                                                         Jun 30, 2021
Media Release 
REAL Women of Canada is a voice for women who support life and the traditional values of marriage, and family as the basic unit of society. Incorporated in 1983, we are a non-denominational, non-partisan national women’s organization representing women from all walks of life, occupations, social and economic backgrounds.
There are many questions that need to be answered in the wake of the recent media accounts surrounding the discovery of abandoned cemeteries in Kamloops, British Columbia and at the former Marieval Indian Residential School site in Saskatchewan.
 
The Liberal government ignored the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s 2015 (TRC) Report. Volume 4 of the multi-volume Final Report entitled “Canada’s Residential Schools: Missing Children and Unmarked Burials”. It is a sobering 286 page (including index) read. Sobering too, is the Report prepared for the TRC by anthropologist, Dr. Scott Hamilton who was retained by the Commission to address the issue of the cemeteries (https://ehprnh2mwo3.exactdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/AAA-Hamilton-cemetery-FInal.pdf). Both documents have been in the public domain since 2015 when the TRC Report was released.
 
The TRC clearly stated that “[T]­here is a need for the development and implementation of a national strategy for the documentation, maintenance, commemoration, and protection of residential school cemeteries.” (Vol. 4, p. 2) As the TRC notes:
 
The locations of some of the cemeteries associated with the residential schools are known. The exact location of others is currently unknown, or are incompletely documented in the literature. The location of some cemeteries may even have passed from local memory. (Vol. 4, p. 127)
 
The exact number of cemeteries is not known. The TRC concluded that “those facilities that opened prior to 1950 are the most likely to have cemeteries.” (Vol. 4, p. 128).
 
Simply put, the existence of unknown/abandoned cemeteries has been known for years. Most importantly, the TRC made six specific recommendations (Calls to Action) for the federal government to act in respect to the questions of missing children, unmarked graves, and residential school cemeteries (Calls to Action: 71 – 76).
 
Those six Calls to Action have fallen on the deaf ears of Justin Trudeau and his government. Trudeau has had six years to move forward with the TRC’s recommended framework for addressing the abandoned cemeteries. He pretends to be surprised and shocked at the “discovery” of abandoned cemeteries. If we were not dealing with a subject so tragic to so many of our fellow Canadians, the situation could be described as farcical.
 
Rather than accept responsibility for his government’s failure to act, Trudeau is now trying to shift blame onto the Roman Catholic Church stating “we expect the Church to step up and take responsibility for its role in this and be there to help in the grieving and the healing …. It’s something we are all still waiting for the Catholic Church to do”.
 
In addition, Trudeau’s Minister of Northern Affairs, Dan Vandal, has the insolence to state that ‘religious leaders who operated the residential school system in Canada should be accountable for any crimes committed … of course they need to be charged … we need to do all things necessary to achieve justice … to bring charges forward”.
 
This inept Liberal government has not only failed to carry out its responsibilities in regard to the TRC recommendations, but also has failed to acknowledge that the federal Department of Indian Affairs was responsible for the residential schools. According to Dr. Hamilton’s review, the department that funded them refused to pay for the costs of the burial of the children who died at the schools, refused to pay the costs of transporting the children to their families, and to maintain the cemeteries.
 
This offensive failure by the government required the religious groups administering the schools to establish the cemeteries on the school grounds. According to Dr. Hamilton, not only school children were buried in these cemeteries, but also teachers, their families, and the religious who taught in the schools as well as members of nearby municipalities. The actions of the federal government under the Indian Affairs Department and Trudeau’s liberal government today, have disgraced all Canadians.
 
In short, while the various churches that administered the Residential Schools may have their own failings, one should not lose sight of the fact that it was the federal government that created, funded, oversaw, and was responsible for the residential school system. Why is Trudeau trying to shift the blame for this tragic situation?
 
Justin Trudeau and his government have completely failed the Indigenous file, as he has on so many other issues. The only thing really shocking is that anyone would expect Trudeau to deal with an issue in a mature, responsible manner. The fact is the news stories coming out of British Columbia and Saskatchewan would be far less sensational and hurtful if the federal government had done its job in the aftermath of accepting the TRC Reports in 2015.
 
While there may be criticism and diversity of opinion surrounding the TRC, surely, we as Canadians are united in our belief that our common humanity deserves and demands that we show respect for the dead, including maintaining cemeteries and appropriate memorials. This should not be political or divisive. What is unacceptable is the complete failure of Trudeau and his government to deal with and acknowledge the actual facts, and to show respect for the dead as well as the living.