A survivor-led steering committee announced Tuesday that a tribute to survivors and victims of residential schools will be built on the west side of Parliament Hill.
Ottawa appointed the committee in April 2022 to select a site for a national residential schools monument in keeping with one of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission鈥檚 calls to action.
Gov. Gen. Mary Simon, Canada鈥檚 first Indigenous governor general, said at a ceremony Tuesday morning that the monument is a 鈥渟ignificant鈥� step towards reconciliation.
鈥淲hile reconciliation and healing has no end date, and it doesn鈥檛 involve just one act or project, I would like you to remember every act is important. And this act is significant,鈥� Simon said in her speech at the ceremony.
鈥淭he site selection on Parliament Hill allows as many Canadians as possible the opportunity to see this monument. It represents our history,鈥� she said.
鈥淪o near to the House of Commons, it will serve as a constant reminder to parliamentarians that the policies and laws they create, debate, legislate and enforce have consequences.鈥�
The steering committee said it worked in collaboration with the Algonquin Anishinabe Nation and residential school survivors to determine a location for the monument.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez both attended the ceremony.
Jimmy Durocher, a M茅tis residential school survivor and member of the steering committee, said it was important that the monument encapsulate the effects residential schools have had on Canada鈥檚 past, present and future.
鈥淭his is not finished,鈥� Durocher said during the ceremony.
鈥淭his business of finding unmarked graves is not done.鈥�
Durocher said Canadians need to acknowledge the history of residential schools and know the truth.
鈥淭he truth is sometimes very, very difficult. I know it鈥檚 hard for me. I鈥檓 an elder. I鈥檓 83 years old, and I find it very difficult to imagine something like this could happen to us here in Canada. But it happened. But you want to know the positive side of it? We鈥檙e still here.鈥�
The last remaining residential school closed in 1996.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, which launched in 2008 and delivered its final reports in 2015, called the Canadian residential school system a government-supported form of 鈥渃ultural genocide.鈥�
The commission estimated that more than 4,000 Indigenous children went missing from the schools across Canada.
Murray Sinclair, the former judge and senator who chaired the commission, has said he believes that figure was an underestimate and suggested the missing children could number 鈥渨ell beyond鈥� 10,000.
Kimberly Murray, Canada鈥檚 special interlocutor on unmarked graves, raised concerns in an interim report this week about increasing attacks from 鈥渄enialists鈥� who challenge communities when they announce the discovery of possible unmarked graves.
The Liberal government created her role as it looked for ways to respond to First Nations from across Western Canada and in parts of Ontario using ground-penetrating radar to search former residential school sites for possible unmarked graves.
Murray鈥檚 final report is due next year and is expected to contain recommendations on how the federal government can help communities search for the children who died and disappeared.
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