Honouring the Truth Reconciling for the Future

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318 • Truth & Reconciliation Commissionis complex and sensitive. Although former schools might be associated with specificAboriginal communities, the cemeteries may contain the bodies of children frommany communities. They may also contain the bodies of teachers (or their children)who died while working at the institutions. No one set of recommendations will serveall circumstances.Call to Action75) We call upon the federal government to work with provincial, territorial, andmunicipal governments, churches, Aboriginal communities, former residentialschool students, and current landowners to develop and implement strategiesand procedures for the ongoing identification, documentation, maintenance,commemoration, and protection of residential school cemeteries or other sitesat which residential school children were buried. This is to include the provisionof appropriate memorial ceremonies and commemorative markers to honour thedeceased children.As infrastructure and resource development accelerates throughout Canada, therisk of damage to undocumented residential school cemeteries increases. Dependingon the jurisdiction, environmental impact assessments, which include the assessmentof heritage sites, are usually required prior to development. This generally involves areview of existing documentation, evaluation of the potential for heritage sites withinthe development zone, and also often a physical search. Such work is often done inphases, with preliminary review of centralized archives and databases to inform subsequentinvestigation. Local knowledge about residential cemeteries might not bereadily accessible to non-local planners, resource managers, and impact assessors.Therefore, it is important that locally collected information is shared with agenciesresponsible for land-use planning, environmental impact assessment, and protectionand regulation of cemeteries.Such information sharing is hindered by limited documentation, unclear jurisdictionalresponsibility, and uncoordinated consolidation of information. These problemscould be addressed through the establishment of a registry of residential schoolcemeteries that could be available online. At a minimum, such a registry shouldinclude the identification, duration, and affiliation of each cemetery; its legal description;current land ownership and condition; and its location coordinates.The complex and sensitive work of documenting, maintaining, commemorating,and protecting residential school cemeteries must be undertaken according to a set ofguiding principles that are based on community priorities and knowledge. Any physicalinvestigation of the cemeteries must involve close consultation with interestedcommunities, with identification of community-driven objectives, suitable methodologies,and attention to spiritual and emotional sensitivities.
The challenge of reconciliation • 319The generally sparse written documentation must be combined with locally heldknowledge. Often, this information will be unwritten, and held by Survivors, the familiesof Survivors, staff, or local residents. This locally held information can be used toverify, correct, and amplify archival information. This work might involve local initiativesto physically document a cemetery’s extent and location, and also to identifyindividual graves within or around the cemetery area. When undertaking physicalinspection and documentation of the cemeteries, the most cost-effective strategyinvolves collection and consolidation of both documentary and locally held knowledgeprior to initiating fieldwork. This will improve efficiency of the physical search,and aid selection of the most effective field methodologies. It also enables researchersto determine community wishes regarding the most appropriate approaches tosite investigation. This includes preferred protocols regarding prayers and ceremonialobservance prior to a site visit.Call to Action76) We call upon the parties engaged in the work of documenting, maintaining, commemorating,and protecting residential school cemeteries to adopt strategies inaccordance with the following principles:i. The Aboriginal community most affected shall lead the development ofsuch strategies.ii. Information shall be sought from residential school Survivors and otherKnowledge Keepers in the development of such strategies.iii. Aboriginal protocols shall be respected before any potentially invasive technicalinspection and investigation of a cemetery site.The Commission believes that assisting families to learn the fate of children whodied in residential schools; locating unmarked graves; and maintaining, protecting,and commemorating residential school cemeteries are vital to healing and reconciliation.Archives and government departments and agencies have a crucial role to playin this process. Equally important, archival records can help Survivors, their families,and communities to reconstruct their family and community histories. Yet, accessingsuch holdings is not without problems.The limitations of archivesWe have outlined how Library and Archives Canada has dealt with its residentialschool records. Other records that are relevant to the history and legacy of theresidential school system are scattered across the country in provincial, territorial,
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