Ottawa launches map of boarding schools to help search for missing children

The Canadian government has launched a new interactive online map showing the location of residential schools. Experts say this will help in the search for unmarked or forgotten graves of children forced to go to the institutions.

Many school buildings have been demolished, paved over or rebuilt since they were built. first opened in Canada in the 1830s and the last closed in the mid-1990s.

The Interactive map of Indian boarding schools helps searchers find the exact location of former buildings.

“It’s a very valuable resource,” says Andrew Martindale, a professor of anthropology at the University of British Columbia (UBC).

“If we find evidence of a cemetery or burial, and we know where it is in relation to buildings from the 1930s, we can use that kind of information to say, ‘Where is this today?’”

Martindale said it is difficult to get information from jurisdictions about the history of the former boarding school site, including how it was changed and the names of the landowners.

“If we are off by even one meter, it could impact the work we do,” said Martindale, a member of the National Advisory Committee on Missing Children and Unmarked Graves.

The free mapping tool includes contemporary and historic aerial photographs, allowing users to visualize where the institutions operated and what they looked like.

A window to the past

More than 100 indigenous communities have been involved in searches for graves in residential schools, and they have had to pay to access aerial maps from libraries and obtain data through access to information requests from government agencies. Kimberley Murray, independent special interlocutor for missing children in unmarked burials.

While the tool may come too late to support ongoing searches in the community, Murray says every new piece of data helps in the search for missing children.

“The more information that’s available to communities the better,” Murray said. “But I do think Canada hasn’t gone far enough in what it’s made available.”

About 150,000 First Nations, Inuit and Métis were removed from their families when boarding schools existed. Ottawa had used the Indian Act to force children to attend government-funded schools to be indoctrinated into Euro-Christian Canadian society.

Many children became victims of physical, psychological and sexual abuse.

The interactive map excludes many institutions that expose indigenous children to the same dangers as boarding schools.

The tool does not list Indian hospitals, tuberculosis sanatoria, day schools or boarding schools that are not federally funded.

These institutions were not included in the $1.9 billion Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement. Under this agreement, the government was required to collect and hand over to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission documents documenting the history of the institutions.

New tool could help combat denial of residential schools

Tricia Logan, interim academic director of the Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre at the University of British Columbia, said she hopes the map will be updated to include all the institutions that have been used to assimilate Indigenous children.

“Anything that is made more accessible… a little more transparent is always so helpful and supportive to countries and communities doing research right now,” said Logan, who is also an assistant professor of First Nations and Indigenous Studies at UBC.

The map does not include information about boarding schools in Newfoundland and Labrador. In 2017, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau apologized to survivors of boarding schools in that province following a $50 million settlement agreement after they were left out because the federal government did not operate boarding schools in their province.

Another notable absence from the list is the former boarding school in Île-à-la-Crosse, Sask., which continues to be a source of contention between the federal and Saskatchewan governments over who is responsible.

Despite the missing information, Logan said the data the government has made available can help counter misinformation and misinformation about residential schools, known as denialism.

“Maps like those from government sources … help to counter claims of very malicious misinformation or disinformation that are emerging,” Logan said.

CBC News requested an interview with Indigenous Services Minister Patty Hajdu, but she was unavailable.

Hajdu said in a press release that the map will empower survivors and communities.

“People in Canada have hidden the truth about colonialism for too long, harming us all and slowing the healing process that is essential to our country’s health and prosperity,” Hajdu said.

A national Indian Residential School Crisis Line is available to provide support to survivors and those affected. People can reach emotional and crisis referral services by calling 24-hour service at 1-866-925-4419.

Mental health and crisis support is also available 24 hours a day, seven days a week through the Hope for Wellness hotline at 1-855-242-3310 or via online chat.