OTTAWA -- The federal government announced Tuesday that it intends to spend an additional $321 million on a range of initiatives related to residential school searches and to support Indigenous communities doing the work. The Liberals also said they plan to name a special interlocutor to suggest new legal measures, and will create a national commemorative monument.
Among the promises made:
- Adding $83 million in funding to the previously-promised $33.8 million going towards implementing the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s (TRC) calls to action 72 to 76, which focus on what needs to be done to further address the missing children and burials at residential schools;
- Spending an additional $107.3 million dollars this year on measures to help Indigenous communities with healing from intergenerational trauma;
- Acting on a TRC call to establish a national monument in Ottawa to honour survivors and the children who didn’t come home, which the government is budgeting $20 million for; and
- Plans to appoint a “special interlocutor,” who will identify and recommend new legal measures or federal reforms related to the ongoing discoveries of unmarked and undocumented graves and burial sites at former residential schools.
Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller, Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Carolyn Bennett, Justice Minister David Lametti, and Canadian Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault made the multi-pronged announcement.
“We recognize that there are a number of immediate and urgent growing needs for supports especially as more confirmations of unmarked burials at former residential institutions are made across the country,” said Miller.
More to come.
Feds promise more funding for residential school searches, will tap special interlocutor - CTV News
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